INNOVATION
-
from an
ECONOMICS
-
HUMANITY
-
POLITICS
-
urban planner
INFLUENCE
to an
entrepreneur
YUAN FANG
方 元
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
Started from a village saver
me & my uncle
Two dreamers wishing to show how powerful committed citizens are in front of bulldozers
RE-DISCOVERING THE VALUES OF ENDANGERED HISTORIC BUILDINGS @
XIU-LI VILLAGE
2008, seeing thousands of historic villages being torn down in the wave of urbanization throughout China, I and my uncle, Zhang Zhenyan, saved 87 dilapidated old buildings that were about to be bulldozed. We restored them on a 20 acre vacant land in a nearby village called “Xiu-Li”. With old architectures, pristine landscape, traditional techniques, local villagers and real estate investors, we rejuvenated those endangered houses with new adaptive uses such as a boutique hotel, an innovative building design workshop, and a traditional artisan training school. A group of motivated citizens are committed to find new ways of historic preservation in China. Today, with more planning and development experience, I have a refreshed understanding of historic preservation that it is not about the static maintenance of the antiquity, instead, this work should be a creative continuity of the history. To make this happen in the real development, we need some “historic conservation entrepreneurs”, who not only have a good command of traditional building techniques, be familiar with planning, design, investment, business operation knowledge, but also know how to influence the policy and educate the public. This entrepreneur is more than a developer.
秀 里
“THE LAW DOES NOT PROTECT THESE BEAUTIFUL HOUSES, BUT I BELIEVE THE MARKET DOES, LET’S PROVE IT!” ZHANG, ZHENYAN (MY UNCLE)
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
FROM A RUIN TO A GEM
WHAT IS NEXT ? After 5 years of hard work, the first phase of the Xiuli project will be finished by June 2014. Our next step is to achieve the optimal economic and cultural impact through the management of the the Xiuli Boutique Hotel and Historic Conservation Entrepreneur Institute, also hoping to copy this work model to other places throughout China. * Yunnan might be our next stop...
ADAPTIVE USES AND DESIGN VARIANCES OUR FIRST “PLAN” IN 2008
XIULI BOUTIQUE HOTEL INTERIOR IN 2013
“GENTRIFICATION IS NOT THE GOAL, THE BOUTIQUE HOTEL IS A TOOL TO SUSTAIN THE ECOLOGY OF LOCAL CULTURE, WHICH IS THE REAL ‘GENIUS LOCI’ ” YUAN FANG
a citizens’ miracle...
This experiment paved ways for hundreds of other ambitious investors and developers
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
CULTURAL CONTINUITY NANJING QILIN SCIENCE VILLAGE DESIGN
OVERLAY ANALYSIS OF THE 82 KM2 SITE
RETAIN THE VILLAGE! Under the pressure of rapid urbanization and controversial policy of rural land consolidation in China, more and more natural villages are threatened by uniformly designed new settlements. The traditional rural patterns are being lost. When visiting the Qilin site, we found that this area is sitting on the border of 4
on the quarries and carvings and women farm in the fields in the back. Bonded by the residential houses on two sides, the ‘Main Street’ is the commercial focal point and the amphitheatre at the village entrance hosts their weekly meeting...“ This peaceful utopia is not only the classic settlement pattern Chinese people have been using for thousands of years and it is proven to be sustainable, also, this exactly reflects the principle of Smart Growth: work and live at the same place.
CLASSIC & MODERN, JUST A COINCIDENCE?
different jurisdictions and was not being paid much attention by anyone. In spite of the lack of investment and inadequate infrastructure, this area still remains very pristine, even though it is just one step away from the metropolitan --- Nanjing. As indicated by the strata analysis prepared earlier, we have identified couple quarry villages that have been laying there for hundreds of years. After several weeks of site investigation, we have identified an interesting pattern of this village:
The city wall of Nanjing is a master piece, but our cultural heritage is more than just the product, it is also the process. Through strata analysis, the project developed a narrative history of this region, including the quarry villages, old transportation canals, farming trails, all the way to outer city wall and inner city wall. Finally, a landscape-based land use map is created as a foundation for the plan.
“The quarry villages are located at the foot of the mountain, while men work
{ 5D PLANNING }
what is so special?
[WEAVING TIMELINE INTO BUILT ENVIRONMENT] Other than the 3D dimension of the built environment, the project has identified that “time“ and “connection“ are two critical element in making historic heritage a lively one. By linking history with modern built environment and landscape, history can be part of today’s daily life. YEAR: 2012 PLACE: Nanjing, Jiangsu, China ROLE: Project manager and senior planner
With this idea in mind, the project team tried very hard to convince the local government to preserve the quarry villages as the origin of the citywall storyline.
