4Rs Meets 3Rs

In the Hong Kong Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, a display defines the "4Rs of Urban Renewal": Redevelopment, Revitalization, pReservation, and Rehabilitation. Wandering around the Baoshan MRT station in Shanghai today, I thought about those 4Rs and the 3Rs of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle as Shanghai's own urban transformation Rs.

Reduce

a smashed tile floor hints at this demolished longtang's former inhabitants, who were relocated in 2003

Reuse

useable bricks are salvaged. workers are using them to rebuild a segment of the old wall. remnants of the last house of the demolished longtang stands in the background. some workers are now living in its fragile shell.

Recycle

these workers are smashing concrete by hand to reclaim the reinforcing steel.

Just down the street, space under the elevated freeway and the light rail, people Reclaimed space to --you guessed it!-- sell salvaged machinery for Reuse.