Jiading Mini Block, An Urban Experiment / Atelier FCJZ

The ChallengeThe size of the typical block in new Chinese cities starts from approximately 500x500 square meters. Such largeness, compared to the range of standard blocks in European cities, is a result of scaling city for cars over people as well as accelerating the development. The problem of the Mega Block is two-fold: 1. It is anti-urban – it does not produce a walkable city and at the same time diminishes the quality of urban spaces. 2. It is high-carbon – its dependence on cars pollutes the air while produces traffic congestions. Once a city is built based on such inhuman spatial scale, it would be very difficult to remodel it into a livable environment.