Shanghai's transformation: A tale of futuristic cities and surprisingly fresh air

A recent walk along the Weißach river in the Bavarian Alps offered a stark contrast to a friend's account of Shanghai, highlighting the dramatic pace of urban development in China's megacities.

The friend recounted how, prior to his visit, he had reviewed older photographs of Shanghai's city center. Upon arrival, he found that almost the entire downtown area had been rebuilt. Only the buildings in the former French Concession seemed to retain an older character, now housing boutiques of Chinese designers who are increasingly rivaling established European fashion houses.

He described a city of endless bars and cafes, impressing him with their ingenuity, elegance, and quality. Between the gleaming new glass towers of downtown, he observed a surprising amount of greenery, with people moving through tree-lined streets. At night, the skyscrapers pierced the sky, their facades adorned with LED displays projecting advertisements hundreds of meters high. Remarkably, he noted the air smelled fresh and clean, like the countryside, with no trace of exhaust fumes. The entire city appeared to be electrified, and cars glided almost silently over a new type of sound-absorbing asphalt.