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The JingAn Urban Study, commissioned by the JingAn planning authority and conducted by David Chipperfield Architects Shanghai, has been approved as the basis for the new regulatory plan for the DongShiWenLi development at Suzhou Creek, Shanghai.

David Chipperfield Architects Shanghai began the urban study in summer 2014, investigating the relationship between historic low-density housing and a new high-density development. Starting with a theoretical exploration of urban planning principles, the study led to the development of a masterplan in collaboration with the planning authority.

DongSiWenLi was the largest Li neighbourhood in Shanghai, built in the early 20th Century and made up of ShiKuMen houses. This is a distinctly Shanghainese typology of terraced houses combining the British urban layout with typical courtyard houses from the Shanghai region, rendering this threatened typology globally unique. The aim of the new development is to create an attractive urban quarter through the integration of historic lane houses with new functions.