Supermalleability

From the Jetsons to the Flinstones and back.

Introduction; The last decades the economic boom in China has been accompanied by a migration from the Chinese rural outskirts into its main metropolitan areas. This demographic shift triggered an alleged demand boost in the housing market and sparked an enormous production of residential high-rise projects in the outer boroughs of up- and coming urban hubs, like Ordos. These new high-rise projects are often presented as the state of the art residences for a metropolitan lifestyle, a social coherent way of living in a neighborhood with the most advanced collective facilities. The sustainable Chinese dream of national importance. The apartments are often sold out before even one construction worker has sets foot on site and therefor claim to be an instant success as the best residence for a futuristic lifestyle. Case CH; Unfortunately reality is unruly. Despite of all the sold apartments, it is vacancy that is becoming more and more apparent. These empty housing blocks are obviously not answering an alleged demand for apartments nearby big metropolitan hubs. Even though the urbanization is apparent, it is not these people who jumped at the opportunity to buy a house in a high-rise block. The units are often already sold to local investors who tend to rent out the place to the newcomers. These investors do not intend to live in these areas; they just try to make a buck out of the demographic chances in their cities. This speculation tends to increase the rental price, which often transcends the affordable budget for many newcomers. On top of that, there is a tendency for locals to lendor lend-out money to invest in the construction of these Chinese dream projects. In the case of Kangbashi, near Ordos in Inner-Mongolia, this decreased the last financial strong target group even more. The result is a lack of inhabitants in Kangbashi, and when this became clear buyers started to have doubts. One would expect an immediate correction in the rental market, but this decrease in the rental prices would not sustain the profit needed for a successful investment. Therefore cutbacks had to be made during the construction of these projects. Despite the high rental prices these projects are being stripped and tend not to deliver the Chinese dream that was once envisioned. The high-rise projects are now causing a mismatch between empty homes and a group of migrants who are looking for a home and a stable position within society. In the case of Kangbashi, construction was even stopped midway, positioning a $79 million museum in the middle of a vacant concrete Stonehenge. Case NL; This combination of high rental prices, migration, vacancy and utopian high-rise isnt new to the Dutch. In the late 60s Amsterdam was expanding its boundaries just like Ordos. Amsterdams outstanding reputation for planning, urban design and architecture stimulated the city to launch an extremely ambitious utopian housing dream. They promised a high-rise concept equipped with parking docks that were lifted from ground level and, like in Hanna-Barberas Jetsons, accessible by cars on tracks through mid air. Little train lorries would pick up luggage from these docks and drive it, through a system of sky bridges, to the elevator nearby your apartment1. Even the milkman would have such a vehicle in order to deliver groceries in the most comfortable way possible2. The concept was far ahead of its time and appeared as a white and shiny i-flat high-rise in the midst of a quiet and green oasis. Cars where not allowed on ground level as this collective green landscape was near secret and purely meant for the leisure of modern man3! This collective dream was meant to strengthen the social cohesion in Dutch society and appeared to work quite well for a while. The underestimation of budget, demands of concrete apartments and spare time in daily life, proved to be deadly for this utopian dream. Despite high rent prices the promise could not be kept for all of the buildings in the area. Construction of public transport and shopping centers were even put on hold and the area became isolated from its source city. The inhabitants started to doubt the quality of life and it didnt take long before they decided to leave. The threat of a lacking clientele triggered radical cutbacks in the construction and architectural design for the rest of the high-rise buildings. Instead of the 60s Jetson way of living the Bijlmermeer projects ended up like the scenery of the Flintstones; primitive high-rises, striped of all possible luxuries. Despite the large apartments it all resulted in a huge amount of vacancy and high rental prices. The dream seemed too vulnerable and not many years later ready to be demolished. The overall
1 Some parking garages still show sockets where once the intercom should have been. 2 Architecture in LIMBO; by Wouter Oostendorp en Jouke Sieswerda http://www.lulu.com/shop/jouke-sieswerda-and-wouteroostendorp/architecture-in-limbo/ebook/product-17478297.html 3 Traces of Marxism as ground level had to accessible for everybody and owned by non. The green landscape was a collective good and meant for the seas of spare time, which would be generated through the automation of society at large.

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Dutch conclusion was that the social cohesion isnt as malleable as they had thought in the beginning and that the collective dream was a utopian farce. Cool down with a hung of Supermalleability The demolition plans for the Bijlmermeer encountered quite a lot of resistance. During the last couple of decades migrants have settled in the leftovers of the utopian plan and they stated that planners made the same mistakes as they did with the original Bijlmer design plan. By creating tabula rasa through demolition, planners and designers tried to impose a new social coherent city plan. They pointed out that the social cohesion they built up might not be resilient enough to cope with the purifying wrecking balls. Some inhabitants argue that a coherent society is not malleable by imposing terraced houses with gardens. They believe that everybody needs to make society everyday! This way society is Supermalleable! They might have a point there. It seems logical that planners and designers cannot dictate a limited amount of building typologies, which were successful in prosperous times, when one deals with such grand diversity of cultures, mentalities and lifestyles. A resilient future of a residential area, with migrants, will probably prosper through re-designation with a stronger involvement of the inhabitants, both as residents and as investing participants. With this type of participation many would have liked to try and recharge the Bijlmermeer area before it was demolished. It would sustain diversity of culture, social cohesion and housing typologies in an area that, despite its setbacks, is truly loved by its current inhabitants. It is due to this present group of Diasporas4 that the area is starting to act as an international economic launch platform for Dutch society. Public Private Partnership The question rises if the high-rise areas in China are doomed with the same demolition faith or if the market is able to recharge these areas with urban and social cohesion? Of course the Chinese conditions are different from the Dutch. For example, the Chinese dont deal with an international migration stream but a national one. This stream is accompanied with a big diversity in national Diasporas, all with their own dialect and lifestyle. Another difference is that the Bijlmermeer was dealing with a financially weaker target group in the end and that the Chinese are dealing with a financially strong group of private investors. This group
4 Interpreting modernism; Wouter Oostendorp & Jouke Sieswerda; how amsterdam housing development changes when Surinam gain independance. In Journeys by; Canadees Centrum voor Architectuur (CCA) http://issuu.com/actar/docs/journeys

