Shanghai Expo Infrastructure and the Expo Axis

After spending four days at the Shanghai EXPO, the foremost thought in my mind was the scale of the challenge faced by the organizers.

These may be summed up in two questions:

• How do you plan for infrastructure to cater for up to 0.5 million visitors a day in continuous movement between exhibition pavilions and service facilities?
• How to conceive such infrastructure so that it is an integrated part of the development of the site after the EXPO is over?

Major infrastructure development has gone into the 5.3 square kilometer EXPO site in the form of parks, roads and an extension of the metro system, which is today the longest in the world. The World EXPO axis building is a type of infrastructure which performs a major role for the area both during the EXPO period but also after the EXPO is over. A massive 1 kilometer long four level structure, with monumental glass canopies, and tensile structures on its upper level, the World EXPO axis is a shopping centre in waiting.

The axis is conceived as a traffic hub connecting three metro lines and road infrastructure. The levels accommodate today only a handful of shops, but they provide extensive shaded space for the visitors and a number of facilities such as canteens to EXPO workers in the bottom floor. The funnel shaped glass canopies are designed to collect rain water for use in the building and for providing natural light and ventilation to the lower levels of the structure, thus achieving energy savings. The World EXPO Axis is aptly described as a structure which points to new development of the shopping mall typology.

China claims to have spent $ 4.2 billion on the Shanghai EXPO, but local media has reported actual costs to be in the region of $ 58 billion making it the most expensive EXPO to date.

Shanghai has used $45 billion on upgrading its infrastructure, which has involved extending the metro, building two airport terminals, several roads, parks and bridges and a new promenade at the Bund.

After arriving at Pudong Airport’s new terminal, travelling on the high speed train Maglev to the city centre, moving across the City through the world’s longest metro system, and visiting the World EXPO axis and the new parks by the Huangpu River, there is little doubt that Shanghai has succeeded to a great extent in using the EXPO as catalyst for urban development. And even though Shanghai urban spaces are dominated by private cars, the very fact that the city has used the EXPO to mobilize major investments in its collective transport infrastructure is a positive step towards green mobility and a more sustainable urban development.