Infrastructure Made in China

Maria Paola Repellino

2020

Repellino, Maria Paola. 2020. “Infrastrutture Made in China” Il Giornale dell’Architettura, February 04, 2020.

ISSN 2284-1369

“Extraordinary mega-projects, such as the new Beijing-Daxing International Airport designed by Zaha Hadid (700,000 smq) or the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway (2,066 km long), contribute to the impressive expansion of the infrastructure system with which China is modernizing its functioning. The national planning policies of the last thirty years have driven a radical and unprecedented transformation in spatial, economic and social terms. New infrastructure for mobility crosses the territory: roads, high-speed railways, dams, waterways, ports and airports. These networks intensify in the proximity of metropolitan areas under construction or determine ever denser and larger urban agglomerations. These transformations lead to questions about the rootedness of infrastructure with the territorial support, its relationship with the countryside and rural villages, and the ways and forms in which it permeates and transforms urban spaces.”