This year marks the 10th anniversary of the World Expo Shanghai 2010. As a legacy of the worldwide event, the UBPA (Urban Best Practice Area) in Puxi area has been transformed into a name card of Shanghai, while carrying on the concept of “Better City, Better Life”. In celebration of the Expo spirit, a group of people embarked on a journey around the UBPA on May 10, taking a look at the past and present of the area.

The event also attracted around 20 expats and foreign families in Shanghai. Together with the Chinese visitors, they strolled around ten landmarks in the 15-hectare area, which is like an open park to the nearby residents.

(A visit to the Living Water Park in UBPA)

The landmarks they visited included the Madrid Case Pavilion, Shanghai Case Pavilion, Living Water Park, Rose Garden, Hamburg Case Pavilion, Shanghai Design Center, Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange Corporation Ltd., Expo I-Pavilion, Taipei Case, and teamLab Borderless Shanghai.

While looking around, Claude Maillot, chief executive of Bureau Veritas’ Marine & Offshore North Asia and China Zone, was no stranger to the place. With his office located nearby Nanpu Bridge in Huangpu District, he used to walk alongside the Huangpu River and go past the UBPA. As a recipient of the Shanghai Magnolia Award, he has been in Shanghai for eight years, witnessing how the city and people’s lives have become better. As he said, the government has made a lot of efforts over the past years in bettering the air quality and the infrastructure along the Huangpu River, which is a perfect demonstration of the concept of “Better City, Better Life” put forward by the World Expo 2010.

(1st and 2nd from right: Claude Maillot and Javier Gimeno)

For Javier Gimeno, senior vice president and CEO of Saint-Gobain Asia Pacific, the low-carbon and energy-saving architectural solutions in the UBPA relate to what his company has been doing. When designing and making building materials, Saint-Gobain always pays attention to reducing the emission of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases while bringing a more comfortable living experience. What is more, Saint-Gobain’s smooth development here in China has been enabled by the Chinese market’s emphasis on high-quality and environmentally-friendly products.

“When the Expo was launched ten years ago, what they promised was to get a better city and a better life. Now when we look at this period, we can definitively say that today Shanghai is a better city than it was years ago, and the conditions for the population of Shanghai are better than one decade ago. All the promises have been delivered and I think it is a very important thing,” added Javier Gimeno.

(A foreign family visits the Hamburg Case Pavilion in UBPA)

(People enjoy the artworks at teamLab Borderless Shanghai)

Thanks to the tour, more people are turning their eyes to the UBPA, which is now a new landmark of the city. Adrian Cabanelas Plaza from Spain couldn’t help sharing his visit with his friends. He said it is very interesting to see that the place and the architecture inside are still full of modernity, fashion and vitality, even after ten years.

UBPA is a LEED-ND (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development) Platinum pre-certification Project. While carrying Shanghai citizens’ memory of the World Expo 2010, it is under transformation in line with the city’s development plan and radiating new vitality in the current era.

(Story by Zheng Qian, Wu Qiong)

(Photos by Wang Pengchong)