Ideal city VS real city, Macau Pavilion, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture Hong Kong-Shenzhen, China; Hong Kong Section, Curator Colin Fournier. Project Architect of the pavilion; Designer and Co-curator (lead) of the exhibition, and Exhibitor.

Abstract

Ideal city versus real city: The former Portuguese enclave Macau developed with the beginning of the first – maritime – globalization in the 16th century four decades after Thomas More’s description of a Utopian peninsula in fara way territories in a time of scientific discoveries and political and religious uproar. As the first permanent European settlement in China, Macau grew quickly with the typical contradictions, which linked the age of humanism with speculative global trade, religious missions and wars and Western-European colonialism. In contrast, to the “ideal grid” of Spanish and later British colonial cities, the Portuguese enclave on Chinese territory adapted to the local topography and became an early place for the fusion Western and Asian culture. Focusing on Macau’s current condition and potential future, the exhibition aims to understand, describe and critically evaluate the contemporary transition of ‘real’ and ‘imaginative’ dimensions of the city’s architecture in post-colonial spaces. Speculating on the complex theoretical and practical implications of design-led researches on architecture and urbanism, the exhibition addresses problems and discusses regeneration strategies for critical urban areas in four selected post-colonial cities, aiming to contribute to the conceptual elaboration and spatial production of sustainable and resilient urban transformations in the Asia-Pacific space. The exhibition presents a comparative reading of core city / suburban areas conditions of Macau in relation to three post- colonial cities that are currently experiencing a critical evolution phase.