Reflections on Architectural Heritage Conservation in Shanghai

Research on the last 30 years of architectural heritage conservation in Shanghai would highlight the establishment of both a preliminary system for heritage classification and gradation, as well as an authorised heritage institution framework. During the course of this process, different conservation methodologies and models (restorations, additions, relocations, extensions and reconstructions) have been put into practice according to the actual situation of the historic architecture of Shanghai. An overall view shows how architectural heritage conservation in Shanghai has undergone three different phases—initial; experimental; and the deepening conservation phase, on which a fundamental step was given in 2002, when the Shanghai Municipal Government issued the ‘Legislation for the Conservation of Historical Areas and Heritage Architecture in Shanghai’, creating a conservation system that is participated by the authorities, academic institutions, design institutions and construction companies. The article also stresses the need to provide for a special system of architectural heritage conservation in Shanghai, acknowledging the specificity of its cultural heritage, administrative system, legislation, codes, building technologies and materials; as well as its particular historical situation. © 2017, The author (s).