Reinventing the Space In Between Urban Lilong Community Design in North Sichuan Road District, Shanghai

As one of the most emerging cities in East Asia, Shanghai is undertaking incredible urban transformations, including the addition of striking modern infrastructures and the disappearing of historical fragments. Old Lilong Communities, as the most typical and characteristic residential form in Shanghai, and a crucial part of this city's irreplaceable memory, their lives are threatened in rapid urbanization context in China. This thesis discusses the reasons for preserving those old Lilong communities, and uses a typical community as a site, exploring how to use design and management strategies to: (1) Reinvent the outdoor Lilong space, ameliorate environmental qualities and public health conditions; (2) Encourage communication between old residents and migrants, establish connections between old community life and modern city life; (3) Transform the old Lilong community into a friendly living community for current city life that also fit Shanghai's context. The methods are to use professional planning process to reinvent the community space organization, apply small design interventions to community environment for achieving large radiation effect, test community public participation, and recommend bottom-up community design process for future use.