Globilization and emerging office and commercial landscapes in Shanghai

Office and commercial infrastructure in urban China largely disappeared during the period of central planning between 1949 and 1978. The role of downtown areas in China’s cities, however, has been reinvented as a result of China’s global integration. In Shanghai, comprehensive planning efforts were made for the renovation of the CBD and the restructuring of the inner city. This article examines the emergence of office and commercial landscapes by linking planning implementation to broad market transition. It argues that the emergence of office and commercial centers in Shanghai can be viewed as the result of market forces as well as discretionary implementation of city comprehensive plans by local governments in the inner city—in response to global integration on the one hand and investor interests on the other.