One of the planning highlights was the visit to the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall. This is a purpose built four storied building which portray's Beijing's urban form from 3000 years ago, to now, and also has a multi-media presentation of the planned city 20 years from now. It is used for education and for exhibiting the features of the city...
In the reception area is this bronze relief map which helps set the city in the ring of mountains and hills that surround it to the north. In part this topography explains the inversion layer that forms - as in Mexico and Christchurch - contributing to the smoggy atmosphere. The finger points at the Forbidden City - at the centre of Beijing. Now surrounded by five motorway ring round systems...
The Hall contains a separate model of the Forbidden City - buildings made in intricate detail...
Most interest is generated by the scale model of Beijing itself. This model is made to scale of 1:750 and covers a floor area of 302 square metres.
This is an extraordinary sight....
The model of the heart of Beijing is surrounded by a further 1000 square metre aerial photographic display - that Georgia is standing on here.
The CBD of Beijing is where high rise buildings may be built - along with one or two other areas of the city. Elsewhere building heights are restricted to 5 stories. This reminded me of Hamburg and other European cities where building height are restricted for a variety of reasons. In Hamburg it is to ensure that the city's gothic buildings are visible on the skyline. In Beijing it is to ensure - in part - that the Forbidden City is not dominated or overlooked by modernity...
You can get an idea here of the low rise spread of parts of Beijing....
Some city architecture is eye-catching.
This short video clip shows the model in "daylight"....
The Exhibition Hall features a number of multi-media displays. This one shows the city in various lights and begins introducing the development planning...
This clip is part of the laser light show, and ends on the BirdsNest Olympic Stadium. Fantastic.
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