Nanjing’s developing skyline.  Greenland to the left with the Nanjing International Tower (name?) right of center.  That completed project will eventually have a third rather large tower in the center of the two existing units…apparently.

One of the great things about Nanjing is it’s park system, connected largely via the Ming Walls.  I had been told by a professor that an urban planning problem faced by many Chinese cities was dealing with maintaining and developing  public space corridors.  This is especially pertinent in regards to new city development on the fringes of “old cities”. 

To say that the new areas of Nanjing are well connected by public space to the older, inner Ming city is a stretch, but (I believe) the city within the walls is a good example of well-planned green public spaces, especially when one factors in the universities and tree-lined boulevards as connectors.

I was hoping to find a better map of the Ming Walls, but couldn’t seem to Google one up, so I’ll made my own.  It’s not that good, but it approximates the location of the wall in relation to Xuan Wu Park (I’ve also included Purple Mountain Park as well, since the two are connected.  Red is the wall, green is the two major city parks and white is Nanjing University. Most of the Ming Wall is green space and is very good walking-cycling space.

The hammock forest – nothing like a lazy Saturday hanging out in the forest.  Busy, active spaces, yet surprisingly calm and quite.

Sleeping Chinese. 
Sometimes hammocks just aren’t enough – urban camping alongside the Ming Walls. The hammock forest – Ming Walls to the right.
No hammocks for these dudes.

Just inside the Xuan Wu Main gate – tea houses and kite flying (not in the photo, but to the right, near the shore).  
Nanjing Old City stone map – just outside of Xuan Wu Main Gate.

When I lived in Victoria, my roommates and I would watch an show called MXC (Most Extreme Elimination Challenge).  The premise was fairly simple – take a late-80’s Japanese obstacle show and dub it with improv English.

Here it is live! (a version…without the English comedy) in Xuan Wu Park.
  

Much hilarity.

Xuan Wu at night from the train station.

Technorati Tags: china, ming walls, nanjing, nanjing university, park planning, urban planning, xuan wu lake

Related posts:

1. Nanjing I – May 2009
2. Nanjing II – Nanjing University 南京大学

Despite all of those interesting events, I don’t think I ever considered the campus, or even fully walked it.

  Nanjing University Main Gate – Apparently the 107th year is a very, very important year.

Nanjing University is a great example of an established, seasoned and integrated urban campus.  It’s gorgeous, probably one of my favourite campuses – yeah, yeah, yeah, and I did my undergrad at the University of Victoria, but I think it is an overrated campus – too car dependent and suburban…but it does have nice green space.

But I think Nanjing University has better urban green space – it’s definitely doesn’t have the natural features of UVic, but the green space is incredibly dense.

 
A rough approximation of Nanjing University campus, in Gulou District – I lived in the block directly north of the campus. 

 
Entrance boulevard – most of the campus is a perpetual canopy of greenery and cooling shade.

Like most Chinese universities, NanDa is gated, with just several entrances, however I find the entrances to be very well placed and integrate well with the surrounding fabric.  I don’t think this was intentional, but what is there now is very permeable, utilizing numerous north-south-east-west entry points allowing for easy public access through the campus grounds.  This is in contrast to Fudan which retains a similar gated design, but isn’t nearly as permeable and in some instances the layout is incredibly inconvenient (the entire east side of Fudan university doesn’t have a gate!).

I’m still looking for the correct vocabulary required to describe some Chinese urban designs, but a strong commonality is the prevalent use of the super-block combined with an internal street network.  Shades of Perry’s Neighbourhood Unit – channel vehicle traffic to the periphery while encouraging foot, cycle and slow auto traffic within.

In fact, Dr. Lu Duanfang has written quite extensively about the neighbourhood unit in China, especially as it relates to the Chinese planning concept of Danwei.

Danwei is very interesting – possibly more on that later.

Anyways, Nanjing University also makes use of a similar form of this…umm…form.  Human-sized streets, alleys and lanes within the larger block with emphasis placed on cycling and walking but with the option maintained for auto traffic (cars, buses) when required.

