China is not only a very interesting market in macroeconomic terms but it also holds great business opportunities for German architects, engineers and planners.
That’s why in 2018, the Network for Architecture Exchange NAXNAX Netzwerk Architekturexport wanted to build on the success of its urbanisation congress in Beijing in 2016 and conduct a delegation trip to Beijing and Shanghai for the second time to once again present German architectural services with a broad program.
Thanks to the support of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the support of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI), this delegation trip took place between 30/10 until 3/11/2018 with a delegation of NAX partners and member offices and was accompanied by BMU sub-department head Dr. Ulrich Hatzfeld.
Below, you will find a brief overview of the events as well as further reports and photo galleries on our website about the individual points.
The kick-off for the event week was a panel discussion in the German Embassy in Beijing on the topic “Architecture, Culture and Cautious City Making – Ideas and Inspirations between Germany and China” (30/10). Moreover, the NAX took part in the workshop “Industrial Legacy, Sustainable Future” of the Urbane Transitions Alliance (UTA) of our partner ICLEI, where 30 German and Chinese representatives taking part in the UTA program exchanged information on the sustainable transitionof urban regions.
The travel agend also included a visit to the trade fair Fenestration Bau China – together with a Meet & Greet with BMI Secretary of State Gunther Adler at the booth of NAX partner JUNG (31/10) as well as a visit to the urban planning museum of Beijing.
The core event of the delegation trip in Beijing was a Multistakeholder-Workshop (1/11) on the topic of “Cautious Urban Renewal- Innovative Urban and Environmental Planning for Megacities in China“ which started on the evening before with a Connecting Evening with Pecha Kucha presentations by the workshop participants.
Delegational Programm: “NAX GOES CHINA II”NAX
The second part of the NAX delegation trip led the participants to Shanghai. Here, the prelude was a Networking dinner (2/11), where the delegation members mingled with representatives of the Chinese building industry as well as participants of the roundtable scheduled for the following day at Tongji University.
The core event of the trip in Shanghai was then the abovementioned roundtable “Urban Regeneration” (3/11) at the famous Tongji University, where approx. 30 participants from architecture and research debated creative approaches to the topic.
The trip was rounded off through professionally guided excursions on urban regeneration trends and developments in both cities.
The feedback from all participants and partners, the guests and Chinese cooperation partners, was very positive everywhere. New contacts were established and cooperations were initiated, above all at municipal level. A speedy follow-up on the discussions started and further development of the already broached project ideas and cooperations is planned for the future.
Also, the NAX exhibition “Contemporary Architecture, Made in Germany“ could be presented during the trip to a larger audience at the same time within the scope of the workshop at the German Centre Beijing and at the German Embassy in Beijing.
Competitionline has accompanied the NAX delegation trip and will report about this in 2019 as well as about the Chinese market. A link to the article follows at this point.
We would like to thank all participants for their commitment and proactive participation. Moreover, we owe a heartfelt thank you to our partners in Germany and China who have helped make the conversion of our ideas into a successful event week a reality and were decisively involved in their implementation:
