2005 International Symposium-Urban Renovation in Asia II
　　−Hochiminh・Singapore・Hiroshima

Date： 17, Dec. 2005 (Sat) 13:00-17:00
Place: Large/medium meeting rooms, '80 Building, Ichigaya Campus of Hosei Univ.

"Hochiminh, Cholon - Buildings in Chinatown"
Tran Khang, Professor, School of Architecture of Hochiminh city-Vietnam
The report focused on the formation history of Cholon, a Chinatown located in southern Vietnam.
For long periods, Vietnam is one of the safest land for Chinese emigrants. Many Chinese had been immigrated into Vietnam escaping from political evolution, flagging economy, etc.
Because Vietnam is a neighbor of China, emigration to Vietnam is not so difficult for Chinese. In addition, monsoon affect the season of emigration; from November to April when the wind is typically north-east, emigrants to Vietnam increased. Chinese merchants went to Vietnam at that season, and back to China during April to November when the southwestern wind blows.
The year of 1679 marked the important step of the Chinese emigration to the South Vietnam. Tchen Tchang Tchuoan and Yang Yen Ti, the military officers loyal to the Ming dynasty, led 3000 soldiers and their relatives with 50 warboats to Danang. They were permitted by Lord Nguyen phuc Tan who wished to avoid diplomatic problem with Qing dynasty, to be settled in the far-off South land in South Vietnam. In 1698, Load Nguen established Giadinh Province and occupied the South Vietnam. The Minhhuong village was established in the place of present Cholon. Minhhuong village was developed very fast and in the 1770's, the village became the great market with more than 10.000 inhabitants. And in the beginning of the 19th century, Cholon became one of the largest commercial centers of the South-East Asia. In 1859, French colonized the South Vietnam. The number of Chinese was continuously increasing and in 1940, the Chinese population in the South Vietnam was estimated to be 380.000.
Cholon is located in the area encircled by Geneal Beilly St. in the east side, Charles Thompson St. in the north side, waterway in the west, and Tau Hu Canal in the south. Many waterways were flowing in the city, where boats were navigating. The townscape of Cholon was composed by the shophouses and colorful Chinese temples. Shophouses were built contiguously between streets and back roads. Their width was often ranged between 4 and 5 meters. The depth of the house was at least two to three times of the width. In the early 19th Century, one-storey shophouses began to be built. They were built of wood or in brick, and the roof was tiled. The fire protection law established in 1865, prohibited thatch, wood and bamboo to prevent fire, and shanties were demolished. Bricks and tiles, roof tiles were commonly used instead. In the main street, one-storey and two-storey shophouses were built. In later years, two-storied shouphouses became representative. Traditionally, the two-storey shophouses provided the business and stock spaces on the ground floor and the living spaces on the upper storey. Three storey shophouses were built in the years after the First World War. The front facade of the shophouse was built in Chinese traditional styles or in the Western architectural styles.
The architecture of Cholon's shophouse is very creative and worth to be one of the architectural characteristics of the cultural heritage of Hochiminh city. But regretfully, till now there is no effective program of conservation for architecture in Cholon. And in reality, many shophouses of value were demolished. This is a great loss of the cultural heritage of Hochiminh city. When this loss will be recognized and stopped? Nobody knows.

