1. “Hou Fa Xian Zhi” “ ”
Exploring Potentials for Development from Disaster
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“Hou Fa Xian Zhi” “
Exploring Potentials for Development from Disaster
Organized by
Urban Emergencies (UE), Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft
International Forum on Urbanism, IFoU
Hosted by
Southwest Jiaotong University, China
IFoU Summer School 2010

2. PREAMBLE
On May 12, 2008, a disastrous earthquake struck the heart of the Sichuan province
in China. Measured at 8.0 Ms on the Richter scale, it killed at least 68,000 people,
many of whom were children attending school.
On May 13, 2008, the faculty of Architecture from the Delft University of
Technology, Netherlands, was confronted with its own disaster as an early morning
fire burnt down the entire building.
As the unthinkable took place, students and teachers from the university came
together to initiate an interdisciplinary effort to research post‐disaster urban
responses, entitled Urban Emergencies. A programme was launched to carry out a
comparative analysis in 6 countries across the globe with a 3‐month on‐site field
analysis. Carried out with the support of UN Habitat and the International Red
Cross, together with local governments, academics and ngo’s, 18 students
investigated the redevelopment process and its spatial consequences following
natural disasters. The search was to find potential roles for the spatial thinker (e.g.
architect, urban designer, planner) in order to generate an enhanced sensibility and
involvement from the building practices. The results of the research will be
published later this year, however weblogs containing day‐to‐day updates can be
viewed via www.urbanemergencies.org.
In the summer of 2010, in conjunction with various universities, a 3‐week field
workshop has been set up to research various redevelopment potentialities in the
city of Dujiangyan in the Sichuan Province. Coming in 2 years after the initial
disaster, an interdisciplinary group of students and researcher will apply insights
gathered from the first UE analysis in order to support the ongoing redevelopment
process. A ‘development from disaster’ approach is being used wherein
opportunities for the short, middle and long term will be synergized.
As the Dujiangyan area is most notable for its 2000‐year‐old irrigation system, this
Unesco World Heritage site has undergone severe ramifications. Not only are large
structural consequences to be found, but also social, economical and spatial
transformations are undoubtedly expected to follow. While more then 70% of the
inhabitants are currently dependent on an agricultural livelihood (making up only
35% of the total area income), the available land is radically shrinking as a rapid
urbanization process has commenced. New high‐end tourist economies are moving
to find develop opportunities as farmers desperately seek to find a place in the new
urban setting. The reallocation of human settlements and land administration
within the future development vision plan for the city are being challenged.
Simultaneously, new materials and buildings techniques are required to sustain the
impact of future hazards, and risk assessments are required to safeguard the
current investments.
With approximately 800 million farmers, the urbanization process of China is still
heavily underway. As the shift from a rural to urban life takes place, the
redevelopment of Dujiangyan and the Sichuan province are a unique opportunity to
find sustainable ways to synergize social, economical and spatial forces within its
geo‐political framework. Both the built fabric as well as the immaterial substance of
the region and its people must be acknowledged if a prosperous future is to be
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3. realized. Through a joint effort between foreign and local universities, learning
experiences and insights can be shared generating strategies and visions on
multiple scales of space (from local to regional to global) and time (short, middle
and long term). The case study of Dujiangyan may prove to be an example for other
cities as they too struggle to find optimal solutions balancing economic growth with
social prosperity.
Primary areas of focus will be:
• Climate adaption and low carbon economies (BT+U)
• Social equity and prosperity (U+RE&H)
• Building technologies and urban typologies (BT+AR)
• Cultural heritage within the contemporary city (U+AR)
• New forms of public‐private engagement; integrating top‐down and bottom‐up
processes (U+RE&H)
• Scale and development; effects of speed and magnitude (U)
PAST LEARNING FROM POST‐DISASTER URBAN RESPONSES
The 2009‐2010 Urban Emergencies researched the spatial consequences stemming
from natural disasters and the post disaster redevelopment process. Insights were
collected from 6 case studies collected in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia.
Six core comparative themes revealed the challenges (problems and potentials) that
local and international organizations faced.
