Prof. Zhou Jian, Secretary General of WHITRAP, Director of WHITRAP Shanghai, and Professor at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University, presented the case of Shanghai’s new Master Plan 2017-2035 and how it integrates heritage valorisation and its impact on a new approach to the megapolis urban development. He explained how the new plan further continued the intense research and identification of heritage values, focused on the historic urban landscape, or designating and protecting heritage, managing change, promoting conservation through reuse of historic buildings and places. To do that he explained the principles, the tools and the practice, such as reinforced legislation, supported by standards, guided by planning, transmitted by implementation and promoted by projects. He underlined the evolution of the understanding of the urban heritage of Shanghai, from single buildings to historical areas, focusing mostly on their uniqueness to considering other periods in time different typologies and different scales, such as whole neighbourhoods (the early 20th century row houses lilong, and workers’ new neighbourhood built in the 1950s), industrial heritage and university campus’, street patterns, urban landscape spatial patterns. He further developed approaches to manage change with a focus on the reutilization of heritage and the new guidelines for private developers varying according to levels of protection of neighbourhoods and state of conservation, varying from neighbourhoods still standing as a whole and where the approach is to protect the historic layout and features; or the cases of neighbourhoods, which are partially still standing, where the approach is to reconstruct and optimize the old whilst developing new spatial relationships. He furthermore insisted on the importance of guidelines and management mechanisms and systems.

Contributed：Marie-Noël TOURNOUX（Project Director WHITRAP Shanghai）

Typeset：JI Zhenjiang (Intern)