Dialettica del rudere urbano: storia di un isolato Shikumen a Shanghai

Abstract

Regeneration and renewal are the contemporary topics for the management activities in historical areas of Shanghai. Introducing a personal experience, the author argues the main projects which have affected the historical compounds in Shanghai during the last twenty years, with particular reference to the Shikumen block (typical housing since the urban expansion in the late XIX century). The building in Shikumen style, characterized by terraced houses with high population density and inhabited by lower working classes until today, behind the name of restoration has been  replaced with low population density building addressed to reach people, as gentrification strategy. The constructions are quite often rebuilt in the same style with a particular mix of invention and anastilosi or new parts in contemporary style.