By Jen Lin-Liu
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One architect who has taken the lead in developing Qingpu is Qingyun Ma, who heads his own firm in Shanghai called MADA s.p.a.m. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's architecture school, Ma found himself plunging headfirst into issues that he had tried to avoid while practicing as an architect in America. "I used to be a pure Modernist," he says. After returning to China three years ago, "I realized that my refusal to do anything historical was wrong. [History] is so pervasive."
Though Ma is younger than many of the Qingpu planning officials he advises, he has managed to earn their respect. That respect has given Ma the freedom to build several projects in Qingpu, including Qiao Zi Wan, or Bending Bridge Bay, which is located on an oval-shaped piece of land surrounded by canals. Currently a run-down abandoned residential area, the site is being cleared to make way for a commercial district with a pedestrian thoroughfare. Located next to a park and temple built in the Qing Dynasty, the challenge has been to "introduce something new in a historic environment," says Ma.
Another project of Ma's is the innovative Thumb Island, a community center that floats on a lake. Free from the responsibility of dealing with history here, Ma has designed a structure composed of two buildings that rise and fall gently like two glass-encased mounds. The roof of the complex, which resembles two rolling hills, will become a public park. Standing atop the half-completed clubhouse, Ma says, "I'd love it if people did tai-chi up here."
American architect Benjamin Wood, of Wood + Zapata, was attracted to Qingpu because he says he was given "carte blanche" by the Australian developer SPG to create his vision of a residential community—without a gate. Having just completed a high-profile project in central Shanghai called Xintiandi, Wood shifted his focus to Qingpu to build town houses, villas, and apartments with an urban core of several restaurants and an old farmhouse that's been converted into a cultural center. "It's sort of a transformation of the vernacular water town urban typology with clean Modern lines," says Wood.
Indeed, much of the construction involves taking into account what already exists, or the historic surroundings of a project. For his part, Sun wants a former flour factory to be converted into lofts for artists. A state-owned warehouse will be turned into an exhibition center. Sancho-Madridejos, the Spanish firm, has been commissioned to rebuild a Christian church—itself a rarity in China—in a futuristic style with sharp lines. Nearly completed is a public kindergarten by Chinese architect Yichun Liu that features 15 blocky classrooms, each with a courtyard, a traditional Chinese feature of homes, but done in a nontraditional way.
While developers usually can push their vision through when building in other places in China, those who build in Qingpu are put through a rigid test, says Fanny Ma, the deputy general manager of Hongda Group, a Chinese developer that is building a project in the tourist area of Zhujiajiao. "The government's needs reflect our needs," she says. "It might be more frustrating in the beginning of the process, but afterward, our project has zipped along like a high-speed train."
With many projects still in the incubation stage, however, it is yet to be seen what Qingpu will become. Though roads have been paved and schools have been built, Qingpu New City has the feel of an empty shell, since few buildings have been fully completed. Ma, the architect, counters that the biggest change so far in Qingpu is not a physical one: "It's a psychological change. Designers and architects are having to really think to get a job here. The threshold has been raised." 
Jen Lin-Liu is an American journalist living in Beijing who has written for Newsweek, The Associated Press, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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