My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 490 Taking a Big Leap Forward

Wei Dong had never been to Shanghai in his previous life, let alone heard of this international residential development zone that pioneered the concept of "community" in China.

Therefore, he can avoid any restrictions and speak freely.

He treated it all as giving advice to this side.

It's impossible for the infrastructure team to find a designer, but they have plenty of skilled draftsmen.

Following Wei Dong's ideas, he drew up many engineering drawings for him.

The fully open size of one meter square, when hung up, clearly shows that Wei Dong has taken the Shanghai commission seriously and put in a lot of effort.

This immediately drew gasps of amazement from everyone in the market.

The aerial photos mostly show farmland and villages, but this area has been remodeled into a high-rise residential community, with low-rise apartments, townhouses, and detached villas arranged in sections.

Then, a commercial street was formed by utilizing the commercial storefronts of the high-rise residential buildings in the central area.

These are all patterns he gradually became familiar with from the street planning of Jiangzhou Economic Development Zone, the planning of Shangzhou New City, and the planning of Pingqi Real Estate.

Somewhat surprisingly, following the principle of "the higher the level, the more remote the area," the area is centered around high-rise apartment buildings, followed by townhouses, with the outermost villa areas located on the very edge.

With hospitals, schools, and shopping malls in the central area, why is it that the wealthiest people are the furthest away and the least convenient?
However, no one asked, because what attracted the most attention and amazed people was that the entire area was divided into blocks by small ditches.

Although there is a wide six-lane main road running through all the blocks, there are also several side roads connecting to the surrounding area.

But the core idea is to utilize the existing network of waterways in the area to divide it into sections for high-rise apartments, mid-range townhouses, and upscale villas.

Then the riverbanks were transformed into the kind of "refined walkways" and "riverside parks" that are common in later generations.

Moreover, it does not alter the original meandering river basin, but rather creates a landscape by following the natural flow.

As Wei Dong once said, Tokyo did a great job here, but many more cities, including Shangzhou, Jiangzhou, and even the many third- and fifth-tier cities you can see in short videos, have this kind of riverside landscape.

What would be commonplace in urban development forty years from now is extremely rare in Shanghai.

Those waterways that were later renovated and looked quite beautiful were now mostly filled with sewage and had questionable water quality.

Anyway, everyone in Shanghai had a refreshing feeling: "Xiao Rang, your work has a very broad perspective."

Wei Dong modestly distributed the photos he had taken of the development area: "The planning of this high-end community is actually not difficult. We can hire Hong Kong real estate companies or Japanese companies to create a very professional plan. We can even use a joint venture to hire an internationally renowned designer to do the overall design. However, the foreign exchange costs would definitely be a bit painful, so I still recommend that we roughly imitate it and let the relevant departments in Shanghai do it themselves..."

A couple of years ago, foreign exchange was still flowing around everywhere, buying and buying. A few years later, things might have calmed down.

It was precisely around 1985 or 1986 that the financial authorities had repeatedly warned, reminded, and even strictly prohibited the arbitrary use of foreign exchange.

Therefore, Wei Dong's idea is very realistic.

Some people are already nodding in agreement.

Let Wei Dong explain based on the content of the photo: "The most distinctive feature of this area is the crisscrossing waterways. There are many waterways. I have seen the relevant designs in the city. Basically, these waterways are filled in for construction. As an international metropolis, Shanghai, as an international community open to the world, should have some of our own characteristics. I think it would be good to combine the connotations of the Jiangnan water towns, but not the kind that is antique. Specifically, you can ask the designers to bring in the ink painting style of white walls and black tiles."

Twenty or thirty years from now, the best kind of national self-confidence in China will become popular.

The 1980s and 90s can be said to be the period when people most admired the Western system.

However, by the end of 1985, this kind of worship had not yet reached its peak and was still in its early stages.

A significant proportion of people resist the idea of ​​learning everything from foreign countries.

In a sense, when there is a general sense of stagnation and self-imposed isolation, deliberately being overly enamored with foreign things might actually be the key to effective reform.

The balance between these two is actually constantly changing.

The two sides are arguing quite fiercely right now.

Wei Dong just happened to point out a middle ground.

What came to mind was the "Hui-style" architecture, with large ponds nearby, white walls and gray tiles, reminiscent of the ethereal feel of the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Therefore, the cartographers were required to draw very small streams and ditches, with stone steps to walk across them, and walking parks on both banks, as well as benches and fitness areas.

Where there is water, there is vitality.

Shanghai itself is divided into several districts by rivers and streams.

However, compared to a river surface that is 400 to 500 meters wide or a stream that is 40 to 50 meters wide, this 10-meter-wide "stream" surface can easily become the landscape center of the community. It is easy to build greenery, artificial hills, pavilions, or even weeping willows and flower ports around it.

This isn't really a matter of Wei Dong's ability; it's just that it's become too common in 30 or 40 years. Even in slightly better residential areas, this is how it's done.

The hand-drawn renderings already show these traditional Chinese elements with their green tiles and black eaves.

The city was filled with applause.

These days, even buildings with more than twenty or thirty stories are rare, so there's no way to talk about any new Chinese-style buildings.

