Shelter + Economy, Shanghai (Justin)

Justin Lai

Nov. 1st, 2010

Shanghai Economy

• Shanghai is often regarded as the centre of finance and trade in mainland China. Modern development began with the economic reforms in 1992, a decade later than many of the Southern Chinese provinces, but since then Shanghai quickly overtook those provinces and maintained its role as the business centre in mainland China. Shanghai also hosts the largest share market in mainland China.
• According to official statistics from 2005, the non-state sector has grown to generate 42.5 percent of Shanghai's GDP, while the reformed state-sector generates 57.5 percent of GDP.
• Since 2005, Shanghai has ranked first of the world's busiest cargo ports throughout, handling a total of 560 million tons of cargo in 2007.
• Shanghai has strong links to both the Chinese interior and the central government, and a strong base in manufacturing and technology. Shanghai has increased its role in finance, banking, and as a major destination for corporate headquarters, fueling demand for a highly educated and modernised workforce. Shanghai has recorded a double-digit growth for 15 consecutive years since 1992. In 2008, Shanghai's nominal GDP posted a 9.7% growth to 1.37 trillion yuan. The Shanghai Stock Exchange is the world's fastest growing, with the Shanghai Composite Index growing 130% in 2006.
• Industrial zones in Shanghai include Shanghai Hongqiao Economic and Technological Development Zone, Jinqiao Export Economic Processing Zone, Minhang Economic and Technological Development Zone, and Shanghai Caohejing High and New Technological Development Zone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai#Economy

Shanghai economy in 2010:

• Shanghai has set a GDP growth rate target for the year of more than 8 percent, almost the same as 2009's economic development rate.
• The city's GDP growth was estimated to be more than 8 percent last year, a little lower than the average national level. Total retail sales of consumer goods rose by about 14 percent and growth of fixed assets investment was around 10 percent in 2009.
• The targeted rate was a suitable development speed for Shanghai, which was hit by the global financial crisis during its economic restructure transition.
• “Regulation and control in the real estate market will be improved to help it develop in a healthy and sustainable way. And 500,000 new jobs will be created to keep the unemployment rate around 4.5 percent.”
• Taking up only 0.06% of the country's land area, Shanghai now generates about 8.3% of China's gross industrial output value, 10% of its ports' cargo-throughput, 25% of the total value of the country's imports and exports and 12.5% of the total revenue of China.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/shanghai/economy.htm
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/90862/6864381.html

Settlement/Real Estate in Shanghai:

• The 2000 census put the population of Shanghai Municipality at 16.738 million, including the migrant population, which made up 3.871 million. Since the 1990 census the total population had increased by 3.396 million, or 25.5%.
• By the end of 2004, Shanghai's population stood at 16.7022 million, according to China Statistics 2005. Of those, 1.469 million (8.8%) were in the age group of 0–14, 12.661 million (75.8%) between 15 and 64 and 2.572 million (15.4%) were older than 65.
• As of 2008, the population of long-term residents reached 18.88 million, including an officially registered permanent population of 13.71 million, and 4.79 million of registered long-term migrants from other provinces, many from Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang Provinces^.
• According to the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau, there were 133,340 foreigners in Shanghai in 2007. Some foreign expatriates are staying in Shanghai as long-term settlers, In addition, there are a large number of people from Taiwan for business (estimates vary from 350,000 to 700,000).
• By 2009, the South Korean communities in Shanghai also increased to more than 70,000. The average life expectancy in 2006 was 80.97 years, 78.67 for men and 82.29 for women. Average annual disposable income of Shanghai residents, based on the first three quarters of 2009, is 21,871 RMB.
• Although total area of newly constructed homes sold doubled last year in Shanghai, supply is vastly inadequate to meet the demands of both investors looking to profit — wealthy Chinese and foreigners descending upon Shanghai — and the 1980s baby boom generation now of marrying age, and who would rather not move in with their parents.
• Over the last five years, Shanghai’s average property prices have doubled to a record RMB14,986 ($2,204) per square meter, according to Shanghai’s Uwin Real Estate Information Services, far outpacing the rise in middle class income.
• The average home in the city's center costs about RMB34,638 ($5,094) per square meter — or the equivalent of $473,216 for a 1,000 square foot condo.
• For about RMB1 million ($150,000), you can afford a yet-to-be-built 90 square meter (970 square feet), two-bedroom condo last June on the edge of Jiading District, the outermost suburb of Shanghai. Su’s parents ran the year-long home search process as well, going out nearly every weekend to see new and recently built condos. When they watched prices jump 20 percent in April alone, they panicked. They called friends and, through a back door connection, jumped the waiting line for a condo in this building.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-and-its-neighbors/100302/china-economy-shanghai-real-estate-marriage

Labor, employment/unemployment

Unemployment rate: The percentage of people out of the total labor force who are currently out of work but are seeking work.

