Architects from China and the United States have come up with a plan to preserve and develop an old community on the western outskirts of Beijing in a sustainable way.

It has taken a joint team of architectural professors and students from the capital's Tsinghua University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States six years to complete the plan.

The project aims to maintain the traditional styles of Xiyuan, an old community near the Summer Palace, while improving its environment and residents' living conditions.

When the team unveiled the plan earlier in July, MIT Professor Jan Wampler told China Daily: "We hope to upgrade the local residents' living conditions without forcing them to move out of the old community."

Moving residents out and replacing old houses with new ones has become a common phenomenon during Beijing's urban renovation, in which thousands of traditional buildings have been demolished in the city with 800 years of history as the nation's capital.

Just weeks before the plan was released, residents in Nanchizi - an old community near the Forbidden City - were required to move out because the local district government was going to demolish old houses there to build new ancient-style buildings in a trial project to protect Beijing's historic streets.

Amid the rise in demolition, the Sino-US joint planning project in Xiyuan seems to be a beacon of light.

According to the plan, some areas of Xiyuan bordering the Summer Palace that are currently vacant would be developed into a centre where tourists can stay while the layout and environment of the area are to be transformed into a tourist-friendly zone.

Roads will be widened, facilities improved and a canal dug from the Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace to Xiyuan.

These facilities are expected to become a sustainable source of revenue for the community, with which local residents will be able to refurbish their old houses, said Wampler.

With technical support from Tsinghua and MIT, residents will spend their own money and use some community funds to transform some of their low-rise houses into two-storey buildings without destroying the original appearance and structure.

In a gradual process, the project could greatly increase the per capita living area in Xiyuan from the current 10 square metres to about 20 in 2012, when the project is scheduled to finish.

Wu Liangyong, a professor of architecture with Tsinghua University and member of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, highly praised the project.

"The project offers us a development method for traditional streets that is different from renovation through massive demolition," said Wu.

The project represents an attitude that respects the characteristics of Chinese traditional architecture, Wu added.

Despite the great efforts put in and experts' appraisals, the feasibility of the project is still being questioned due to the huge investment needed in the project.

Lack of money to maintain the original appearance of old streets often becomes the main pretext of local governments and real-estate developers for demolishing traditional communities and constructing new buildings to sell.

Yu Yuying, a middle-aged resident of Xiyuan, said she was also worried that the cost for residents to refurbish their houses might be too much.

But Dennis Frenchman, director of the MIT city design and development programme, said the profitability of an urban-renovation project goes beyond the project itself.

"For instance, an improved Xiyuan community will increase the fame of the neighbouring Summer Palace and bring greater revenue in the long term," said Frenchman. He also stressed the importance of gradual renovation, which could largely reduce the financial burden of local residents.

Beijing's city planning commission is currently scrutinizing the plan.

Wen Zongyong, a senior official with the commission, said the project was highly significant in that it offered a new way of thinking about planning.

Some experts also doubt that Xiyuan's special location between the Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace plays a major role in the project, in which tourism revenue would become an important financial source to support community development.

Yet Wu said that the Tsinghua-MIT project was meaningful merely because it created a plan suitable for certain areas.

To better understand the circumstances of Xiyuan in order to work out a comprehensive plan, students and teachers from MIT and Tsinghua conducted investigations during the summer holidays for each of the past six years.

MIT student Tina Rosan said: "It is a precious chance for us to utilize our vacation to be here and help the Chinese community find a sustainable way of development without destroying its original style."

( China Daily July 31, 2002)