MOST world-famous cities have an equally renowned river flowing through them. The Thames in London, the Seine in Paris, the Tiber in Rome and the Hudson in New York.

Shanghai has its own well-loved waterway winding through the city, the Huangpu.

"In different ways, these great cities have a fantastic relationship with the water. Water is a source of great spirituality in human life," said Paul Davis, one of five British architectural experts visiting Shanghai. They have been invited to bring their personal expertise to Shanghai in advance of the 2010 World Expo, which will be held in the city with great changes about to take place along the Huangpu.

Unbalanced development

For historical reasons, the development of Shanghai was confined mainly to the west of the Huangpu in Puxi.

This resulted in a somewhat unbalanced process of economic development in Shanghai, especially during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when numerous high buildings were built in Puxi during a furious surge of urban development.

"As a result the central part of the city became over-developed and the outskirts were far from satisfactory," said Wu Jiang, the deputy director of Shanghai Urban Planning Administration Bureau.

So, at the end of the 1990s, a new urban planning scheme was prepared to transfer the focus of further urban development to the outskirts of the city, especially in light of the extra pressure placed on the over-developed centre.

As the major river running through Shanghai, the Huangpu has played a unique role in the growth of the city, according to Su Gongzhou, the chief planner of Shanghai Urban Planning and Design Research Institute.

However, with the adjustment of industries along the river in recent years and factories and enterprises running out of room to expand, some had to relocate their operations elsewhere creating a "vacuum" and opening the chance to regenerate the Huangpu.

Inspiring opportunity

In the past 150 years, the Huangpu has witnessed relatively gradual urban growth on its western bank and a sudden explosion of development activity on its eastern shore in the past decade. To the west, many but not all, historical features have been preserved.

The coming of 2010 World Expo will bring enormous changes to riverside localities. At the same time, this will provide urban planners with the opportunity to realize the Expo slogan: "Better City, Better Life".

In the past, large-scale construction and real estate development did much damage to the historical sites on both sides of the Huangpu, Wu said. "Real estate development in the riverside area will be reduced to make it a public place enjoyed by the people."

The vice director of Shanghai World Expo Co-ordination Bureau, Huang Jianzhi, said: "The ecological environment in this area also needs to be improved and the area of the 'old town' will be rejuvenated."

One of the hard tasks to be done involves historical conservation to retain, preserve and enhance Shanghai's local culture. Shanghai is now going through the most rapid period of growth and change in its history. "It is very exciting but it can also be very dangerous if we do not know enough to save the best of the city's culture," Paul Davis said.

He said he was pleased that none of the master plans for the development of Pudong drawn up by famous architects from different countries more than a decade ago were actually implemented at the time. "What the planning authority did was to take some of those ideas and think about them some more," Paul said.

Human element

"Shanghai has its own personality," said James Allen, who is with the firm, Alsop Architects. "It should not try to copy other cities. And long-term planning is very important. If that is lacking, we will lose what we call 'value'."

According to Huang, more attention should be paid to the needs of the people in future urban development along the river and this was also what the 2010 Shanghai World Expo organizers hoped to show to the world.

"Taking a very tolerant attitude to choosing where to live and thinking about where people want to be is very important," said another British expert, Fred Manson. He is the former director of Regeneration and the Environment for the London Borough of Southwark. "The developers should understand what they need to do for the public good."

Although it was his very first time in Shanghai, Manson said he could see that the Huangpu itself was a necessary part of any future development of the city.

By using the World Expo as the impetus, more public space can be opened and the north-south riverside landscape can be renovated to give Shanghai a new urban characteristic - a wonderful combination of water and green space.

"The Huangpu should be the people's river," Su said.

While the city was growing and growing, it was also becoming more and more unsound ecologically, Paul Davis said. "We need to provide the city with green surroundings to limit growth and excessive expansion. If we provide some green space and make it a great place for people to be, we create real value, not just financial value."