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4.
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5. WORKSHOP GOAL, DEFINITION AND FRAME
Polemic Dujiangyan
As the city expands, more agriculture lands will be taken, farmers are changing themselves
into tourism servants or find a big city to live their new lives as labours, at the same time,
lots of tourists comes to the city as marketing strategies promoted, some of those from
the big cities bought their weekend house there because of the poverty price differences.
Enormous Migration is driving Enormous Urbanization.
The city confronts itself to such dilemma between historical agriculture capacity and the
emerging urban challenge, between top‐down and bottom‐up strategies, etc. At this critical
point in time, a careless plan will cause a second disaster, which leads the city to an
exhaustion of integration.
Core delivery
The workshop will formulate scenarios for integrated development plans with
investments aiming at people and planet first, with profit and pleasure as a result
(from a local to a global perspective).
Themes of Focus:
‐ Interdisciplinary design approaches
‐ Social, cultural, economic and environmental interrelation
‐ Integration of local, city and regional scale
‐ Short‐, middle‐, and long‐term focus
‐ Environmental sustainability
‐ Climate adaptation on local and regional scale
‐ Water, waste and energy management
‐ Cultural sustainability
‐ Financial Feasibility
‐ Public‐private partnership implementation
‐ Top‐down and bottom‐up convergence
Workshop structure
The Dujiangyan workshop will take place from the July 19 till August 6 in the
summer of 2010 in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, China. It aims to formulate an
interdisciplinary group of 45‐60 students guided by 7‐10 tutors from the various
participating universities, accompanied with practicing architects.
Within a 3‐week period the group of students will deliver scenarios for integrated
development visions on different scales in space and time. The scenarios will be
presented in the form of:
1. Publication (book/magazine)
2. Webpage
3. Public presentation
4. Graphic representations
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6.
Preparation phase:
A series of lectures will be held on the topics of Urban Emergencies, the Sichuan
area, GPS/GIS and redevelopment integration, and disaster recovery planning. The
lectures will take place at the TU Delft starting from the beginning of April, but will
be recorded and available worldwide through the Urban Emergencies webpage
(www.urbanemergencies.org).
Core objectives week 1: QUICKSCAN
- create an understanding of the situation in Dujiangyan (lectures)
- create a regional analysis (site visits and mapping)
- formulate a collective vision with specific areas of focus (action planning
workshop)
The first three days of the workshop will contain a collective research. Insights on
the current situation will be given through a series of lectures by different
stakeholders involved in the redevelopment of the Dujiangyan. Local authorities,
academics, and involved architects will present their practices and researches to
create an understanding on the urban processes. From day four on, trans‐
disciplinary, inter‐university groups of 7 to 10 students will carry out different site
visits to create a regional analysis of the area in and around Dujiangyan. At the end
of the first week all groups will present their group vision for a more specific focus
to be carried out in the second week of the workshop. An action‐planning workshop
with all group representatives will formulate a collective vision with group specific
topics to continue the research.
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7. Core objectives week 2: INDEPTH RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION
- specific group studies
- concept integrated development scenarios
Groups will carry out specific studies on the formulated topics. By Wednesday
afternoon a progress review will be held. On Friday each group presents their
concept integrated development scenarios.
Core objectives week 3: POST‐PRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION
- final integrated development scenario (presented on webpage, publication,
graphic representation and public presentation)
The third week the focus will mainly be on the production. Each group will have
complimentary roles responsible for their contribution to the publication, webpage
and physical and graphical representation. The final integrated development plans
will be presented on Tuesday, which gives the possibility to have two days fully
focused on the production and representations for Friday afternoon.
