At a time when new land resources are getting drained, urban renewal has become an important approach to revive existing land resources. Big cities have recognized the necessity of advocating urban revival and bidding farewell to large-scale tearing-down and reconstruction, but how to better transform old factories, blast furnaces, warehouses, and other industrial facilities to achieve development in urban renewal is now an important task for them.

Recently, an event themed on “reviving industrial ‘rust belt’ ” was held in China Baowu Steel Convention and Exhibition Center. Participants of the event shared design cases, exchanged industrial practices, and discussed how to better promote industrial upgrading and space optimization through design innovation and industrial rebuilding.

Redesigning industrial estates to draw young people

This event was held in Shanghai Stainless Steel’s blast furnace area (the site of former Shanghai No. 1 Steel Plant) where stands a 2,500 m3 blast furnace, a witness of the development of the modern steel industry in China. On October 8, 1999, the blast furnace was lit and put into service, creating a monthly production record in the history of ironmaking design.

Nonetheless, as Baoshan started to restructure its steel industry and Shanghai Stainless Steel followed the national strategy of the supply-side reform, Shanghai Stainless Steel terminated the 2,500 m3 blast furnace and relevant carbon steel production lines in June 2016 and shut down the stainless steel production lines in June 2018 to start the integration of industrials and urban areas.

In July 2018, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government concluded an agreement with China Baowu Steel Group Corporation Limited (“China Baowu”) to jointly promote the comprehensive transformation and upgrading of the Wusong region, kicking off the transformation and upgrading of the stainless steel areas. The reconstruction of Shanghai Stainless Steel’s blast furnace area has become the first project in transforming the Wusong region’s stainless steel areas. This project covers a land area of 59,000 m2 and will have a building area of 37,000 m2 after the reconstruction.

“In addition to clearing-up, we will try our best to preserve some of the old industrial facilities in the reconstruction of the 2,500 m3 blast furnace which kicked off in the spring of 2020”, said Xu Fangming, Vice President and General Manager of the Planning and Development Department of Shanghai Baoland, at the event. Preserving some of the old industrial facilities is one way to maximize their value.

Rendering of the Digital Technology Experience Center of China Steel Museum

According to Xu Fangming, they will soon start the construction of the Digital Technology Experience Center of China Steel Museum based on the Phase I project. They plan to redesign the original gas chamber into a museum. The museum, together with the current convention and exhibition center, will create a peak of the steel culture.

Besides, the inner space of the gas chamber will be reshaped to meet the requirements of the planned digital experience functions. Modernized approaches will be introduced to give the museum an edge over traditional museums. It will not focus on exhibit physical objects; rather, it will allow visitors to experience the process of ironmaking that is replayed with technological means, which will become a popular draw for young people.

Innovations are needed to break up institutional and mechanism bottlenecks in preserving and upgrading old industrial estates

Baoshan, a district once renowned for its developed heavy industries, is striving to transform itself for better development. In renewing existing industrial estates, how to break up institutional and mechanism bottlenecks has become a real headache for the district.

As noted by Wang Jing, Director General of the Planning and Natural Resources Bureau of Baoshan District, Baoshan is transforming itself to bid farewell to the old image of the heavy industry-relied district.

Rendering of Baoyang Road Project of Wusongkou International Scientific Innovation City

Among the existing industrial estates in Baoshan, the Wusong Industrial Zone, as the oldest industrial base, once carried important tasks for the development of the district. However, as time goes on and the industrial restructuring unfolds, the old plants, blast furnaces, warehouses and other old industrial facilities are in urgent need to be renewed. According to the recently issued “Plan for the Construction of Wusong Innovation City”, the Wusong Industrial Zone is selected as the site for the project. Having a total area of about 26 km2, Wusong Industrial Zone will have an area of about 23 km2 to be reconstructed.

As planned, Wusong Innovation City will serve as an important carrier of the functions of the northern subsidiary center of Shanghai, a demonstration zone for the transformation of old industrial bases and urban renewal, a cluster of national innovation and entrepreneurship functions, and an extension of international urban culture and tourism functions.

Rendering of the Pioneering Project of Wusong Innovation City in Baowu Special Steel’s Area

According to Wang Jing, as Baoshan has a large area of industrial lands, it is meaningful to preserve some of the modern industrial legacies of Shanghai. However, they encountered many difficulties in practice, because most of the lands, including buildings above the lands, are in the hands of state-owned enterprises and central enterprises that have different opinions and keep a different pace in transformation. Therefore, it is hard to cover all needs with one plan.

“In renewing the Wusong Industrial Zone, old and new buildings will surely coexist, for which we will push forward innovations in planning and land policies. As for choosing which way to pursue transformation and how to bring inefficient industrial lands into active use, more explorations are needed.”

Rendering of the Pioneering Project of Wusong Innovation City in Baowu Stainless Steel’s Area