Besides, we copied this classic settlement pattern into the designing for each of science village clusters: limiting the size of each “walkable settlement”, getting rid of land use exclusions for maximum mixed use space, maintaining the countryside winding roads for the rural landscape and vistas...the whole arae is made up with these classic but modern village clusters. In a word, make scientists live a pleasant rural life.
PLANNING AWARD RECEIVED IN 2012 “These villages are not just villages, they are the living storyteller that explains where Nanjing came from. The connection between this classic settlement pattern and modern smart growth concepts gave us a new look at traditional villages and made us rethink our urbanization policies throughout China” - AWARD COMMITTEE
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
ECONOMIC ECOLOGY
SHUOZHOU CITY STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CLIMATE TO THE CITY
The 400mm precipitation isoline (left) is the climate divider of agricultural and nomadic civilizations. The climate changes over time, so does the isoline. Shuozhou culture is a result of constant collage of these two civilizations.
A “TRI-COLOR” STRATEGY FOR ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION
T
he changing climate gave Shuozhou a resplendent history. Right now, this energy city with nearly 1/15 of China’s coal production is facing a new challenge posed by the most recent climate change driven by the excessive GHG emission.
A
resilient city requests Shuozhou to reduce its carbon footprint to meet the strict national emission requirement, and to diversify its economic sectors to avoid the tragedy of Detroit, who heavily rely on the single industry. After careful investigation, we set up a tri-color strategy for Shuozhou.
YEAR: 2012 PLACE: Shuozhou, Shanxi, China ROLE: Project manager and senior planner
The project tried to bring government’s attention on the ecological equilibrium of its economy. First, it has to be ecologically friendly and limit its negative impact on earth. Second, it will take advantage of its intrinsic natural endowments to establish strong resiliency agaisnt extreme climate and economic uncertainty. The goal is to optimize its economic possibilities without bleeding dry its homeland. I would like to call this concept “the economic ecology“.
[BLACK] - LOW CARBONIZING THE COAL INDUSTRY The unique climate history gave Shuozhou a seemingly endless energy resources. However, its current GHG emission from the coal production nearly equals entire China’s promised
total GHG emission for 2050. To meet the national requirement for emission reduction, the project introduced a series of low carbon CDM projects such as mining pit recovery, scrubber techs, carbon storage and sequestration, etc. to help Shuozhou participate in global Carbon Trading System, while most importantly, horizontally diversified its coal economy from mining and power generation to a much broader industry, including mining mechanicals, mining design and education, fine coal chemical industry, flyash reuse, etc.
[WHITE] -
yan-men pass
One of key passes on the Greatwall, the significant divider between nomadic and agricultural areas
DAIRY AND COARSE CEREAL BUSINESSES
Diary industry has a long history in Shuozhou but has always been confined to the regional market. In the light of prevailing concern over food safety and health in China, the organic dairy products and healthy coarse cereals, which are specially grown under Shuozhou unique climate, have a great niche in the market. The plan also created a financial toolbox specifically designed to Shuozhou’s situation in order to attract the national and foreign investment to its “white industry“.
[PURPLE] - EXTENDED CULUTRAL RETREAT In Chinese planning documents, the color “purple“ stands for cultural land use. As discussed, Shuozhou’s unique climate gives it an interesting feature with diverse landscape, dotted battle fields, and significant religious/cultural heritages. The plan designed tourism packages for extended visits in the area with various cultural themes. Visitors could stay for weeks and choose from battle field games, cross-country sports, mine visits, architecture education tour, pilgrim hiking, etc.
“IN THE PAST, CLIMATE PREPARED SHUOZHOU’S CULTURE. TODAY, CLIMATE CHANGE WILL SHAPE ITS ECONOMY AGAIN.”
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
SAVING THE LIFESTYLE
OTHER PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS projects could be viewed from www.andyfang.com
NANJING MENXI HISTORIC CONSERVATION PLAN
The Menxi neighborhood of Nanjing is considered the last historic district in city that still remain the most authentic “old Nanjing life style”. When we were invited to this project, we were told that Menxi was prevailed by the atmosphere of uncertainty among residents and officials, questioning what should be the most feasible way to preserve, under the strong pressure of urban renewal. Thus, the essence of this plan is to help them rebuild the faith of historic preservation with solutions. First, the plan has discovered that the “well-plazas” (right image) were the most important public spaceother than the family courtyard,
in traditional urban built environment of Nanjing. To maintain the authentic life style, keeping people’s activities in the traditional public space is the key. Thus, our principle is to highlight this “well”-oriented public space system as fundamental fabric of the area, and any future development and variances should respect this context. Besides, local residents do not wish to see their neighborhood turn into tourism spot, nor gentrified community. The plan helped to convert many abandoned houses on site to business incubators and offices to create a LIVE/WORK mixed place. YEAR: 2010 PLACE: Nanjing, Jiangsu, China ROLE: Project manager and senior planner
DESIGN GUIDELINE
SCENIC BYWAY
HERITAGE TRAIL
WATER MANAGEMENT
Local government in China gives little guidance to developer on how to build. At this transportation black hole, the design guideline helped this district transformed from a blind spot to a pedestrian friendly 24/7 neighborhood.