The NanDa coat of arms contains a tree – a very fitting description.

The Greenland Plaza building the background – not quite finished.

Campus building restoration – fantastic!  More of that and less of this nonsense.  My camera ran out of power at the point, so I didn’t get a shot of the fully restored architecture.  Beautiful.

It is an incredibly quiet campus, well shaded and cool – I even had a nap for about 40 minutes in on one of the benches (not the same one shown above!).

I had a post about the Queen’s University campus a few months ago.  I quite like Queen’s campus for the reason that it is so well integrated into the surrounding community with hardly any barriers to the surrounding residents.  But I don’t think I mentioned how damn gray the place is.  Aside from the rugby field, I can’t think of any significant green space – and the campus is over 150 years old.

Technorati Tags: campus planning, china, green space, nanjing, nanjing university, parks, trees, university campus, urban planning

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1. Nanjing I – May 2009
2. Nanjing III – Xuan Wu Lake – 玄武湖

Nevertheless, despite my ‘official’ reasons for making a sojourn back to NJ, there was always going to be a strong element of “oh bloody hell Bryan, just party like it is 2004 again”.  Make use of that time because you sure are not getting out that much in Shanghai.

So I did and managed to blend a (despite slightly over budget) successful trip.  As a testament to my honest intention, my Karma built up and I was awarded with an unexpected Easter Egg, although in retrospect I could not believe that I had for some reason, managed to let it slip past me for four whole years.

On Monday night, my friend mentioned that she had visited an urban planning exhibition in Nanjing….and my jaw instantly dropped.  “There is a planning exhibition…here….in Nanjing?  And I didn’t know about it?”  Does it have the models?”

It did….and it was only about a block away from where I had been living for four years.  I had walked past this building countless times and had no idea that there was even an exhibition inside.  

I was leaving the next afternoon and managed to squeeze a super quick visit in before I took the train back to Shanghai.

Wow. Wow. Wow.  Canadian cities really need to get in on this whole giant model thing and be proud of what they are trying to do with their cities. Like I’ve said before, nothing quite inspires like a giant old-school model.

The Nanjing Exhibition is much better done that Shanghai’s.  While the obvious propaganda is there, it is not nearly as in ones face as it is in Shanghai.  Nanjing offered a far more process driven demonstration with far clearer goals and a strong vision centered around 10 major projects, largely transport in nature.  This is opposition to Shanghai’s “Expo 2010″ oriented Exhibition. 

The Nanjing Exhibition walks the visitor through a well organized and clear (with English) dynastic history of Nanjing, followed by a stellar demonstration of the ten major legacy projects (the metro, Chang Jiang bridge expansion, Chang Jiang tunnel, city highway tunnel system to name a few).  The Exhibition then carefully moves through each of Nanjing’s major districts (including my district, Gulou, yay!).

A few of my lingering Nanjing questions cleared up.

 More on Nanjing later.

Technorati Tags: china, fudan university, nanjing, nanjing urban planning exhibition, shanghai, travel, urban planning

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1. Nanjing II – Nanjing University 南京大学
2. Nanjing III – Xuan Wu Lake – 玄武湖

One of the things I admire about the Queen’s campus is the way it effortlessly incorporates itself within the surrounding urban space, streets and fabric. The municipal streets slice straight through the campus as if it wasn’t even there.  There are not gates, entrances, arches are grandiose signage that delineates the campus from the rest of the community.  Students, faculty, residents and visitors just walk, drive, ski (in the winter), bike and possibly skip straight through as if there wasn’t even a university occupying the land.

This is contrast to say, some other Canadian universities I’ve visited (admittedly, I’ve only seen a few) and I am sure there are more like Queen’s.  UVic, for example, which well-known for it’s campus landscaping (despite the monstrous architecture) is a suburban campus built inside and around a three kilometre ring road with clear entrances and exits.  Simon Fraser University (Vancouver) is built on a mountain, as is the University of Northern British Columbia (Prince George).  The University of British Columbia (Vancouver) is sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and a nice, but thick and protecting wall of giant timber.  Even McGill, which is smack in the middle of downtown Montreal has gates and defined entrances and exits.  Concordia is a little more urban quite incorporated into the downtown – I attended a conference there two weeks ago and walked right past the building I needed to be in.  I didn’t even know I was on a campus.

