Creativity

The transformative power of innovation has become a burgeoning industry, boosting urban and cultural development

Do you want to experience living in a multidimensional sea-view room in a hotel transformed from a rocket launch control tower, or dine in a museum restaurant transformed from an abandoned train station? If you think these are just fantasies of an over ambitious imagination, then think again.

Ideas and practices for a better, more creative city life became reality at the Creativity 2030 Summit held on September 22, a sideline forum of 2017 Beijing Design Week. Organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and International Center for Creativity and Sustainable Development (ICCSD), the summit shared original ideas and innovations on how to improve urban lifestyles.

“We are turning forgotten corners into designers’ arenas,” Gideon Schmerling, Director of Media and Communications of the Municipality of Tel Aviv-yafo of Israel, said at the summit.

Today, innovation has become a burgeoning industry, boosting urban development and gathering inspirational ideas from all over the world and creating platforms to make them realities.

To date, 99 courtyards in the neighborhood have been vacated and the renovation plan of eight further hutongs is open to global architects for the best proposal.

Residents are given two options. They can vacate their courtyard homes voluntarily, in which case they will be compensated by the government and can buy property elsewhere, or they can have their existing homes remodeled by award-winning architects and then move back in. Of the 99 courtyards vacated, some have already been transformed to a community library, apartments, galleries and workshops.

Tian Na, an architect remodeling the neighborhood, said the hope was that residents could later see how their homes had been transformed. “Some of them are transformed to public facilities and some are for business purposes. But the commercial ones must not undermine local tradition,” said Tian.