week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Monday ‐ Collective input ‐ specific group ‐ form workgroups
through lectures studies
Tuesday ‐ Collective input ‐ specific group ‐ presentation:
through lectures studies Final integrated
development plan
Wednesday ‐ Collective input ‐ specific group ‐ production
through lectures studies
‐ presentation:
progress review
Thursday ‐ form groups 7 – ‐ specific group ‐ production
10 students studies
‐ Regional analysis
Friday ‐ Regional analysis ‐ specific group ‐ production
studies ‐ Public
‐ presentation: presentation
concept integrated
development plan
Saturday ‐ presentation: ‐ specific group
group vision studies
‐ Action planning
workshop
Sunday ‐ form new groups ‐ specific group
on more specific studies
topics
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8. Tools for documentation
The students will be equipped with different tools to carry out their action‐research
while on field:
- Photography
- Urban derives
- V ideo/audio
- GPS and GIS mapping
- Space Syntax
- Interview
- Organized workshops
(This toolbox is set up with the possibilities the TU Delft can deliver. Participating
universities can add tools which they can deliver.)
Costs and accommodation
During the workshop accommodation will be available at the local southwest
Jiaotong University in Dujiangyan. There are no costs for the accommodation (to be
confirmed), and workshop activities will be partially covered. Flight and daily costs
(food and beverages) need to be covered by the students themselves. The costs are
estimated to be around 500 euro’s* for the ticket (European students) and around
10 to 15 euro’s/day for the daily costs.
*Flight ticket subsidy up to 340 euro for TUD students through Fonds Internationale Stage
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9. Student structure
Our aim is to work with an interdisciplinary group of students. The TU Delft will
attend the workshop with a group of 16 students. Each department (Urbanism,
architecture, Building Technology and Real Estate and Housing) will contribute with
4 students. The workshop activities will be instructed in English.
Aiming at a group with a maximum of 60 students.
Local hosting university:
‐ Southwest Jiaotong University
IFOU partner universities:
- Beijing University of Technology
- Berlage Institute, Rotterdam
- Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Delft University of Technology
- National University of Singapore
- Seoul National University
- Taiwan University, Taipei
- Tarumenagara University, Jakarta
- Tongji University
- Tsinghua University, Beijing
- Universitá IUAV di Venezia
- University of Tokyo
- UPC Barcelona
Professors & Tutors
Ir. Alexander Vollebregt
Ir. Hein de Haan
Ir. V ivienne Wang
Dr. Qu Lei
Dr. Stephen Read (preparation phase)
Dr. Meta Berghauser‐Pont (preparation phase)
Prof. Dipl. Ing. Patrick Teuffel (preparation phase)
Prof. Dipl. Ing. Jürgen Rosemann
(To be completed)
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10. WEBPAGES
www.urbanemergencies.org
www.ifou.org
www.sheltercentre.org
www.unhabitat.org
www.architectureforhumanity.org
www.spacelab.tudelft.nl
www.crossborderrelations.org
www.urbanbody.org
CONTACT
www.urbanemergencies.org
INFO@URBANEMERGENCIES.ORG
PROJECT COORDINATOR IFOU
ir. Alexander Vollebregt Prof. Dipl. Ing. Jürgen Rosemann
Architect | Urbanist | Assist. Professor Chairman
TU Delft ‐ Faculty of Architecture j.rosemann@ifou.org
+31 6 3925 1319
a.g.vollebregt@tudelft.nl Ir. Vivienne Wang
Director
v.wang@ifou.org
ASSISTANT COORDINATOR Southwest JIAOTONG UNIVERSITY
Dr. Qu Lei Prof. SHEN Zhongwei
Spatial Planning & Strategy Dean
+31 6 39251224 szw@swjtu.edu.cn
l.qu@tudelft.nl
Ms. YIN Hong
INITIATOR Responsible teacher
Ir. Charles Yan Gore hyindesign@gmail.com
EMU Post Graduate
M: +31 6 3424 7496
E: c.y.gore@urbanemergencies.org
STUDENT Assistants
Dieuwer Duijf
Architecture Student
M: +31 6 41510822
E: D.j.duijf@urbanemergencies.org
Jeremy Verhoef
Real Estate and Housing Student
M: +31 6 5196 7276
E: j.verhoef@urbanemergencies.org
Wouter Pocornie
Architecture and Urbanism Student
M: +31 6 53719787
E: w.pocornie@urbanemergencies.org
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