Karsten Alt

    ONE of Shenzhen’s biggest advantages is that its culture is completely different to any other Chinese or Asian city. This is comparable with the way American culture took some old habits from Europe but developed in its own way to become the American way of life. In a similar way Shenzhen has many people from all over China and even abroad, all these people form one big melting pot and a brand new culture is being created.

    Sometimes people think Shenzhen is a good place for making money but not for living. But Shenzhen’s attractiveness as a place to live is increasing. One telling factor is that an increasing number of residents are choosing to stay in Shenzhen over the Spring Festival holiday. Shenzhen does not need the typical Chinese historical atmosphere some foreign tourists prefer to see. Shenzhen is distinct because it is a product of modern China.

    But Shenzhen should combine traditional and modern Chinese cultural habits, along with cosmopolitan Western cultural habits but not simply copying them.

    Shenzhen, with its surrounding cities and natural resources, will provide a high living standard which cannot be easily reached in other Chinese cities. It is strategically the center of Guangdong Province, so Hong Kong and Shenzhen will become so close that it will be seen as one metropolitan area. This metropolis will have high importance in South East Asia.

    What Shenzhen people, Chinese and foreign, need most is a sense of local identity. The city must not be seen as a temporary working or living space. If the Shenzhen people could reach this spirit, the cultural life and atmosphere would reach another level. To achieve this, besides economic growth, cultural and environmental development is important.

    A good human and cultural environment is needed for the growth of fresh ideas and the development of culture. Being a young city with a young population is one of Shenzhen’s advantages. Young people keep a city young and give it a fresh spirit of continuous growth. Educated young people respect and develop traditions and culture into the next generation.

    Shenzhen needs cultural sub-centers in which public daily life and individual and unique cultural life are mixed. Every vibrant and cultural city should have its own distinct restaurants, bars, Chinese tea houses, cinemas, art galleries, small and big theaters. Design and art will flourish in such an environment.

    Shenzhen can become a design city with great modern buildings and urban environment. But the approach to design needs to be cosmopolitan to compete with other important international cities. But this approach must be cultivated locally, it cannot be imported. People from different professional fields should be brought together to exchange information and help create ideas.

    Shenzhen is, will and should be a young, vibrant and modern metropolis. Its importance has not yet fully shown, but it will turn out in future.

    (The author is manager of Architecture Design Dept. of HUASEN Architects.)