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Infrastructure: Expo's big legacy
December 2, 2010, Thursday
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SHANGHAI'S ambitious World Expo 2010 attracted more than 73 million visitors. Now the show is over.
Factories near Shanghai and construction sites in the city, which had been forced to close during the Expo, suddenly came back to life and started spewing fumes on November 1.
With the pollution came the inevitable critique - what went well, what didn't go so well, with some bitter-sweet news.
Broadly speaking, the city benefited in three ways: Direct revenue, a bolstered image, and a host of new transportation works and entertainment facilities.
One of the direct beneficiaries of the Expo were the retail and residential property sectors, says Lina Wong, managing director of east and southwest China at Colliers International, a property consultancy. One visit to the intersection of Huaihai and Huangpi roads provides the evidence of the Expo-related boon. New luxury outlets there sprang up shortly before the Expo, and now the corner sparkles with high-end stores, from Apple to Tiffany to Ermenegildo Zegna.
Among the event's benefits, it's the infrastructure that provides the longest-lasting legacy. Among them was a new section of the Middle Ring Road linking the city to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Opened in April, it reduces travel time from the city to the airport by 20 minutes.
Likewise opening in time for the Expo was Terminal Two at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, which handles much of the city's domestic air traffic.
The infrastructure boom climaxed in April with the unveiling of the Bund renovation project and the inauguration of the giant cruise ship terminal on the Yangtze River north of Shanghai.
At the junction of the Huangpu and Yangtze rivers, the Wusong International Cruise Ship Terminal can dock the latest generation of enormous passenger cruise ships and the first cruise ship docked there on April 27, four days before Expo began. More berths will eventually be added to the two berths and a seashell-shaped terminal.
Then there's the Bund's renovation. That included adding broad sidewalks in front of the historic buildings and a spacious riverfront promenade, giving even greater luster to the waterfront. As part of the renovation, a tunnel was built under the boulevard that separates the historic buildings from the Huangpu riverfront, sharply reducing street traffic and adding to the appeal of Shanghai's most famous tourist attraction.
All told, "the World Expo helped position Shanghai as a global city, and the real reason is that government has done an excellent job of building up the infrastructure," says Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai.
Many Chinese are not generally fond of Shanghai, says Tom Doctoroff, Shanghai-based director of North Asia for advertising agency JWT, but the Expo left a positive impression. "In terms of what the city was able to achieve, the Chinese were impressed. Shanghai stepped up a level in internationalization."
However, the show was less effective in reaching international audiences, Doctoroff says. "Overseas, I don't think it made much of a dent at all. "
(Reproduced with permission from Knowledge@Wharton, http://www.knowledgeatwharton.com.cn. All rights reserved. Shanghai Daily condensed the article.)
Factories near Shanghai and construction sites in the city, which had been forced to close during the Expo, suddenly came back to life and started spewing fumes on November 1.
With the pollution came the inevitable critique - what went well, what didn't go so well, with some bitter-sweet news.
Broadly speaking, the city benefited in three ways: Direct revenue, a bolstered image, and a host of new transportation works and entertainment facilities.
One of the direct beneficiaries of the Expo were the retail and residential property sectors, says Lina Wong, managing director of east and southwest China at Colliers International, a property consultancy. One visit to the intersection of Huaihai and Huangpi roads provides the evidence of the Expo-related boon. New luxury outlets there sprang up shortly before the Expo, and now the corner sparkles with high-end stores, from Apple to Tiffany to Ermenegildo Zegna.
Among the event's benefits, it's the infrastructure that provides the longest-lasting legacy. Among them was a new section of the Middle Ring Road linking the city to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Opened in April, it reduces travel time from the city to the airport by 20 minutes.
Likewise opening in time for the Expo was Terminal Two at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, which handles much of the city's domestic air traffic.
The infrastructure boom climaxed in April with the unveiling of the Bund renovation project and the inauguration of the giant cruise ship terminal on the Yangtze River north of Shanghai.
At the junction of the Huangpu and Yangtze rivers, the Wusong International Cruise Ship Terminal can dock the latest generation of enormous passenger cruise ships and the first cruise ship docked there on April 27, four days before Expo began. More berths will eventually be added to the two berths and a seashell-shaped terminal.
Then there's the Bund's renovation. That included adding broad sidewalks in front of the historic buildings and a spacious riverfront promenade, giving even greater luster to the waterfront. As part of the renovation, a tunnel was built under the boulevard that separates the historic buildings from the Huangpu riverfront, sharply reducing street traffic and adding to the appeal of Shanghai's most famous tourist attraction.
All told, "the World Expo helped position Shanghai as a global city, and the real reason is that government has done an excellent job of building up the infrastructure," says Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai.
Many Chinese are not generally fond of Shanghai, says Tom Doctoroff, Shanghai-based director of North Asia for advertising agency JWT, but the Expo left a positive impression. "In terms of what the city was able to achieve, the Chinese were impressed. Shanghai stepped up a level in internationalization."
However, the show was less effective in reaching international audiences, Doctoroff says. "Overseas, I don't think it made much of a dent at all. "
(Reproduced with permission from Knowledge@Wharton, http://www.knowledgeatwharton.com.cn. All rights reserved. Shanghai Daily condensed the article.)
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