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Geller reports from Shanghai World Fair

May 26th, 2010 · 12 Comments

I fear that Michael Geller is starving to death on his visit in China, due to a lack of internet connectivity. Here is compilation of a couple messages he has sent out this week and I’m adding a link to his blog post at the Vancouver Sun.

This is quite the popular place for Vancouverites these days, for those who didn’t know. The city of Vancouver sent over its sustainability demo house that it had open at the Olympics and a veritable parade of people from here are making there way over. Among them, Roger Bayley of Merrick Architecture, the design manager for the Olympic Village, is there talking about it as a model of sustainability. But now, heeere’s Michael.

Hello  family and friends…sorry there are no interesting blogs yet, but I cannot write my blog from Shanghai….nor can I get into facebook or twitter!  So I will have to make alternative arrangements.  However, I can say the Shanghai Expo is quite fantastic, and almost surreal….I’m not even Chinese but I am proud for them.

The Expo site is significantly more spread out than our Expo 86 property, (about 7.5 times the size) and the pavilions are much, much more impressive.  It is more reminiscent of the Expo 67 site, where each country built it’s own pavilion, rather than use a ‘standardized’ approach. I have just sent in my first Vancouver Sun story, which will hopefully appear shortly, with pictures, and I’ll get something up on my blog somehow.

In the meanwhile, here are a few photos of the Czech Pavilion which features a map of the old city of Prague…in hockey pucks, the Canada Pavilion, in wood, of cours, and some of the other colourful and unusual sites.  There’s so much to see! (sorry, pix not included here – Eds.)

(next day)

This fair is just like the Olympics, EXPO 86 and the SFU Sustainability course combined…but .with better food.  There is so much to see and write about, it is very difficult to communicate the scale and breadth of ideas. 

Yesterday I spent time at the German Pavilion, the Pavilion of the Future and the Vancouver/BC Wood case study….more about these later.

In the meanwhile, you should seriously think about getting a plane ticket and heading on over to the fair before the end of October.  June would be a good time…it’s not expensive…the fare on Japan Airlines is under $1,000; there are many 5 star hotels offering rooms for as low as $125 a night…it costs $15 to $24 a day to get in…depending on whether you are over 60, and everything is quite reasonable by Canadian standards….something to think about. 

Blog link is here

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  • Bill Lee

    “The Expo site is significantly more spread out than our Expo 86 property, (about 7.5 times the size) and the pavilions are much, much more impressive. It is more reminiscent of the Expo 67 site, where each country built it’s own pavilion, rather than use a ’standardized’ approach.”

    Of course it is, Shanghai Fair is a Class A fair as was Brussels, Seville, Osaka, Hannover, etc. Vancouver’s Expo 86 was a Class B fair like Spokane, Nashville etc.

    There are different rules and expectations for Class A fairs only doled out once a decade by the BIE.

    Howard A. French of IHT/NYT has a photo blog of the displaced areas of Shanghai for the World’s Fair.

    There are worries that they won’t make their numbers as fewer are entering than expected.

    And it cost too much….

  • Michael Geller

    Frances, thanks for doing this. I am convinced that if any of your readers do decide to come over, they will not be disappointed.

    Bill Lee, you are right, this is a ‘universal’ as distinct from ‘international’ or themed fair. In fact, at this fair they have even created a World Exposition Museum which includes highlights of other fairs over the past 159 years.

    You are also right in terms of how much has been spent. The facilities are outstanding, and it’s obvious they were planned for far more people than are currently showing up. (Although I’m told that the first day there were not enough garbage cans, so the next day, another 1,000 were added.)

    The reason I am so enthusiastic about the event is because of its focus on all the issues that are so topical in Vancouver. For example, the German pavilion highlights that county’s latest accomplishments in multi-generational/multi-cultural garden allotments. It also describes the latest developments in car-sharing…you drop the cars off wherever you want rather than at designated points, and the program somehow lets everyone know where they are.

    Another German initiative relates to the retrofitting of older public housing projects in order to make them more energy efficient and livable…it includes the addition of balconies, since these were often excluded when the projects were built, (just like in Canada).

    There is a mock up of the BedZed development, with a very creative display on how London is trying to be the greenest city in the world (well they don’t actually use those words) but fromthis display, compared to Vancouver’s display, I’d have to say London is winning.

    And Bremen and Freiburg ‘Green City’ may be ahead of both Vancouver and London.

    Anyway, I could go on for hours, but I won’t. But do seriously think about coming over if you can find some time. While there are lengthy line-ups for some pavilions, many others are very easy to access, especially those dealing with the topics Fabula readers are most interested in.

    Lastly, the EcoHouse features the latest in kitchens and bathrooms….you’ll be pleased to know that gone are the wood veneered cabinets and granite countertops; in their place are extensive areas of molded white composite materials, intelligent refrigerators and a robot in the pantry that, in addition to other duties, offers nutritional advice.

    The bathroom is also very white, with a toilet that can analyse your urine and stools and let you know when it’s time to revise your will.

  • Chris Keam

    Not enough garbage cans at the sustainability fair.

    I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  • Michael Geller

    You can laugh, Chris. Everything that can be recycled, is.

  • Chris Keam

    To my mind, that actually makes it worse. An under-attended event with everything possible being recycled still having overflowing garbage cans while touting sustainability…. Makes me feel like the message simply isn’t getting through to people.

