Columbia Circle: transformation of the socialfabric's of a garden residence in Shanghai

Abstract

A large amount of garden residential blocks were built in Shanghai in the 1930’s, which manifested the real estate surge of that time. These villas, which used to serve a single family (mainly for foreign expats in Shanghai), however, have been changed dramatically through the time, both socially and physically. Many of these old villas experienced the take over and invasion in the war time, process of socialization and subdivision in the 1950s and the chaotic period during the Cultural Revolution. The intricate property right situations and over-ridden housing condition make adaptive reuse difficult.

Columbia Circle, as one of the most outstanding but obscure garden residential estates serving for foreign expats originally, mainly planned and constructed between 1928 and 1932 in succession, is a unique example to show the transition of the garden residential blocks in Shanghai. This thesis will focus on “Columbia Circle” to study the tracing of changes of its social fabric between the 1930’s and nowadays. Based on the historic study of the development plan and and current field survey, the research focuses on two aspects of the transition: one is the demographic composition of the community and the way of life; the other is the way of use of the villas and their property statues.