ABSTRACT
This chapter selects several urban icons in Pudong to investigate the relationship between iconism and city making. These iconic projects – Lujiazui’s trio of super high-rises (Jinmao Tower, Shanghai World Financial Centre, and Shanghai Tower), Expo 2010, and Shanghai Disney Resort – were envisioned in the early stage of planning Pudong in the early 1990s. They were incrementally undertaken and completed in the subsequent two to three decades. The opening of Shanghai Tower and Shanghai Disney Resort in 2016 marked the completion of all these projects. The process of making each project was unique; however, they were all integrated into achieving the vision of developing Pudong into a new global city centre. The chapter compares the trio of super high-rises, and unpacks each project’s making process, features, and iconic meanings. The completion of these projects marked milestone achievements in the development of Pudong, and declared Shanghai’s re-emergence as a global city and in many ways symbolised China’s rise in the 21st century.