Trying to change the prevailing parkway design fad in China, this plan introduced the Scenic Byway concept to China for the first time. “The goal is not to decorate the road, but to connect the significant cultural and scenic spots.”
The Dazu stone carving world heritage site was never successful in attracting tourists to stay longer in the area. We have identified the forgotten pilgrim roads and turned into trails to create a foundation for a recreational region.
The mission of this plan is to change local officials mind from treating water as an utility to cherishing them as an amenity. The plan helped them identified water sensitive areas and set up a framework of where to develop and where not to.
YEAR: 2009 PLACE: Xuhui, Shanghai, China ROLE: project coordinator, planner
YEAR: 2008 PLACE: Changxing, Zhejiang, China ROLE: project coordinator, planner
YEAR: 2010 PLACE: Chongqing, China ROLE: project manager, senior planner
YEAR: 2012 PLACE: Chengdu, Sichuan, China ROLE: project manager, chief planner
WETLAND PRESERVE
TRANSIT GATEWAY
THE GREEN GDP
MEIYIJIAN GARDEN
Sitting on the largest coastal wetland in Asia, Yancheng was under the pressure of draining the wetland for development. The plan calculated the carbon asset between wetland preservation and urban expansion, giving them a quantifiable reason to save the wetlands.
While happily welcoming the new bridge connects Nantong to Shanghai, this strategic research gave Nantong officials a warning that having transportation advantage does not necessarily result in a gateway effect, they need to avoid the city being a pass-through city.
Located in the affluent southern Jiangsu province, Zhenjiang is never an economic superstar. The project helped them pave a different road by setting up business selection mechanism to create a environmental friendly economy, also widely known as APA’s Green GDP Plan.
This 137,000 m2 seashore mixed-use development project “Meiyijian Garden” was my first real estate attempt. Working with the director, I have gained the experience from acquisition, entitlement, marketing, development, leasing and operation.
YEAR: 2011 PLACE: Xuhui, Shanghai, China ROLE: project coordinator, planner
YEAR: 2008 PLACE: Nantong, Jiangsu, China ROLE: project coordinator, planner
YEAR: 2009 PLACE: Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China ROLE: project manager, planner
YEAR: 2007 PLACE: Zhuhai, Guangdong, China ROLE: development director assistant
menxi district
One of the biggest threats to historic districts in China is the feeling of UNCERTAINTY
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
YUAN FANG PORTFOLIO
teaching mayors
the biggest fun of this teaching job is to see the collision between the two planning cultures
A POLITICAL MIND
MAYORS TRAINING & SOCIAL INFLUENCE
A real entrepreneur will not be satisfied being a master of the current game rule, but will consistently seek for opportunities to innovate and lead the profession to new direction. Thus, having a politically savvy mind is essential. Without doubt, mayors hold the strongest political power in China’s urbanization process. While managing American Planning Association’s China program, I believe that understanding and influencing these mayors’ minds are essential ato prepare myself for future real estate career in China. During my time with APA, I managed to bring more than 500 Chinese mayors from all over the country for urban planning
boot camps in the U.S. From Ha’erbin to Haikou, Shanghai to Chengdu, every mayor in China have a different definition of “good planning”. From storms of intellectual exchange between east and west during these years, I am glad to see more and more mayors from China are adopting new planning philosophies and slightly switching their roles from “bosses” to “partners”. Conventionally, developers only deal with their clients and immediate stakeholders, but an entrepreneur will have a much broader interest. Given the fact that billions of Chinese people still have very little knowledge about urban planning, influencing the general public is more critical than educating mayors. With broader help from such as social media, an entrepreneur should aim at initiating a civil movement for business facilitated urbanization from bottom up, as a complement to the top down construction oriented urbanization. Furthermore, my focus is also on the younger audience since the young generations from U.S. and China would have the strongest impact on the future patterns of global urbanization, but their voices have largely been ignored.
“WE NEED TO LEARN THE LESSONS FROM THE AMERICAN URBANIZATION PROCESS TO SHAPRE OUR OWN WAY, APA PROVIDED A GREAT CHANNEL FOR CHINESE MAYORS TO LEARN” LI, YUANCHAO (VICE PRESIDENT OF CHINA)
CITIES FOR ALL! SPEAK UP FOR ALL! We recognize that future cities should not be a toy for politicians or elite planners but should belong to the younger generation of all professions. This roundtable aims to create a blend of political, business, academic, and social perspectives on our cities.
So I launched this multi-professional grassroot platform to encourage future trend setters to speak up on urban issues. This roundtable event were held very successfully in 2011 at Boston and 2012 at L.A. (see poster below), and received significant attention from professionals, media, and high level government officials from both U.S., China and United Nations.