Chinese universities are also quite discrete from their surrounding space.  Many schools have, or are constructing, massive campuses out in the suburbs, creating what some people call ‘University Cities’.  These campuses are very isolated from the rest of the city and are almost all walled and gated, usually with guards. and curfews. The older, inner city campuses are very nice (Nanjing University, Nanjing Normal University etc.).  While they are gated from the surrounding city with defined entrances/exits their space remains permeable to the public, usually 24 hours a day. 

Nanjing Normal University Main Entrance – The Gate is always open

Nanjing Normal University – Main Entrance Lane

Nanjing University – Main Entrance Lane

I don’t have, nor could I find a decent photos Queen’s Union and University intersection.  This is probably Queen’s most obvious sign…just to let you know you are on a campus.

Technorati Tags: campus planning, nanjing normal university, nanjing university, public space, queens university, university campus, urban planning

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1. Nanjing II – Nanjing University 南京大学
2. Nanjing I – May 2009

I’ve been sitting at my desk for the past twenty minutes trying to figure out what “harmonious urbanization” means….

I suppose it is the opposite of “diverse urbanization” – which appears to be the current framework for urban planning in most western countries.

It is such a great example of the continuing divide between East and West (for lack of a better term).

Technorati Tags: china, diverse city, east-west divide, harmonious city, nanjing, urban planning

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1. Nanjing I – May 2009
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For the record…yes I do have numerous copies of my passport (which is on a 15 day vacation at the Russian consulate)…and for the record they are not accepted anywhere and only accepted where there is some sort of relationship at work.

Situation #1 – The Bund, Shanghai. After I had left my passport at the Russian consulate I was stopped by a policeman several blocks away who demanded to see my passport and visa. Stops are apparently becoming increasingly common as the Police ramp up security with the Olympics just weeks away. My photo-copies were accepted, but not without a hefty lecture.

Situation #2 – Relocation Service. The original passport is required for customs purposes. This was waived and copies were accepted only because the particular company I went through has good relations with the Shanghai customs ministry. The couldn’t do the same magic with Nanjing customs, resulting in a slight delay on service as clearance would have to go through Shanghai instead.

Situation #3 – China Mobile. My mobile and SIM card were stolen in Shanghai. I purchased a second hand Nokia last week and went to the nearest China Mobile office to re-activate my account and get a new SIM card. Nope…gotta have the original passport – even thougheventhough they just photocopy it anyway and staple it to the contract. I was only able to extract service by creating a ‘agitated’ scene which made everyone within ear-shot rather uncomfortable. I hate doing that (see my Mongolia posts) but my threshold is breached when I feel helpless.

Situation #4 – China Construction Bank. Over the past week I’ve been engaged in a very, very angry battle with the Elong Travel Agency over a booked air ticket to Japan. That utter nastiness is worthy of another post however to pay for this ticket I would have to wire money to their Shanghai account via a Construction Bank branch in Nanjing. The Bank won’t wire money without a passport…and yup…you guessed it….only the original is accepted. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t budge on this – even after my very angry response. Thus I had to drag a local friend out on their lunch hour to help me perform what should have been a very, very, very, very simple action.

Situation #5 – Bank of China. I want to empty out my account and then exchange it for USD. Nope, can’t do that without a passport…original only. But…you can take out XX amount without a passport. Bizarre. I can take out 100% with a passport – but I’m only allowed to take out 30% without. “So that means I have to come back tomorrow and the next day?” I asked. “Yes, you can do that”.

So I’ve been pulling out money for two days, and should have it all pulled out by Saturday. This means that I have to carry cash to the black market money changers then back to my house – and then to Western Union…but they won’t let me wire money without….yeah…

I had to go to Xinjiekou to pick something up so I didn’t bother to drop off the cash at home and went straight to the metro instead. The cops have begun checking bags at the Metro entrance and of course they tear mine open and find my cash – upon which they ask for my ID – and I get another big lecture about how I shouldn’t carry around this kind of cash and how I should have my real passport with me at all times…blah, blah, blah….

