Exploring Cities Since 2021
The Origin: City Designers
The Urban Explorers initiative began in 2021, when I began leading friends and family on tours around Shanghai on weekends and holidays. That year, I also founded a sustainable urban planning club in school with my twin sister called "City Designers," which we have been running ever since.
In our weekly sessions, we shared urban design practices from around the world with students. We explored the design of metro systems, waterfronts and pocket squares, culminating in a project where students designed districts of an imaginary city by themselves.
This website is an extension of our founding vision. Expanding beyond our school community, I built this platform so more people from around the world can share their views of cities. We hope you can join us too!
Featured Posts
Urban Renewal, Inclusive City
Reinterpreting Architectural Heritage: Reflecting the Past and Shaping the Future in the Adaptive Reuse of Columbia Circle
Adaptive reuse has gained impetus in recent years as a sustainable approach that lengthens the life of historic buildings while ensuring they are compatible with the demands and values of modern society. Situated in Shanghai’s Xinhua Road historical neighborhood, Columbia Circle became one of Shanghai’s most high-profile adaptive reuse projects upon its completion in 2018. The diverse colonial and industrial past lives of Columbia Circle provided fertile soil for its transformation into a vibrant cultural hub with creative offices, shops, and restaurants but also raised questions surrounding the adaptive reuse of historical heritage. How should we balance preservation and rehabilitation? Is the reinterpretation of historic heritage ever justifiable? Past research often focuses on physical and material changes accompanying adaptive reuse but neglects social and cultural transformations. This paper discusses Columbia Circle’s adaptive reuse through a cultural lens and argues that the daring reinterpretation of identity extricated the site from the constraints of its historical connotations of exclusivity. Changes in the interactions and perceptions associated with Columbia Circle forged a new inclusive, open, and tolerant space that has become central to fostering community wellbeing and cohesion. Beyond the surface-level changes, this intrinsic change engendered Columbia Circle’s economic and social success. This paper explores theoretical perspectives, architectural rehabilitation, and spatial reorganization to present Columbia Circle as a testament to Shanghai’s introspection of its conflicting past and a microcosm of its future ambitions.
Urban Renewal, Sustainable City
A Novel Solar-Assisted Air Source Heat Pump System for Urban Renewal: Experimental Test and Numerical Simulation
Old residential communities require novel heating solutions to meet heating demands sustainably. In Southern China, current heating systems in old communities have high energy costs and lack sustainability. A potential solution, air source heat pumps (ASHP), have evaporators susceptible to frost accumulation and poor heating performance at low ambient temperatures. This study proposes a hybrid design that uses additional solar thermal energy to improve energy gains from the air source; the innovative serial coupling design increases the air-source temperature by engineering the evaporator of the ASHP as the load-side of the heat exchanger. The novel hybrid design aims to be efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable, satisfying urban redevelopment needs. A prototype of the novel hybrid solar-assisted ASHP system was constructed; various performance parameters were evaluated, and system operation in extreme climates was simulated in TRNSYS. Results indicated that the novel hybrid system had significantly superior heating performance, delivering a 70.1% improvement in heating rate compared to single-source ASHP under lower ambient temperatures (13°C). The novel hybrid system also had a high COP value between 5.7 and 6.3, significantly exceeding values of 2.3-3.5 for most air-conditioning units. It demonstrates consistent performance in all simulated climates. It is estimated that the novel hybrid system can save 1000 RMB in annual energy costs for an average Shanghai family and reduce Shanghai’s CO2 emissions by 4.7 million tons. The novel system addressed limitations of ASHP, optimizing performance while maintaining sustainability, offering a promising solution for urban renewal projects in China.
City Walk
Scavenger Hunt
In this bustling metropolis of over 20 million people, urban spaces are often seen as purely transitory, an expansive void between destinations…
Through City Tour, we try to tell a different story. One where the 1930s apartment buildings, colonial villas, and plane trees are the protagonists of stories punctuated by pioneering literati, fervent politicians, daring entrepreneurs, and countless people of diverse backgrounds who sought belonging.
We try to discover the hidden beauty of Shanghai, its past and present, as well as the sense of belonging to the city
On 4 April 2024, on a beautiful spring day in Shanghai, I organized a city walk to uncover the hidden beauty of the city. Our group of more than 30 members were from all over the world. They are students, lawyers, business executives, coaches, teachers, and people from other industries.
We started from the Pathe Villa, where the National Anthem of China was recorded, and ended in the Shanghai Music Conservatory. This way, we started from music and ended in music.
In between, we designed a series of scavenger hunt which included some cool places, motifs, and questions for the tour participants to find and answer.
We uncovered the conspicuous story of the inconspicuous building just opposite of Pathe villa—Overseas Chinese’s apartment. We were amazed to find that it is the first commercial residential building in PRC , with imported floor materials, heating and lift for buildings with seven floors.
We also explored the former residence of the famous theorist and playwright. It is a well-proportioned Spanish apartment building with a smart style.
We were all amazed by the resemblance between the famous Wukang Mansion and the flatiron building in Manhattan.
We spotted the art deco along the way, including geometric ornamentation, low relief decorative panels, accentuating 3-D qualities, vertical linearity.
We appreciated the Tudor style of building—decorative half-timbering …steep roof…masonry chimney
We also notice details on Wukang Road: Chinese ceramic tile, pilaster wall, Romeo and Juliet balconies
Just as Alessandro Michele put it, “This is something in Shanghai that is very exciting and active- the idea of a city with two different souls, one from today and another from a long time ago, is amazing.”
Marveling at the hidden beauty of Shanghai, we were gripped by a sense of pride and belonging to the city. Never before were we driven by a strong will to uncover more hidden beauties of Shanghai and beyond…
Please join us and share your experiences of the city you love.
How to Get Involved?
We are very excited to see how you will contribute to Urban Explorers. Before you start, here is a quick guide:
Choose your city
You can write about any city you are passionate, but it should be one where you have spent a considerable amount of time and had the opportunity to explore off the beaten track. It would be great if this is the city you currently live in so you can organize tours.
Choose your theme
Urban Explorers will not be like your conventional tourist guidebook. Think about your interests - whether that be history, culture, art, science, literature, film, music - and how you can explore the city through this perspective.
For instance, if you love history, maybe show us some places where important events took place or famous individuals resided. If you love literature or film, you could organize a tour inspired by your favorite book or movie.
Choose your format
You are free to create articles (writing with photos), graphics (original art, maps), short films, audio recordings. If you want to try something else, just ask! Use whichever format you think will be most effective in communicating your point.
Produce your work
As you are producing your work, here are a few questions to keep in mind:
Is your work demonstrating how you engage with the city? Does it illustrate your interests and passions?
Is your work showing parts of the city that you might not find on a conventional tourist guide? Are you showing us places that the usual tourist wouldn't know about?
Are you telling a story? If you are writing about different locations, can you link them together in some way?
Submit your work
Feel free to send your work to my email: michael.gan0907@hotmail.com