Singapore River-Renovation of Life Line
National University of Singapore
Heng Chye Kiang (王　才強)
The waterfront renovation was realized in Singapore in relatively early period comparing to other Asian countries.
The report focused on the process of conservation and renovation project during the recent 20 years.
Singapore had functioned as a trading core since the 14th century. The excavation of Suez Canal in 1869 reduced the distance between European countries and Asia. Singapore began to serve more important roles as a trading center of Eastern and Western countries.
Singapore rapidly developed during the period between the 1850's to the middle of the 20th century. Along with the growth of the city, rivers were more and more actively utilized, and the pollution of the river became one of the critical problems around the 1950. Though reports of river pollution were often found in that period, river cleaning, and dikes' renovation were not implemented because of the lack of resource. Houses, hog farms, farming plants, food stalls were lined along the river, and wastewater, discharged water, table waste, etc. were thrown into the river. The water pollution was growing worse and worse.
The situation changed with the statement of the Prime Minister in February 1977, outlined as follows:
" The way of living to clean water is to be searched; we need a solution for the pollution of all rivers; our goal in future 10 years, will be the river where we can even fish." The background of the shift was the political top-down leadership typical in Singapore.
To realize the above decision, all ships were once removed from the river. Moreover, general plan became necessary including improvement of infrastructure, reuse of existing buildings and streets, etc.
Although the dikes were repaired, bridges were built, waterside areas were improved, and water were cleaned, activities were lost instead. The radical modernization of the area sacrificed "oriental mysterious atmosphere" and "good old shophouses", and resulted to the marked decline of the number of tourists. Then, various master plans were prepared to revitalize the river.
Now I will outline an important speech of Deputy Prime Minister in 1984, concerning history and conservation.
" Our history is short and heritages to be conserved are limited. Therefore, we have to defend them against destruction by developers, government and officials because they often wish to demolish unprofitable heritages. Common historical recognition will serve to link people from various places, so conservation of urban heritages will play an important role for social continuity, identity and solidarity"
As seen above, conservation plan was based on the ideology, adding to the financial aspect−the Deputy Prime Minister aimed to gather tourists by renovating the physical structure to provide oriental mood.
Renovation plan designed several sightseeing districts (with each theme), by reorganizing existing attractions into each characteristic zone. Individual guidelines (including height restriction) were also prepared for proceeding the renovation.
Currently, festivals, ceremonies, races like ragatta are periodically held, inviting many inhabitants and tourists. In addition to the above waterfront activities, the projects to activate the river are in process, such as lighting plans, promenade deck construction, etc.

"World Heritage and Formation of Landscape-Waterside of Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome and Itsukushima Shrine"
Associate Professor, School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo
Yushi Utaka
The report aimed to clarify the difficulties in the formation process of urban landscape named as world heritage, focusing on a conflicting relationship between conservation of waterscape and economic principle.
The important themes are "water and city", "size of landscape", and "waterfront economy". From the viewpoint of urban planning, water is difficult theme; because jurisdiction is different between water and land, the continuity of landscape is inevitably divided. The waterscape covers vast areas. In addition, waterfront is important for economic land. Therefore, the conflict between conservation and economy composes one of the major problems.
Now I will explain the relationship between core zone and buffer zone in view of the world heritage. Core zone is literally a core of heritage conservation; and surrounding areas are designated as a buffer zone.
Through case studies of world heritage, I will explain the relationship between a heritage and a landscape. The first example is Itsukushima Shinto Shrine, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1996, and conserved as wooden monument on the seashore. The shrine is vulnerable to the flood damage because of its location. The core zone of Itsukushima Shrine is the mountain side of the island, and the buffer zone is the whole island. The souvenir shops and townhouses along the edge of the mountain are not included in the core zone; however, the district will be designated a Preservation Districts for Groups of Historic Buildings in the core zone and compose continual landscape. The mainland across the Itsukushima was traditional exclusive residential area. The developments of apartment complex and factories prevent the continuity of the landscape. This shows the confliction between the landscape and economy.
In the next example is Onomichi-city, which wishes to be registered on the World Heritage List. This case shows new issues of historical urban area. Because of aging of society, depopulation, and flagging economy, vacant houses have increased. In addition, the characteristic of Onomichi like "urban puzzle" with combination of various land use, complicates the urban planning.
The third example is Atomic Bomb Dome. Various technologies have been utilized to conserve this extremely fragile building. The core zone is the dome, and the buffer zone is Peace Memorial Park and its surrounding area including both banks of the river. The negative legacy of the war, was initially conserved mainly based on subscription of citizens, because the dome was not gathering attentions at that time. However, the plan of Kenzo Tange presented for the competition on the Peace Memorial Park began to attract lots of attention. The plan allowed the dome to be inserted into the existing urban structure. To conserve the landscape, restrictions on advertising displays or facade were imposed on surrounding buildings. On the other hand, some people consider that the consumption and architecture as symbols of economic recovery will generate impressive contrast with the dome as a memory of war. In any way, the registration on the World Heritage List will generate various concepts of values, leading to so-called globalization of historical heritage.
Currently, there are over 50 sites in Japan waiting to be nominated as heritage site. In this period of rush for the World Heritage List, it will be required to understand the sites based on citizens' feelings and history beyond the existing systems, and to link them to the original landscape.