I know they are doing their job, however I seriously feel that many think us simple foreign folk are truly idiots.

How I wanted to respond:

“Well, you know I wouldn’t be doing this if you government didn’t employ such an archaic money exchange system which essentially (without lengthy and numerous paper work) prohibits a foreigner from exchanging RMB to any major international currency. Thus forcing me to carry several cash denominations from the bank – to the black market – then to my home – then to the Western Union.

Furthermore, your government doesn’t (nor do you apparently) seem to understand the importance and sheer value of a passport. A passport is NOT a simple ID card and nor should it be treated as such. It is NOT something you just carry around with you like a drivers license. It should be kept in a locked safe and taken out for traveling and visa purposes only. You think losing your national ID in China sucks? Try losing your passport….

I find it baffling that even though there are millions of foreigners living in China – the government still doesn’t seem fit to issue some-sort of special ID for any of use – forcing us all to place our passports at serious risk.”

How I should have responded:

“One of my hobbies is carrying around X amounts of cash in my pack. Sometimes I even like to leave the bag open. I like to see how long I can wander around Xinjiekou before I get robbed.”

How I did respond:

“Yes sir, thank you – I’m going straight home”.

After almost four years in country, I was hoping for my last week to be a little more memorable. Now I just want to leave all of this nonsense behind.

*A positive was the relocation company.  They showed up at my apartment yesterday.  Stellar professionalism.  I am paying them a lot but I felt like they would bend over backwards for me.  I was definetly the customer…not like Elong…where their insane payment system makes me feel like I’m doing them a service.

Technorati Tags: changing money, china, china construction bank, china mobile. bank of china, frustration, nanjing, passport, police, visa

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China drafted a long-term plan for development of air cargo, which will require the building of 97 new airports, consolidation of smaller airports and upgrading of certain key airports by the year 2020. The entire project will cost the government a massive investment of $64 billion.

Under the plan, 97 feeder-line airports will be built across the country, the main air hubs will be upgraded, and airport clusters will be set up in the northern, eastern, central, southern, southwestern and northwestern parts of the country, according to the new Ministry of Transport.

The ministry, which was formed on March 24, encompasses all the state entities related to road, sea and air traffic. It is evolved from the former Ministry of Communications and the General Administration of the Civil Aviation of China.

By the end of 2006, the Chinese mainland had 147 airports with 45 of them serving both military and civilian traffic.

I’m a huge proponent of infrastructure development as a key engine of economic development but I find it odd that within the current fossil-fuel price environment (some analysts are predict that the possibility of $200/barrel oil in the very near future, is very, very likely) that this massive airport infrastructure program would be pushed ahead.

I guess the key verb in the article is ‘earmarked’ as I suppose this indicates that money will be allocated to various projects as seen fit, rather than just a massive funding blitz, but still…the number of new/refurbished airports is quite large.  I still feel that outside of the major international terminals in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing, most Chinese airports seem to be underutilized…to my observations at least.  Lukou in Nanjing (with the exception of the massive backlog during this winters snowstorm) always seems about a quarter-full every time I fly out and that goes for the other regional hubs that I’ve flown into/out of (Chengdu, Kunming, Xi’an…even Shenzhen didn’t seem too busy).

I suppose the idea is that they are currently underutilized, but they will fill up quickly as more and more people discover the convenience of air-travel.  But that is built on the assumption that air-travel will remain affordable for your average Zhang Joe.  I mean, that is the big question mark isn’t it?  Major airlines around the world are taking big beatings with oil price hikes.  China still subsidizes oil imports considerable in a effort to maintain social stability and curb inflation…but in effect creates what one article (can’t cite, forgotton the link) referred to as a bubble country running on $80/barrel insulated against the realities of an $140/barrel world.  More cars, more air-travel.  But, you don’t need to be a economist to realize that this isn’t the best combo if oil prices do indeed maintain their climb.

