Over the past twenty years the pace and scale of urbanization in Asia has been unprecedented in both the emerging and maturing economies of the region.
Practical Utopias: Global Urbanism in Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo, on view at the Center for Architecture from October 1, 2013, to January 18, 2014, explores new cities built up just outside, immediately adjacent to, or even within the old.
Conceived as extensions or embellishments of existing capitals of finance and culture, these new cities within cities serve as focal points for future visions and global ambitions.
Practical Utopias presents Asia's global urbanism through projects that are Intelligent, networked to cutting edge technological systems and bundled in infrastructure allowing rapid access to adjacent fabric and to airports and the rest of the world; Dense, center-oriented and accommodating large numbers of people in extremely efficient spaces; Green, conceived with explicit environmental agendas and well-disposed to green space; Thick, three-dimensional and layered in their pedestrian access and public space; and Fun conceived with a specific attitude to programing that enhances their role as spaces of both work and leisure.