Toward A Civil Architecture – “The Second China Architecture Thinking Forum” presented by Southern Metropolis Daily

Date:
December 7, 2009
Venues:
9:00am – 12:30pm: Auditorium, fifth floor, Shenzhen Library
2:00pm – 5:30pm: Theater Studio, fifth floor, Shenzhen Concert Hall

Forum Host:
Southern Metropolis Daily, Southern Metropolis Weekly, Trend Weekly
Joint Media:
Architect, World Architecture, Time Architecture, New Architecture, World Architecture Review, Domus China, Design Community, A+U, Architecture Creation, ABBS.com.cn
Official Website:
cama.nddaily.com
Partner:
2009 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Dec 6, 2009 – Jan 23, 2010)

Introduction:
In 2007, Southern Metropolis Daily (SMD) hosted a “China Architecture Media Award” with a slogan of “Toward a Civil Architecture” in Shenzhen. This award is considered as the most socially significant architecture award in today’s China. “Civil Architecture” has become a new hot topic in 2008 and 2009.
So far, SMD has formed a clear operational thinking, which is to hold “China Architecture Thinking Forum” in odd-numbered years and to hold “China Architecture Media” in even-numbered years. In December 2009, “The Second China Architecture Thinking Forum” will be presented by SMD as scheduled.
“China Architecture Thinking Forum” aims at genuinely inspiring people’s architectural thinking, promoting Chinese architecture development, and contributing to the construction of Chinese civil society in a spatial dimension. The theme for this year’s forum is very concrete and directly related to people’s livelihood, which is: “Community Building and Citizen’s Participation”.

This forum will investigate:
What qualities should a good community be equipped with on social relations and spatial configurations?
How to realize these qualities in community building?
Being the major part of a community, what kind of positive roles do the citizens play in building their own community?
Can planners and architects be identified as both technical experts and public intellectuals so as to help the public to uphold their spatial rights?
Can China’s experience in building high-density communities be inspirational to the exploration in sustainable development of urban environment all over the world, especially in developing countries?

Academic convenor
ZHU Tao: Associate Professor in Department of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong

Academic host
Leung Man-Tao: Hong Kong cultural critic; host

Guest speakers

Hsia Chujoe (Taiwan): Professor and director of Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, National Taiwan University
Lecture topic: District building and Civil City

Huang Sheng-yuan (Taiwan): Director of Field Architecture Institute/Huang Sheng-yuan Architects
Lecture topic: Dream Home – New Homeland New Landscape

Hsieh Ying-chun (Taiwan): Director of Atelier-3
Lecture topic: Reconstruction of rural communities with inter-subjectivity – practices of rural architecture studios in Taiwan and Mainland

Ruan Qing-yue (Taiwan): Associate profess in Department of Art and Design, Yuan Ze University; writer
Lecture topic: Practices in community building and citizens’ participation-taking the International Working Camp in Fongshan as an example

Chen Yun-Chung (Hong Kong): Assistant profess in Department of Social Science, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Lecture topic: From district resistance to district building: the first exploration of Hong Kong’s experience

Lu Ruifang: Senior lecturer in Institute of Architecture Design and Urban Planning, University of Sydney; architectural historian
Lecture topic: Evolution of China’s residential areas since 1949

Wang Jun: Reporter of Xinhua News Agency; expert in city building research
Lecture topic: Citizens’ participation in the protection for the old house of Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin

Liu Jiakun: Director of Jiakun Architects; architect
Lecture topic: Ode to Yuling – the spontaneous evolution of a district in Chengdu

Feng Feifei: Deputy Director of the Institute of Urban Design, Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning & Design
Lecture topic: Practices of citizens’ participation in urban and rural planning in Beijing