ABSTRACT
The superblock is substantially larger than a traditional city block in many American cities. The 104 superblocks ranged in size from 2.3 hectares to 97 ha in area. Historical and cultural contexts are key to how urban form and space are defined. Urban centers in China date back to 5000 BCE, and urban planning as a discrete practice emerged there over 3,000 years ago. The superblock is an old urban form, the earliest known plan incorporating the concept being the plan for the new city of Chengzhou, drafted in 1036 BCE by the Chinese official Zhou Li. The bias toward the automobile and the West’s history of automobile-oriented urban planning, in the USA especially, is very evident in many of the arguments against the use of the superblock. City planners in Shanghai did contemplate moving to the small city block concept earlier in the 20th century.