has positioned itself between the developers and the tenant target group and seems to clog the market5. One of the biggest differences is the fact that the Chinese migration is not one-sided. In bad times, Chinese people retreat back into the safe heaven of their family in the rural outskirts, sometimes even exchanging their urban position with other relatives. This bond with the back-land is very strong, resourceful and best seen during Chinese New Year, when a huge stream of travelers heads back home in February. The private investors could use this to their advantage and form an alliance with these Diaspora-families. The private investors could foresee themselves with a stable group of tenants giving the tenants the advantage of access to a familiar and secure residence. This means that the tenant is able to track the maintenance and the rental price of the property. In this case both parties need to take less risk en share more security in daily life. In some cases housing prices have been reduced drastically. Prices in Kangbashi have dropped about 60% due to vacancy. From 1.100 dollar per m2 in 2006 to 470 dollar per m2 in 20116. It seems to become feasible that the Diaspora-families are going to be able to chip-in. Buying a share of their apartment makes the tenants a partner in a possible renovation or project assembly, but only if the recent increase in mortgage interest is turned down again for these types of alliances. Through these kind of public-private partnerships the Chinese government is able to cool down the housing market against speculators and stimulate the residential re-designation at the same time. In other words; the apartments will become a sort of Do It Yourself projects. The alliances can construct and maintain their own neighborhood based on a collective interest in their everyday lives. In this sense society is becoming Supermalleable again! CPO The DIY concept is becoming more popular in the Netherlands. In some cases it is even organized in a collective partnership, a so-called CPO (Collectieve Particulier Opdrachtgeverschap) or Collective Private Commissioning. One nice example is the CPO project in Arnhems new fashion district7. The new inhabitants have organized themselves in a building commission that coaches the households in the assembly of their new homes. The households have to monitor construction within their budget and also attune their plans to those of their neighbors. This gives households a very good insight on the feasibility of
5 Assuming that the migration, from rural outskirt to city, could act as a remedy against the vacancy. 6 http://www.businessinsider.com/home-prices-ordos-2011-12 7 www.sintmartenshof.wordpress.com.

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their project and teaches them to relate their lifestyle to the collective of the neighborhood. The point being that households have recharged the area as they have learnt to build and maintain their own environment. The new residential area will enjoy a strong social cohesion from the very beginning, making it far more resilient and less vulnerable to decay. Design chances in China The Chinese government is trying to discourage private speculators by raising the interests on mortgages. Despite this effort to cool down the market, Barclays is predicting a different tendency. They stated that the investment in real estate will still rise in popularity because: Incomes will continue to grow; Urbanization, home upgrading and demographic change are in favor of current boom; There are limited amounts of investment alternatives; The strong balance sheets of households. It seems that the attempts to handicap the private speculator is in vain and not at the center of the problem. The mismatch lays within the let ability of the apartments and between the potential tenant group and the group of private investors. Instead of eliminating the private investors, they should be involved in the re-designation of the housing projects. The core of this idea would be to sustain the alliance legally and lower the interest in order for them to participate in the re-designation of the malleable housing projects. This doesnt automatically mean that a high-rise is an easy building typology for the malleable concept. The lessons of the Bijlmermeer already show that the lack of a normal street doesnt enhance the sense of community. After all, whoever lives above or below is far less noticeable that than those on the same floor. High-rises create different opportunities. The building itself is a collective resource and generates a strong common ground, an important feature when one has to deal with 100 developers instead of just 1. Architects should be aware of this opportunity and its complexity. They should be the spatial mediator and coach for all participants. Beside that role the architects have exquisite knowledge about managing spatial interests of the parties involved. They know how to design structures that give way to corresponding needs and level those out with specific demands. In the end the architect also has the expertise to assemble a good spatial vision about the general facilities like: public space, collective landscape and overall design features. But at the very core of the architects task should be the skill of spatial mediation. He should sustain the general spatial relationships in the usage of the collective building. In that sense he is

designing an organization and environment at the same time.

shaping

built

At large it is the architect that should help to brake down big urban problems into feasible bits that inhabitants can understand and process. This way the financial risk will be dispersed over the participating alliances, making a big problem smaller by decentralizing withinin the market. This cooperative concept helps to unravel the blockage in the Chinese housing market while the architect is coaching the budgets and shaping the overall collective spatial assembly. In theory China should be Supermalleable this way!

Hanna-Barberas Jetsons

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The interior street of a Bijlmerflat, showing a resident and the milkman. Source; Rijnboutt, van der Vossen, Rijnboutt Also have a look at;
www.studio-OxL.com Architecture in limbo; wouter oostendorp & jouke sieswerda Journeys CCA; Reinterpretation modernism; wouter oostendorp & jouke sieswerda http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Property-speculation-leaves-64.5million-vacant-homes-in-China-18895.html http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=2&art_id=11 7448&sid=34599654&con_type=1&d_str=20111128&fc=10 http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-0620/markets/30018510_1_housing-bubble-vacant-homes-china-stocks

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