Shan Shui, Ren Qing: Re-envisioning Chinese Cities with Eastern Genius Loci - Presentation by Weiming Lu February 2, 2012

Chinese cities have been undergoing rapid changes. Historic fabrics are fast disappearing. New additions tend to be poor transplants from somewhere else, bearing no relationship to local history and roots. Massive numbers of people migrate from the countryside to cities. As cities have become formless, people are becoming rootless. Farsighted Chinese planners recognize an urgent need to address these problems, and capture the new opportunities under the rapid growth.

Shan in Chinese means mountain, Shui means water. Building cities with Shan Shui spirit means shaping the urban development in harmony with nature. Ren in Chinese means human being; Qing, feeling and love. Building a city with much Ren Qing means creating a community responsive to human needs, and community spirit.
Weiming Lu presents his view of how Shan Shui may be used as a framework for re-envisioning Chinese cities, how Shan Shui Ren Qing planning principles may be applied to today's place making, and how the genius loci of Chinese cities may be regenerated in the global village today.

Urban planner Weiming Lu served for many years as Executive Director of the Lowertown Redevelopment Corporation in St. Paul. Lu has lectured extensively around the world and has written widely on many topics relating to urban planning. He has served on numerous boards, ranging from reconstruction in South Central Los Angeles to planning for the Beijing Olympics, and from Chinatown in Singapore to the South of Market area of San Francisco. He has served as planning advisor to the mayors of Beijing and Taipei. As a member of the Committee of 100, an organization of Chinese-American leaders in arts, academia, business, and science, he authored a position paper on improving relations between the United States and China. He worked with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and other Asian artists and the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota in arranging a memorial concert known as Hun Qiao, which commemorated the Asian holocaust in World War II (May 2001). Lu is also an accomplished Chinese calligrapher, whose work has been exhibited in a number of art galleries.

Official Website: http://www.ias.umn.edu/thursdayscals12.php