• By the end of 2008, Shanghai employed 9.4607 million people.
• Of the total, 1.4073 million, or 14.9%, were hired by the state enterprises and institutions
• 1.8888 million, or 20%, were employed by collectively-owned work units
• 1.3279 million, or 14%, worked in overseas-funded enterprises
• 2.9968 million, or 31.6%, worked at private businesses.
• The registered unemployment rate in the city’s urban areas stood at 4.2% in late 2008.
• Main exports are: Appliances, Building Materials, Cermaics, Chemicals, Garments/Shoes, Leather Products, Mechanical equipment, Pharmaceuticals, Platics, Rubber products, Textiles
• History of unemployment rate for Shanghai: 4.9% - 2003, 4.3% - 2007, 4.3% - 2009

http://www.shanghai.gov.cn/shanghai/node17256/node17432/node17435/userobject22ai19.html
http://www.shanghai.gov.cn/shanghai/node17256/node18151/userobject22ai30095.html

Just some research compiled on the city of Shanghai and it's current economical state, will need to try to look deeper at the employment situation as there wasn't much online on details.

Shelter, Shanghai (Maryia)

Posted by Maryia Sakharevich

10/31/10

Settlement patterns

United Nations Human Settlements Programme, The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements, 2003 (Earthscan Publications Ltd, 2003), accessed October 27, 2010, http://books.google.ca/books?id=q4B4YvnUS7cC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

"Slum", at its simplest, is a "heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing and squalor". This definition encapsulates the essential characteristics of slums: high densities and low standards of housing (structure and services) and "squalor". The first two criteria are physical and spatial, while the third is social and behavioural. pg.8

Substantial centres in the developing world during the past 50 years: their business centres were not a historic centre (like in older European cities for example) so they have been purpose built, with access to airports and residential zones of more affluent. The shape of the city has been determined by minibuses and private cars. -pg22

City forms of the developing world can be divided into several types: (pg.22)

-colonial-style cities: well-built formal core, surrounded by large areas of informal settlements; many cities in Africa and South Asia follow this form; inner city area was protected by colonial powers from encroachment; resembles feudal European design of a walled city with poor beyond the walls.

-planned ethnic separation: extreme example of urban social segregation; system is similar for Palestinians working in Israel.

-Saucer: norm for some cities in Eastern Europe; a low-rise centre is surrounded by public housing apartment buildings, which become progressively higher towards the rim, linked to the centre with rapid transit.

-Multi-centres: many South Asian and Latin American cities follow this system; multi-centred and amorphous because have been built from the beginning around motorized transport and walking; high income areas surround the concrete canyons of business districts; large tracts of poor-quality low-income housing in older inner areas, in squatter zones on the fringe of fragile land; in some Asian cities there are no identifiable slum areas of more than a few blocks.

Slums can be broken into two major categories with 2 subcategories in each: (pg.80)

-declining areas ("old" city centre slums and "new" slum estates)

-progressive settlements (squatter settlements and semi-legal subdivisions)

Inner-city Slums: (pg.80) gave birth to the concept of slums: whereby central, prosperous residential areas of cities undergo deterioration as their original owners move out to newer and more fashionable residential areas. Since originally built for middle/high-income groups, areas are well serviced but over time dwellings are increasingly subdivided and level of overcrowding grows, strain on those services can reach breaking point.

Slum Estates: (pg.81) structures are relatively new and not in private ownership; ex. include public housing estates and housing built by industry or to house industrial workers. Also embrace tied workers' housing that was built by employers for use of their work force during the period of their employment; suffer greatly b/c of lack of any occupant involvement in maintenance thus leading to rapid deterioration.

Squatter settlements: (pg.83) one of the most important components of slum housing stock; squatters: people who occupy land without the explicit permission of the owner; thus these settlements are established by illegally building houses on a piece of land; includes houses on pavements and rooftops; called self-built or spontaneous settlements. Generally found in developing countries.

Illegal settlements and subdivisions: (pg.83)widespread on fringes of cities; this is where land has been subdivided, resold, rented by its legal owner to people to build their houses upon it. Illegal owing to several factors such as lack of building permits and planning, low standard of services/infrastructure, etc.