  • druckle

    How about some amplication on why you can’t access twitter or facebook, are they disabled,,what is up with that,,

  • booge

    “The bathroom is also very white, with a toilet that can analyse your urine and stools and let you know when it’s time to revise your will”

    I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

    I sure wish i could attend for a test.

  • Michael Geller

    Druckle, I too would like to understand what the situation is. My blog is a google Blog…with a blogspot address. It is blocked.

    I connect to Google Hong Kong…I cannot get into Google China. Motivated by your question, I just googled the question, can you get google in mainland China and found this information
    http://www.google.com/prc/report.html It confirms that there is no access to blogspot.

    As for Facebook and Twitter, this is what I found when I googled them….

    China Blocks Twitter and Facebook… Again.
    7 Jul 2009 … Numerous Twitter users are reporting that access to Twitter and Facebook has once again been blocked in mainland China.

    They are blocked again today. At least I can’t get into them. When I ask local people if they are on Facebook, they want to know ‘What is Facebook?’ It’s a hard thing to explain!

    Perhaps some Chinese Canadian readers can advice if they can connect with friends and family in Mainland China.

    This all seems quite odd, since in so many ways, this is a very sophisticated and increasingly ‘westernized’ country. Frances has a new story about the introduction of Transit Smart Cards in Vancouver. I have been using one while traveling around Shanghai.

    And while I’m a bit bothered by Chris Keam’s sneering, I suspect this EXPO is going a long way to introduce new ideas about water, waste, energy and resource management to tens of millions of people.

    And while I’m on the subject, we shouldn’t get too righteous, because based on what I have seen going around the pavilions, the Germans, the French, the Scandinavians, and so many more nations seem far ahead of Canada and Vancouver is when it comes to greening buildings, creating community gardens, managing waste, providing access to public transit, etc.

    (The Madrid Pavilion called bamboo house is a copy of an exemplary social housing project in Madrid, by the same name. Check it out. It seems to incorporate many of the ideas we boast about at the Olympic Village. The France pavilion features a special concrete exterior made by Lafarge, which is being suggested as a way of adding new ‘skins’ to older highrise buildings, with green walls, bettrer energy performance, etc. The British Pavilion also asks the question “Why don’t buildings wear coats?” and it too promotes more green roofs…a very common theme around the fair.

    So rather than sneer, I suggest we learn from others, and stop drinking our own bathwater. And if at all possible, get over here and see firsthand just how far we need to go if we want to keep saying we’re going to be the greenest city in the world.

    By the way, do we have planting along the sides of our viaducts, and downtown streets? Many of the viaducts and commercial streets in Shanghai do. Not that’s something I would like to see us copy.

  • Michael Geller

    Sorry, it should say ‘Now that’s something I would like to see us copy’…apologies for other typos, but I’m off to the fair!

  • Chris Keam

    I’m not sneering Michael. Just stating the facts as I see them. As I stated in my previous post, your observations make me think the high-level messages about sustainability aren’t being transformed into practice at the ground level, by individuals. I’m also skeptical of reliance on technology as a solution to what is essentially IMO a social issue hinging on behaviour patterns just as much as construction methods.

    You are of course welcome to interpret my comments any way you please, but rest assured my feelings on the topic would be better described as troubled rather than derisive.

  • Michael Geller

    Chris, et al….while there is no doubt that many of the 250,000 to 450,000 Chinese visitors per day at EXPO are rushing through the pavilions in order to get their passports stamped, they can’t help but notice the continued references to alternative energy sources, the need for reduced energy consumption, grey water recycling, alternative approaches to water and solid waste collection, etc.

    Many of the displays are very technical in nature and designed to appeal to ‘experts’ who are there to learn from others, rather than the general public. Nonetheless, the people I have spoken to are confident that the public is taking in much on display, and this event will be a turning point in the minds of government officials, private companies and the public in terms of new attitudes and personal behavior related to ‘sustainability’.

    As an aside, while therehave been a lot of ‘North American style’ single family communities developed in and around Shanghai in recent years, I’m told the Shanghai government has officially stopped allowing any more single family development since it’s considered a waste of land and resources. (I wonder how long it will be before we do that in Metro!)

    The government has also changed some zoning requirements and building code practices in order to allow existing property owners to add two levels of wood construction on top of older concrete/masonry buildings. I’m awaiting confirmation of a meeting with government officials to learn more about this, but the people associated with the BC Wood Pavilion (above the Vancouver Pavilion) are quite excited about this….do you know how many existing buildings there are in Shanghai, one pavilion guide asked me?

    I have taken lots of photos of the pavilions and the grounds, (especially the various types of recycling garbage cans installed at the fair), along with other displays….and when I’m back I plan to organize an evening to show pictures and tell stories to Fabula readers. I’ll also invite those associated with the Vancouver pavilion, and other Vancouverites who have been to the fair, to share their stories too….there are some good ones.

    If nothing else, I also want to show people in Vancouver the suit Gregor Robertson purchased especially for his appearance here in Shanghai. Yes, it’s green.

  • Norman

    Would anyone like to join me in promoting a Geller-free Day? I am really sick of hearing his thoughts on absolutely everything under the sun, while we hear nothing from other Councillors. Is the the Commissar of Communications for the Party?