IDEAL CITIES – NOT
Chongqing is one of the most amazing places on earth. A teeming metropolis of over 30 million people, one of the fastest growing places on the planet. It has grown from a mud road village, the wartime capital of China that was bombed to smithereens during World War Two, to one of the largest high-rise metropolises on earth in the early twenty first century.
Though located in the province of Sichuan, Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the Central People's Government, along with Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. It is the only directly administrated municipality located deep inland. The municipality covers a large geographical area roughly the size of Austria.
The central urban area of Chongqing, or Chongqing proper, is a city of unique features. It is built on mountains and is partially surrounded by the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. I was there for several extended visits ten years ago and designed a high-rise office building that in the end was not built. Since then construction of buildings has continued at a breakneck pace, creating an environment that could almost be out of Blade Runner.
Pictures: 1. View of Safdie’s Raffles Center, similar to his casino in Singapore, 2. The juncture of the two rivers with the Raffles Center in the foreground, 3. The Raffles Center skybridge, 4. City Planning model ten years ago, 5. Colorized photo of the city during WW 2.