But Wei Dong's description of it—a cluster of high-rise buildings with Chinese characteristics and a small river park with garden landscape features—is a clever fusion of national characteristics and international advanced standards.

"You did it this way in Jiangzhou and Shangzhou?"

Wei Dong quickly reached into the small photo album and looked at it again: "No, Jiangzhou and Shangzhou haven't reached that stage yet. They're still in the planning and layout of small blocks, which are imitations of housing reform and technological upgrading. But Shanghai has long passed this stage and is moving towards more advanced and distinctive development."

The former concessions and alleyways around the Bund were indeed divided into small blocks decades or even centuries ago.

However, Shanghai may have many rivers and streets that are not so straight, so the division of these small blocks is not as clear as in Tokyo or Hong Kong.

There aren't many tall buildings interspersed among them.

So after seeing the small river ditch, Wei Dong never thought of dividing it into distinct small sections like Jiangzhou and Shangzhou, which was indeed a bit inferior to Shanghai.

The album contains photos taken from the upper floor of the Xishan Electronics Building, which was under construction, showing the surrounding streets and blocks that were already beginning to take shape, as well as the various construction sites in between.

Shangzhou is more straightforward; many tenement buildings have sprung up along with the high-rise construction, which is definitely not as "international" as Shanghai.

But if you flip to the back, you'll find information about the renovation of the dormitory area of ​​the Pyeongjing Automobile Manufacturing Plant.

The two dormitory buildings under construction have hand-drawn plans by an architect in Pyeongjin.

It is precisely the surrounding high-rise buildings, the eight-story villas inside the factory area, and the few villas next to the tiny artificial pool in the very center.

Only then did someone ask: "Why is it the opposite of Shanghai?"

Let Wei Dong explain carefully: "This is Pingjing. The joint venture between Santana and China did not involve fighting with foreign businesses, right? The development of the Pingjing Automobile Factory community still needs to consider the impact. Moreover, the entire street area around them can be developed into a car sales center. Car factories all over the country can rent commercial storefronts to do sales, and then all employees can watch the residences of middle and senior management."

The situation in Shanghai is quite different: "These are likely corporate executives from Europe, America, and Japan. They have little to do with the white-collar workers, ordinary managers, and technicians in high-rise buildings. Foreigners value quiet and undisturbed living in their high-end residences, which is different from our preference for living in bustling and prosperous areas. Besides, most people living in villas have cars, so walking a few steps is not a big deal."

The detached villas in Citibank are mostly in the suburbs or on the outskirts of the city, while those living in high-rise buildings in the central business district are mostly poor people.

Those present, including some who had studied abroad or visited Europe and America, nodded in sudden realization.

So it's unclear whether it was because the flattery of this region was so satisfying, or because it was compared to the capital, Kyoto.

After a brief discussion, the group decided: "Let's have you liaise with the Shanghai architectural design firm and try to refine the planning scheme as soon as possible. Ultimately, your joint venture real estate company will be responsible for driving the completion of this project. Is that alright?"

This was completely unexpected for Wei Dong: "No, ah, I mean I wasn't prepared for this... I was just assisting the city with a plan evaluation, I never thought I would participate in such a large construction project!"

With a land area of ​​1.4 million square meters, it is already the size of a county town.

It's ten times the size of the Xishan Computer Industry Street!
Anyway, Chi Shiming, who was sitting behind Wei Dong as his assistant, was completely stunned by Lao Zhang, who had been called over to be a guest and get to know him better.

This is in Shanghai!

The city officials even laughed and asked, "Is there any difficulty?"

Wei Dong struggled to suppress his excitement: "Financial difficulties are definitely one aspect. For example, in Jiangzhou, and even in Pingjing, the current housing developments try to adopt a collective housing model, using at most 30% of the funds to start construction, and then selling off-plan units to use the mortgage loans to complete the project. This is too big. According to the plan, there should be nearly two million square meters of residential, commercial, and office buildings. Even if we take our twenty-story high-rise building as an example, which is more than 20,000 square meters, that's dozens or nearly a hundred high-rise buildings. It's impossible to sell off-plan units to foreign businesses or consulates, right?"

The city government reminded him: "Didn't you cooperate with Hong Kong capital to develop real estate? You seem to be using this method of attracting investment very well in the electronics industrial park."

The partner of the Hong Kong-funded real estate company quickly and quietly nudged Rang Weidong in the waist from behind.

At the national sales conference, Chi Shiming tried to contact as many of his friends in the real estate industry as possible.

They probably have a strong hand and are eager to launch the project at this stage.

Otherwise, if Uncle De's daughter's interests shift or the relationship cools down, and subsequent investments stop, wouldn't it all be a mirage and a complete waste of time?

Wei Dong had been desperately resisting the temptation of real estate, but at this moment he was clearly still feeling like he was drowning and struggling to breathe: "Why me? Shanghai is full of hidden talents, so many construction companies, and even more investment experts, why should a young man from Jiangzhou like me be put in charge of such a big project?"

On the other side of the Shanghai Strait, someone tapped on his photo albums with their finger: "Because you are currently the only real estate company that has steadily achieved these results."

Wei Dong never expected that he had worked so hard to push himself to such a peak!

(End of this chapter)