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Originally Posted by jbermingham123
i went to ChongQing back in 2017 and was sorely disappointed by the above ground architecture. Yes the city is bulky and massive, and yes the landscape is an incredible place for a city (Pittsburgh is a good analogy, but its even better in that its also a humid subtropical cloud forest), but all the buildings are soul-crushing commie blocks, for lack of a better way of putting it. most of the original city has been bulldozed and replaced with copy/paste megablocks of identical towers, most of which will never be occupied** (see below). very depressing.
That said, the undercity was incredible. the large hill that separates the Yangzi river from the Jialing river (where downtown is) has dozens, if not hundreds, of miles of underground streets crossing from one riverfront to the other through the hill. And these arent mere tunnels, these are underground NEIGHBORHOODS with shops, houses, police stations, etc.. all joined by a labrynth of busy pedestrian staircases and tunnels, traffic tunnels, and transit stations.
**china's real estate bubble is so bad that even as far back as 2017, they already had enough apartments for 4 billion people. (most of them unfinished and built with materials of the worst possible quality). today its closer to 5.5 billion. the state-owned construction companies have now begun resorting to building megaprojects in africa at substantial losses (empty housing blocks in the middle of nowhere with rents 20-30 times what the locals make in a year, all built with imported chinese labor) just to keep the entire economy from collapsing.
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Thanks for the post, I'd love to have seen it then -although more grimy it likely had a whole more heart and community, and streetlife. I recommend you revisit now as 5 years in an interior city equates to more than a decade of change anywhere else in the world. The city was long notorious (especially in China) for its grit and concrete poverty, in contrast to the former regional capital and competition, Chengdu. It's a moniker it still tries to shake off -the one city in China that is full of what we in the West call postwar architecture -modernism and concrete (as opposed to the 90s variety the rest of the country got later).
Nowadays it's the most visited city in the country -possibly the world -(670 million visitors p/a, 100 million overnighting) with the most attractions and grade A attractions, and makes an annual $80 billion from the industry, double from just 4 years before.
Alot of visitors head there for its food and the strong cyberpunk vibes (here is where Cyberpunk 2077 came to study, and where the new Hitman is set):
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There's currently a big rehaul of poverty in China, whose 'urban villages' -semi-legal blocks built in the early years of economic rise - have been undergoing the biggest demolition drive in history. However cities such as CQ and Shenzhen are trying to protect and restore them.
Each neighbourhood is given a project and budget to attract custom -often converted into destinations for the rest of the city, that misses the old Bladerunner style streetlife, and nostalgia of community, independent stores and creatives.
Some areas do the usual thing of introducing livability, new architects, community centres and prettifying their shopping streets -meh:
But there's also a big thing right now of 80s/90s themed nostalgia. Shopping malls are popping up looking like this, sometimes lifting entire facades from other parts of the city:
This is a chichi nightspot of a rooftop bar:
Chongqing is to put it politely - perfectly placed - to make the most of this fad. There is a new 2km district -part of the city centre back in the day, now downtrodden and ignored, that's busy converting itself to the 80s again:
(I get that many people still think China looks like this - but it's actually a trip into nostalgia)
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