Contemporary Living and Historical Heritage: Analysis and documentation for the regeneration of a historical Jewish settlement in Shanghai

The presence of a multi-cultural context combined with the large-scale development of the city both in terms of urban space and social context is characterising the contemporary landscape of Shanghai. In this panorama Tilanqiao district represents one of the historical district threatened by this huge development which is altering its original texture and irreversible changing its overall image. Here, a unique architecture together with a lasting memory related to the fact of being a safe harbour for Jews, racially persecuted during the Nazi-Fascist regime, shaped this neighbourhood during the time by overlapping two apparently distant cultures, Chinese and Hebrew, which here find a point of union under the Japanese domination between late 30s and early 40s. This thesis will try to investigate this context from an architectural, urban and social point of view from the beginning of the Jewish history of Shanghai until the nowadays situation in order to discover what is happened to the Jewish cultural heritage and what is now differentiating this district from the other Shikumen style lilong of the city. The analysis will be articulated in different steps starting from a revision of the historical sources and researches already carried out. Then it proceeds with the survey of the current situation in order to construct a framework capable of supporting the subsequent intervention strategy. Thus, the resulting design will aim to recall the Jewish memory currently concealed in this place that, as will emerge from the discussion, will be different from the one linked to the concept of ghetto commonly widespread in Western context. In fact, in Europe it is associated with a notoriously negative meaning, connected to extermination camps, while here rediscovers a new meaning based on welcoming and vibrant everyday life and, thus, to people’s life.