Beijing Danwei at Beijing Design Week

Danwei—these were urban sectors in China that were characterized by close links between work, residence, and social facilities. They are the material product of socialist city planning and therefore provide an urban experience that forms a stepping stone between the hutongs of the imperial capital and the superblocks of the present-day metropolis. Contrary to the disused industrial sites in western cities that often disrupt the continuity and scale of the urban fabric, the danweis have a much closer relationship to the historical, as well as the contemporary city. In modern-day Beijing, the danweis represent a unique experimental field of urban design. Beijing Danwei looks at the history and future of former danweis and presents exemplary strategies for dealing with industrial heritage.

Edited by Michele Bonino and Filippo de Pieri, including essays by the editors and by Pierre-Alain Croset, Gary Hack, Thomas Herzog, Li Weidong, Liu Boying, Liu Jian, Lu Duanfang and Zhu Wenyi. With a visual essay by Jia Yue and Maria Paola Repellino.

Opening speeches: Enrico Macii (Vice-president, Politecnico di Torino), Zhang Li (Tsinghua

University)

Discussants: Florence Graezer Bideau (Ecole Politecnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Francesca

Frassoldati (South China University of Technology)

Attending: the editors and the authors

An event promoted by the Italian Cultural Institute at the Embassy of Italy (Beijing), with Politecnico di Torino and Tsinghua University

Danwei—these were urban sectors in China that were characterized by close links between work, residence, and social facilities. They are the material product of socialist city planning and therefore provide an urban experience that forms a stepping stone between the hutongs of the imperial capital and the superblocks of the present-day metropolis. Contrary to the disused industrial sites in western cities that often disrupt the continuity and scale of the urban fabric, the danweis have a much closer relationship to the historical, as well as the contemporary city. In modern-day Beijing, the danweis represent a unique experimental field of urban design. Beijing Danwei looks at the history and future of former danweis and presents exemplary strategies for dealing with industrial heritage.

Edited by Michele Bonino and Filippo de Pieri, including essays by the editors and by Pierre-Alain Croset, Gary Hack, Thomas Herzog, Li Weidong, Liu Boying, Liu Jian, Lu Duanfang and Zhu Wenyi. With a visual essay by Jia Yue and Maria Paola Repellino.

Opening speeches: Enrico Macii (Vice-president, Politecnico di Torino), Zhang Li (Tsinghua

University)

Discussants: Florence Graezer Bideau (Ecole Politecnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Francesca

Frassoldati (South China University of Technology)

Attending: the editors and the authors

An event promoted by the Italian Cultural Institute at the Embassy of Italy (Beijing), with Politecnico di Torino and Tsinghua University