David Beers, who wrote the very good Blue Sky Dream (which influenced my decision to enter urban planning -although it really isn’t about that at all) muses and contemplates a world without cheap air transport over at The Walrus:

Could it happen? As the potential ravages of global warming come more solidly into view, jet travel has been fingered as a dangerous emitter of greenhouse gases. And now the price of oil is said by various experts to be headed toward $200 (US) a barrel within the year, maybe five, a sign for many that we’ve entered a new age of fossil fuel scarcity. What if we come to decide jet travel has become too polluting to risk our children’s future? Or just far too expensive to continue flying the kids to Disneyland?  And if a million such decisions were to cause the jet age to end, how would we come back to earth? Softly, one would hope. Pleasantly. But maybe, instead, it will be a white-knuckle crash.

Read it all.

Personally, rising oil prices are kicking me in the balls.  Shipping a cubic meter of stuff back to Canada is well…lets say I could have a nice month long vacation in Nepal for what I’m about to pay.

On the plus side, even with the price increase of anything running on black dead organic matter, I’m quite happy I’ll be doing my travels now…and not in six months.

Technorati Tags: air-travel, airport infrastructure, china, energy, nanjing, nepal, oil, transportation, travel

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The 1912 store opened some time in late 2004 (or maybe early 2005) followed by stores in Jinling Hotel and Taiping Nan Lu in 2008.

Believe it or not but there used to be a Blenz (Canada’s answer to Starbucks) in the Grand Hotel lobby off Guangzhou Lu. I think it closed in 2005. Lukou airport also has two Starbuck style coffee houses which I am
sure are some sort of chain operation but I can’t remember their exact name…other than the fact that a simple black coffee would break your bank account.

Costa popped up in Nanjing in 2007 and now has at least two stores with one in 1912 and a new outlet above the Zhujiang Lu metro station. There could be additional Costa’s that I’m not aware of as well.

I’ve spent a lot of time in these various coffee houses – as well as numerous local tea houses scattered through out Nanjing and one thing I’ve noticed is that these places follow popularity patterns similar to hip bars and restaurants. For example, the original Nanjing Starbucks (Da Yang) is almost a no-go zone given huge amount of traffic it experiences. Finding a seat is possible, but good luck an electrical outlet. It does remain probably the best people-watching place in Nanjing though. The second oldest Starbucks location at 1912 also experiences similar massive amounts of traffic – including dozens of high school students from Nan Wai which makes finding a seat or electrical outlet at least as difficult.

In an effort to avoid these crowds and enjoy a good coffee in a reasonable environment one must be consistently vigilant in scouting new coffee locations. Based on my personal experiences I’ve discovered that a new coffee store can exist as a place one can be guaranteed a seat, electrical outlet and be kid-free for approximately 2-3 weeks after opening.

After that time frame (+/- a week) the outlet will be found by the rest of the coffee consuming population and becomes saturated. I have been consistently chased from one coffee house to another. From 1912 Starbucks to 1912 Costa to Jinling Starbucks and now to the new Costa outlet on Zhujiang Lu. I began as a patron of this store the day after it opened and enjoyed a 3 week honeymoon in a relatively quiet and open locations which officially ended this weekend as the store dangerously approached saturation
levels (even at 1pm in the afternoon). My next option remains the newest Starbuck location on Taiping Nan Lu, although the location isn’t tip-top for me. I might just buck-up and take the crowds. I don’t have much time left in Nanjing.

In the current coffee climate of Nanjing, Costa represents the upper end of the international bistro names. There coffee is more expensive than ‘bucks and their Wi-Fi (in my experience) is of higher quality and consistency. Starbuck Wi-Fi facilities seem to be arbitrary between stores and I’m unsure if a store is Wi-Fi capable, while all Costas appear to have this ability. The price and perhaps the smaller menu help to keep the pop-tart and coffee tourist population to a minimum. The trade off though is a weaker selection of coffees as Costa appears to only use one blend whereas Starbucks offers a new blend each week (with cool stickers you can use to cover your books/laptop in an effort to give yourself coffee street cred). Costa stores in Nanjing also receive poor marks in the people-watching category as the seating areas are usually windowless. Starbucks also wins points in terms of language. Costa employees are more likely to use English as the initial language as well as the answering language, regardless if the question was
asked in Mandarin. Starbucks baristas are more likely to use the initial language.

