Taixing Street

Taixing Street

Taixing Street is a normal street among “Lilon” housing ,extends south from Xinza street north to the Suzhou river ,in Jing’an district ,Shanghai ,China ,which was rented by France in early 20C.

It was formed in 1920s when the “Lilon” housings were builted along it, which were only builted in Shanghai in a special period with characters of Chinese and western architectures. These housings composed the texture of Shanghai, so the street among these housings such as Taixing Street reflected the character of the city, became the way people to recognize the city. But in the fast development of Shanghai, rebuilding of downtown, we get more comfortable living condition ,but loose the characters of the streets and memory of the city.This is why I want to show the transformation of Taixing Street, one example of this kind of streets.

In old days Taixing Street was full of activities, such as children playing here, old people resting here, sellers hawking here, people talking and crossing here and so on. This was the results of the characters of the street. First, the interface of the street was continuous commercial architectures which provided the possibility to make people come here. Second, there were lots of lanes connected to the street from the housings, which make people easy to arrive the street. Third, Taixing Street was 10 meters wide with 9 meters high buildings along it, so the proportion of the street is intimate. These elements together make Taixing Street charmy.

In 2000, the old, less than 10 meters high Lilon housings were rebulited to new housings which include 100 meters and 25 meters buildings. At the same time the character of the Taixing road is change. First, like other new residence areas in china the new housings are surrounded by the metal barriers, so the interface of the street is no longer architecture and without commerce along it, then, people can do nothing to this street except croosing. Second, there is only one gate of the housings no longer lots of point connected to the street from housings. This make it difficult for the people living in the housings to arrive at the street. Third, the building along the street is nearly 100 meters high and the street is 10 metres wide, so the proportion of the street is not comfortable. Then Taixing road is no longer charmy without children playing, old people resting, sellers hawking just with cars and bikes crossing .You will not recognize it again.

The characters of streets are the main way from which people to recognize a city. As other streets in center of the city, Taixing Street lost its characters, at the same time Shanghai is losing himself in the fast development.

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