A Sunday Afternoon At The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center
Israel, a doctor from Guinea Bissau who wanted to have an internship experience in
a Chinese hospital, has visited the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center.
Last Sunday we spent our morning at the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center. For us this fieldtrip was a good chance to discover the past, the present and the future of the development of the urban planning of Shanghai. Its 5 floors up ground and 2 floors underground gave us a good idea about how Shanghai went from being a small fishing village to a major world metropolis.
In the second floor we observed many historical photos and old maps: we could understand how Nanjing Lu or the area of Pudong was some years ago. There are several models of some of Shanghai's oldest buildings and bridges.
We elapsed a lot of time in the third floor: there is a huge 1:200 scale model of the city as it is now. It covers 800 square meters and shows all existing and approved buildings. We viewed the model from alongside and ascended to a gallery running around it for views from above. Next to the model there is a round room: on the round walls of the rooms we saw a 360degree movie taking us around the city.
The fourth floor offers displays on proposed forms of future transportation, including maglev, subway and light-rail trains that are going to grow in the coming years. In 2020 the subway system will comprise 22 lines!
Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center not only shows the latest information of urban development, but also shows Shanghai citizens cultural and artistic cultivation.