China, driven by its remarkable growth, has made a business of importing planning and architectural strategies from other places and inserting them into Chinese cities. In Shanghai, the result is a loss of the unique urban patterns that supported the identity, legibility and character of everyday life. This talk describes the evolution of urbanism in Shanghai from its early settlement within the Yangtze River Delta to its rapid fragmentation. Join Professor Renee Y. Chow, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at UC Berkeley, as she shares her work on alternative strategies for planning and architecture that embrace environmentalism, cultural sustenance and the persistence of place.

This program is part of the Shanghai Celebration. For more information on this year-long San Francisco Bay Area-wide collaboration and its associated exhibitions, films, performances, lectures, and other events, please visit www.shanghaicelebration.com. The cornerstone of the Celebration is the Asian Art Museum's presentation of Shanghai, a major exhibition examining the visual culture of one of China’s most cosmopolitan cities, scheduled for February 12— September 5, 2010.

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