No doubt, a few angry fingers were wagged in Xi'an, Shaanxi province after a superblock of apartments was built where an eight-lane highway was supposed to go. The solution: just build the highway though it.
We've looked at some questionable Chinese design and construction choices on these pages before, but this one may take the cake.
"Blundering Chinese officials were forced to cut a motorway in half to go around a block of flats after they accidentally erected the building in its proposed path then realised it would cost too much to relocate the tenants," writes Simon Tomlinson. "Construction workers had to squeeze the eight-lane highway into four and subsequently left furious residents stuck in the middle of a busy road."
"But the road has been branded a waste of time and money as it has done little to solve the problem of rush-hour congestion that it was designed to solve."
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Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
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ULI Northwest Arkansas
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
