31 October 2024 marks the 10th annual World Cities Day, a day designated by the United Nations General Assembly starting from 2014 to promote the international community’s interest in global urbanisation.
This year World Cities Day was marked in Shanghai by a series of events including the Yangtze River Delta Construction Science and Technology Conference, where Hassell Principal Andrew Wilkinson was invited to attend the opening ceremony and give a keynote speech.
This year’s theme for World Cities Day was ‘Youth Leading Climate and Local Action for Cities’, acknowledging the role that young people play in bringing innovative solutions to climate challenges and promoting resilience and sustainability in urban areas.
In Andrew’s presentation, he reinforced Hassell’s involvement in the Yangtze Delta River area, right back from Alibaba’s first campus that we designed for the company in Hangzhou to the recent USTC Business School in Hefei. Titled ‘Innovative places people love’, Andrew also shared two Hassell projects in his speech that are due for completion soon – the Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility First Building in Sydney and Zhangjiang Pharmaceutical Campus in Shanghai.
"World Cities Day reminds us of the collective responsibility we have in shaping sustainable, resilient, and regenerative cities. Through design, we have the opportunity to work with communities to create places that not only address current needs but also restore and strengthen our urban environments for the future," said Andrew.
On the same day of the opening ceremony, Hassell Senior Associate Shuya Xu attended a panel discussion at IMPACT X Summit on the topic Urban Transformation 2030 – also part of the World Cities Day events. The panel was moderated by Lauren Sorkin, Executive Director at Resilient Cities Network. Other panellists include Andy Hodgson, Director and Global Advisory Services Leader at Arup and Yupei Lai, Senior Engineer at Shenzhen Institute of Architectural Research Co. The panel discussed around how to strengthen climate adaptation and resilient through multistakeholder collaboration.
“Hassell’s projects are great examples of the topic, including the Tongzhou Central Green Forest Park in Beijing and Park Avenue Central (PAC) in Shanghai. We have also developed a community engagement toolkit for urban projects, and the Longgang River Blueway is one of the best examples,” said Shuya.
The soon to be opened project Park Avenue Central by Hassell was also exhibited in the 2024 China Urban Construction Expo at the same venue of the conference.
On the next day, as part of the campaign, Hassell Business Development Manager Xixi Peng also hosted a delegation from Espoo, a city of Finland led by the deputy mayor on West Bund and introduced Hassell’s contribution to the development of one of the most popular waterfront destinations in Shanghai.
The goal of World Cities Day is to push forward co-operation among countries to meet opportunities addressing the challenges of urbanisation and contribute to sustainable urban development around the world. And incidentally, the idea of a World Cities Day was conceived during the 2010 World Expo which took place in Shanghai, China, under the theme of ‘Better City, Better Life’.
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Isabel Tang
Media Relations
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E itang@hassellstudio.com
Thomas Xu
Business Development Leader
T +86 21 5456 3525
E TXu@hassellstudio.com
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