One thing that has always puzzled me about Nanjing is the apparent lack of any local Starbuck/Costa clones. There are plenty of tea houses but I’ve never encountered a local bistro and I’m surprised no one has planned a response to the exploding popularity of this kind of store.

Technorati Tags: coffee, costa, nanjing, starbucks

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Despite being surrounded in an uber-left wing environment during my time at UVic, I don’t hold very strong socialist tendencies. However, there are a number of items I feel should involve and active government presence and acting in the defense of the public body and their interests is one of them.

Take this example of the relationship between governing bodies in a typical Chinese cities and development companies.

In the absence of a true private real-estate industry, most development companies in the 1990′s were actually spun off from sub-municipal government agencies or from ‘construction brigades’ that originally carried out central government directives. Under decentralized fiscal conditions, these companies enjoy both freedom to pursue profits as well as extremely tight relationships with the agencies that spawned them. State control of most of the urban land facilitates land assembly and further exacerbates this close relationship. Therefore, urban plans tend to be either subverted or used as blueprints depending on the extent to which they anticipated and accommodated imminent development intentions when they were drawn up. They rarely serve as regulating tools (Abramson 204, 2006).

My understanding is that any drafted city plans are merely just a plan – a suggested course of action to be followed by choice, and ignored if need by. Adding to this is the idea that city governments raise a large portion of their operating budget from land-use sales which creates a very strong incentive to develop land quickly as possible, often at odds with other land-holding government bodies or agencies. This helps to add a piece of explanation to the giant mosaic question of the seemingly endless construction of massive buildings seen in every urban region of China.

But when government is the developer, the developer the government and significant portions of government operating budget derived from land-use sales, who who acts in defense of the public interest? Who can the individual trust to look out, fight and protect their interests?

Just that should raise a lot of concerns for those interested in purchasing real-estate in China. I know of a number of foreigners in Nanjing who have purchased property-use rights with their local spouses and whom (for the most part) love to rattle off about how much their rights have increased in the past X number of years. Real-estate is a hot area in China. Many hold true to the idea of a bubble, although no one seems to be able to speculate as to when it would pop. Given the huge profits found in this area, vested parties are interested in keeping prices as high as possible for as long as possible. Government, obviously, is one of the largest players but also holds the very powerful position of being easily able to manipulate and control the field to meet its own ends.

But knowledge of the above rules out any participation in my part. Not that I currently have the funds to purchase property rights, but even if I did, I think I could think of better, safer, more profitable investments. Rent in Nanjing is ridiculously cheap relative to property-right prices and I am of the opinion that if one is going to saddle themselves with a mortgage, it might as well be one with solid private land rights (like in your home country – if you have the choice, why not?) I spend slightly over one thousand dollars a year for my apartment – that figure is probably the equivalent to about an month and a bit of a mortgage payment.

Call me risk-adverse but real-estate security and property rights haven’t quite reached the levels that inspire the confidence I would need to invest. Even with the increase in homeowner associations, I don’t believe they carry enough political clout to act as a counter weight against the heavy hitting developer/government tag team. I want the knowledge that someone or something is looking out for my interests as a property (property-right) owner and with the obscure and interlocking relationships between the government, developers and real-estate companies does little to mitigate my feelings.

Abramson, D. (2006) Urban Planning in China. Journal of the American Planning Association 72(3). 197-213.

*on a unrelated note, the link to UVic brought me to the homepage which was profiling my old geomorpholoy/hydology professor, Ian Walker.

Technorati Tags: nanjing, property development, property rights, real estate, urban planning

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The bag law seems to be working overtime though. I haven’t been offered or given a plastic bag of any kind since June 1st.

Compare this to Canada, where Ontario is just now making the first moves to ban bags…but only in provincial liquor stores.

Technorati Tags: china, environment, law, plastic bags

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