Towards modern urban housing: redefining Shanghai's lilong

Abstract

This paper examines both the traditional and the modern aspects of the lilong, traditional low‐rise row houses adapted from the Western tradition to accommodate the families of Chinese workers from the beginning of the Treaty Port era in the late 19th century to the establishment of the People's Republic in 1948. The paper aims to redefine the abstract concept of the lilong, arguing for their potential to be rethought as a typology of low–medium rise‐high density (LMRHD) housing today. In particular, the paper delivers a practical answer to a conceptual question: how does lilong provide the dwelling identity of Shanghai, China, taking into account its form, meaning, and culture? The emergence of both lilong and Western modern housing is rooted in a crisis of space and the economic drive of modern cities. Lilong architecture and the normative living programme embedded in the typology of modern housing have been proper development housing strategies in modern Shanghai. By closely examining both the physical and community aspects that make lilong a mediating agency between Chinese locality and Western modernity, the paper presents the assumption that the architecture of lilong does not confine itself to certain forms or physical configurations; instead it is an “abstract concept” of an urban neighbourhood – the spatial organization, architectural practicality, casual formation of semi‐private space, and community lane‐life – a concept that should be taken into account for the design of urban housing today. The redefinition of lilong is a conceptual idea that will serve as a point of departure for the last part of the paper: a discussion of the possibility to develop this housing strategy for today's situation. This paper also presents the preliminary strategies for the designing of the new LMRHD housing.