The luxury urbanity of new housing projects. Report of an Urban design and planning course in China

Abstract

'Housing' is an issue combining architecture, planning, and social matters like the role of the market and an equal access to urban resources. Housing is worldwide effectively mirroring the socio-economic changes, as measured by institutional statistics and personal income. The housing stocks supplied by the market, and the public policies correcting that supply, also materialize common or questioned ideas on urbanity. While housing in the real world is mainly considered the result in balancing these different constraints, residential areas are also one of the first applied exercises in the courses of urban planning. The Chinese University context, and particularly that of a large metropolis like Guangzhou, offers a hot spot to look at the role that planning education may - or might have - in preparing professionals for the future challenges and addressing crucial public decisions on the future urbanity.