Delirious Shanghai

By Luis Portas and Victor Kirillov

In 2014 two architects arrived to Shanghai to start a new life, away from family and friends. Seven years later they decide to share their story of adaptation to the frantic life in the world's most populated metropolis. ‘The most enduring social change in China took place in the early years of the twentieth century, in a series of dramatic changes in urban culture. Although the Chinese have lived in a different socio-historical and political landscape than most of the developed world, it was not a change of political discourse, but a change in living conditions and technological advances that catapulted them to the future. For these reasons and more, Shanghai is the central piece in the history and culture of China — an architecture with implications that has sprung with incredible success.’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luis Portas
• Release date: Oct 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9798547974557

Luis Portas

Luis Portas is a Portuguese Architect, a fiction writer, and a director. Welcome to his page.

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Delirious Shanghai

KDP, Shanghai, 2021

Copyright 2021 Luis Portas and Victor Kirillov

Published by Luis Portas and Victor Kirillov at Kindle Direct Publishing

KDP Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please delete it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

All artwork can be purchased as unique NFTs through www.opensea.io.

KDP, Shanghai, 2021

Copyright © 2021 Luis Portas and Victor Kirillov

All rights reserved

Under International, European and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system, without permission from the authors.

Inquiries should be sent directly to Luis Portas and Victor Kirillov.

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Table of Contents

Preface

West Nanjing Road

Xizang Middle Road

Jiujiang Road

Weihai Road

Jing’an

Maoming North Road

Nanjing East Road

Shitang Long

Pudong

Century Avenue - Lujiazui

Lujiazui East Road

Pudong II

The authors

Index

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Preface

This entire preface was written by GPT-3³, an Open AI’s text generator. The generator was fed with the following prompt: ‘This is not a retroactive manifesto for Shanghai. The authors see Shanghai’s urban architecture as a constant mutating organism, evolving and growing in time. One that can no longer be contained nor fully understood. Instead, this book dwells into the authors’ experience in Shanghai, where their combined living spans over 15 years’. From 15 resulting texts automatically generated by the GPT-3, the authors selected and edited the following preface:

This should not be considered to be a work that is finished.

Although the authors have been on the cutting edge of Chinese social and political modernisation, their goal is to report an experience of contemporary China and a shared culture. Their aim is to bring Chinese culture and the urban development framework, from its historical and contemporary forms to its contemporary modes of life, and into its modern forms of communication.

As such, this book is directed for young architects. The ones that face the plethora of information connecting design to parametric technology, while becoming increasingly distant from the mutant urban reality.

There are no academic or technical subjects. You will find that this is a well-rounded book containing practical examples for the young, and a sense of personal accomplishment through the creative process as well. The ideas in this book are all inspired by the lives of both authors.

The primary aim of this book is to give an overview of the culture and history of Shanghai through the lens of two architects. This focus will have implications for the current state of urban history of Shanghai, and the future the city. It aims to lead to a broader discussion about the historical character of today’s Shanghai, and one that will include a broad discussion about how the shanghai has played an important role in recent urban culture through China.

The most enduring social change in China took place in the early years of the twentieth century. In a series of dramatic changes in urban culture. Although the Chinese have lived in a different socio-historical and political landscape than most of the developed world, it was not a change of political discourse, but a change in living conditions and technological advances that catapulted them to the future. For these reasons and more, Shanghai is the central piece in the history and culture of China — an architecture with implications that has sprung with incredible success.

It does not matter whether you believe in anything that is presented, or whether you don't believe in a single aspect of contemporary China. This is a work of inspiration. But here, also we have something else important to bring to light: The personal experiences that are shared, and also opinions, led into today’s reality. The experience have not just been unique and rich, but have been a real source of great joy’ and happiness for the authors as residents of Shanghai. In part, they possess an unbridled knowledge of China’s many cities’ with diverse historical and cultural values and its wide range of ethnicities. Delirious Shanghai is filled with potential for a world-weary reader’ who will see this book as an attempt to change the prevailing discourse on cities’ and to offer a new perspective on Shanghai’s urban planning to citizens.

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Although the authors have stated that they seek to be as creative as possible with their work, for them, Shanghai is something of a melting pot. Something to be explored through future times. Shanghai has many interesting cultural landscapes and interesting spatial locations, but this is not to say that it is the only subject of study. Delirious Shanghai highlights how humans with different cultures and trainings can design and adapt to living in a vibrant city, that is also a place of continuous discovery. As an international community with strong urban traditions, we can build a city that is both safe and welcoming ’with a sense of community’. The kind that can be embraced with a sense of love and optimism and a sense of solidarity. In so doing, we hope to build on the power of China, and our unique experience.

I wish I could say this book is a 'perfect example of how to develop urban design in Shanghai, but all I can say is that I would recommend to anyone who wants to write a book about this city to make it as an interesting novel. For those who expect Delirious Shanghai to capture the rich history of the city, I admit they will find it lacking the much needed depth, and recommend to search other titles instead. This culmination of shared experiences within the city in particular, and Asia in general, the reader will be able to understand that Shanghai is one of the most advanced cities in the world, not just because of its untamed colourful, vibrant architecture but also because of its strong emphasis on freedom and opportunity, freedom in urbanisation, opportunity in innovation. The authors experience in Shanghai, their home and their own uniqueness, often generate conflicting ideas about the place. As one reads more about their experiences, also the interest in the study of urban and suburban planning grows exponentially.

Shanghai's population now sits at 25 million inhabitants. (This figure is based on projections of the Shanghai Urbanization Project that have been published in a number of scientific journals, as well as in the United Nations Population Fund.) Population increases at a rate of 3% a year are seen as a major cause of death in urban areas. Interestingly recent years have captured a dramatic increase in mortality rates of 30% in Shanghai. 7.2 million lives saved from suicide every year are attributed to urban planning. Still, despite being international dwellers, the authors feel this has been the safest city they have ever lived in.

With this in mind, they are able to draw upon their experiences to reconstruct Shanghai’s cultural and economic dynamic in the face of modernity: as an emerging capital, a melting pot of interracial diversity, and a cultural and social capital—as something entirely new all at once—that has long been the province and the region's focal point.

For a city organised through ‘concessions’, interdisciplinary culture, and a city under the communist