With the unfettered ability to zone, plan and fund construction projects, the government of Shanghai is turning the city into what looks like "one immense architectural competition."
"Anyone accustomed to the mixture of incremental improvement but generalized decay of Canadian cities, or the pleasing but rather stagnant cities of Europe, will be blown away by Shanghai.
There's so much money that has rushed into, and through, the city that is transforming itself daily. Sure, there is a worldwide economic slowdown, and critics apparently delight in underscoring how it has hit China. Some hit: a growth rate of 'only' 8 per cent.
The government in Shanghai has powers to rezone land, displace people and pursue projects quickly that don't exist in more democratic societies. In Shanghai, they just go ahead and build the astonishing magnetic train line that takes eight minutes to whisk people to the international airport.
Need rapid transit? Build two sensational, clean subway lines charging passengers about 60 cents, and plan a bunch more. Need a link to the domestic airport? Start building another magnetic train. It's what you can do with money, ambition and power. Plan not for tomorrow, but for a decade from now and beyond."
FULL STORY: From stagnation to swaggering skyscrapers, Shanghai is making up for lost time
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