Recent slums are newer and unconsolidated; expressed in poorer, less permanent materials (ex. used corrugated metal sheets, straightened oil drums, plastic sheets, cardboard cartons, etc) esp. where residents are unsure of how long they'll be able/allowed to stay. (pg.84)

Land Tenure

Alain Durand-Lasserve and Lauren Royston, Holding Their Ground: Secure Land Tenure for the Urban Poor in Developing Countries (Earthscan Publications Ltd, 2002), accessed October 27, 2010, http://books.google.ca/books?id=DcrLxppydcQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

Populations living in irregular urban settlements are all confronted with the same set of interrelated problems: they have limited access to basic services and they have no security of tenure. Some forms of residential tenure arrangement can guarantee a reasonably good level of security. Recognition by the community itself and by the neighbourhood is often more important than recognition by public authorities for ensuring secure tenure. (pg 6)

Squatter settlements are more exposed to forced evictions, esp. those located on private land in prime urban areas that are therefore subject to high market pressures, and those that occupy hazardous or dangerous sites; the poorest communities are esp. vulnerable to external pressures. (pg.6)

Four main factors contribute to protection of household from forced eviction: (pg.7)

-length of occupation (older settlements have better level of legitimacy)

-size of settlement (small are more vulnerable)

-level of cohesion of community organization

-support from third sector organizations

There is a "diversity to rights to land and the existence of a wide range of options, from full ownership to less exclusive forms of possession and use. There is a possible coexistence in one place of forms of tenure that give access to different rights and a continuum between forms of tenure." (pg.8)

"Security of tenure describes an agreement between an individual or group to land and residential property which is governed and regulated by administrative framework. ...The tenure can be affected in a variety of ways, depending on constitutional and legal framework, social norms, cultural values and... individual preference. ... A person can be said to have secure tenure when they are protected from involuntary removal from their land or residence... " (pg 8)

Shanghai and Lilong Housing

Qian Guan, Lilong Housing, A Traditional Settlement Form (M.Arch Thesis, School of Architecture McGill University, 1996).

Street networks in Shanghai: (chapter 2)

-streets 6.6-8m wide, 35-45m intervals

-doesn't follow traditional Chinese pattern (streets running S, N, E, W); has streets facing these directions but they are never straight and thus street pattern is crooked

-no grid system; organic street pattern resulted in blocks varying in sized and shapes

Lilong Housing (chapter 2)

- during the open trade period (1852-1949) Shanghai's population increasing rate reached 902%

-most people were engaged in commercial or business activities, thus prosperity was expressed by vast array of shops and recreation, thus street facade became reserved for commercial activities

-in order to accommodate for growing population and the need for a living environment, lilong housing was created (temporary wooden shacks; later after many years became brick or brick-concrete mixed structures). Was integrated into urban street blocks in which shops occupied the street frontage and the housing took the enclosed space

-thus two types of urban spaces were created: outer belt-shaped space (commercial streets, traffic circulation; open and dynamic) and the inner block-type space (rows of low-rise housing; separated from the first, enclosed and safe)

Shelter + Water, Shanghai (Hannah)

Here is what I have come up with so far. I have had most luck finding examples of how urban settlement and houses have influenced water quality in Shanghai, but I am going to keep looking. There are so many aspects of how water and shelter are related in this city, but I figured that water quality and pollution is a good place to start.

Background information on Shanghai, water quality information

When investigating water quality in Shanghai, is it important to consider a variety of contributing factors to the situation. There is evidence that suggests a strong association between land use, population density, and water quality (Yin 2005). The municipality in Shanghai occupies an area of about 6400 km² and it is located on the Yangtze River Delta. This region is a major industrial center in China, producing approximately 4.9% of the nation’s industrial output and 4.2% of gross national product (Bureau 2002). This figure is much higher that to be expected, as the city accounts for 1.2% of the total population of China. Because of the prominence of industry in Shanghai, was quality has often been compromised. Between the mid 1880s and 1949 a few wastewater treatment plants a relatively small area of the city, leaving a large portion of the municipality lacking sewage collection and water delivery systems.

Urban setting and buildings influence on water quality

To understand the relationship between spatial patterns of urbanization and water quality in the city of Shanghai, a study was conducted my Zin-Yong Yin using water quality data of 1995 (Yin 2005). This study was conducted in anticipation that it would help future planning of the city in ways to alleviate water quality problems. In this study, Yin concluded that the intensity of urbanization (represented by the proportion of built up surface in an area) can be related to water quality parameters. As populations increase in the city, and built up surface increases, more runoff occurs, carrying pollutants into the river. Increases in population density also increases the demand for water, and the demand for water treatment. When cities are unable to keep up with these demands in a sustainable manner, water becomes polluted. Point sources in the central city of Shanghai are largely responsible for the pollution of the water in this region.

Sources:

Yin, Zin-Yong et al. (2005). An Analysis of the Relationship Between Spatial Patterns of Water Quality and Urban Development in Shanghai, China. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 29, 197-221

Shanghai Statistical Bureau (2002). The 2001 Year Book, online edition. Available: http://www.statssh.-

gov.cn/shtj/tjnj/2001/tjnj2001.htm.