2017 Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism \ Architecture

Initiated by Shenzhen in 2005 and jointly organized with the neighboring city of Hong Kong since 2007, the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/ Architecture is a major moment of interaction between award-winning professionals, public actors and the wider public, on globally common urban issues.

With its 2017 theme, “Cities, Grow in Difference”, the biennale is reflecting on current urbanization processes happening both in China and around the world. It is attempting to design alternative urban models that would resist uniformization and promote diversity in today’s cities. Chinese urban villages are at the heart of this reflection, as shown by the decision of making Nantou Old Town the main venue.

The event is curated by three Chinese internationally recognized architects and town planners, Hou Hanru, Liu Xiaodu and Meng Yan (both principals of Urbanus), each of them in charge of one of the three main sections of the Biennale. The first section World | South, presents perspectives on the relationship between geographical space and urban development based on the southern world and Chinese examples. The second section, City | Village, is dedicated to the question of current situation and the future of Chinese urban villages. The last section called Art Making Cities, explores unorthodox city-making approaches and their effects on urban villages. To this end, famous exhibitors such as Yona Friedman, Boa Mistura or Tatzu Nishi, conducted a series of urban art intervention projects inside Nantou Old Town.

Author: Florian Croisé