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    The Chinese Architect, David Cao was awarded by Strategic Asia Europe with the Design Excellence Award for his project - Qingdao Laixi Green Affinity City

    “Urbanisation and Global Populations” Summit took place on 19th April 2012 at the Arup Building, London. In February 2012, Mr. Cao Wei, the Senior Architect from Capital City Commerce & Urban Planning Design Academy, submitted his design for the project: Qingdao Laixi Green Affinity City, which is a project regarding the design of retirement city based on the design concept of circular edifice. Combining the idea of low carbon architecture and social inclusiveness and inter-relatedness, Mr Cao has put forward a project which brings the elderly to a habitat which is a green haven. His vision is to ensure that the Qingdao Laixi Green Affinity City “is not just a green open space but it is where it provides the start of life”; which has won high praises during the event. Post-summit, Mr. Cao Wei was presented with the 2012 Design Excellence Award at SAE Barbican Arts Centre’s Office, by Mr. Ashish Mishra, the CEO of Strategic Asia Europe (SAE) and Prof. Vlasios Voudouris, from the Centre for International Business and Sustainability, London Metropolitan Business School, on behalf of his team from the Capital City Commerce & Urban Planning Design Academy.

    The theme of this year’s event is entitled: “Urbanisation and Global Populations”. Strategic Asia Europe; CIBS – Centre for International Business and Sustainability, London Metropolitan Business School and ABM Analytics; have jointly convened the event, which took place at Arup’s Head Quarter in London. The experts from the summit discussed the issues regarding urbanisation and the global population growth in depth. Mr. Mishra, from Strategic Asia Europe, remark that: “This summit reflects our broader aim to create and support consensus, understanding and co-operation between Asia and Europe and to ensure that the new Asian century is peaceful, outward looking and technologically cutting-edge.”

    In particular, Mr. Cao Wei, Vice President from Capital City Commerce & Urban Planning Design Academy, offered his point of view in regards to China’s demographic structural differences to other countries - whereby the Chinese ageing population accounts for a greater proportion of the total population than most other nations. With the ageing population set to increase over the next two decades, China is in urgent need to find the solution to accommodate the elderly Chinese.     Resolving this issue will not only alleviate the social welfare situation for the elderly in China, but paving the way for exchanging the best practice to other nations.

    Mr. Cao Wei, Vice President from Capital City Commerce & Urban Planning Design Academy, along with his research team have examining the development of the ‘pension industry’, retirement city and the planning of such a city, have made a special contribution through his unique Green Affinity City of the Qingdao Laixi project. The circular building design utilises the passive design principles, which brings about the establishment of a sustainable, safe and inclusive living space.

    During the summit discussion, Mr. Cao commented that: “Our vision is to ensure that the residents of the Green Affinity City will not only access the best medical and health facilities available; they will also be able to gain from the Chinese Medicinal treatments – the well-being programme, which includes: well-being living, sauna, body massage, healthy eating. The “Well-being programme” presents an opportunity to establishing the ‘Pensioner Industry’, to beyond the assisted or facilitated care homes, but to include a whole host of programmes focussing on the well-being of the elderly; which fits in well with the project, such as the Green Affinity City at Qingdao, Laixi. At the same time, the Green Affinity City also includes cultural provisions, such as the theatre and arts centre (the calligraphy centre) as well as quality green spaces. This signifies that the Green Affinity City at Qingdao, Laixi, is an attractive space not just for the elderly but also for the young; which will foster a new inter-generational city dwelling.

    The experts at the summit were inspired by the huge scale of Mr. Cao Wei’s project. It also made them consider the context of the challenge for the UK: the need to incorporate organic growth of cities and communities, as well as learning from the lessons of previous ‘social engineering’ projects. One attendee cited the 1950s attempt to create ‘streets in the sky’ high-rise living now being demolished as urban, economic and social failures.

Background：

About Strategic Asia Europe
    Strategic Asia Europe specialises in issues related to emerging markets that focuses on public/private policy issues across Asia and Europe. It does so by occupying the narrow corridor between government policy and regulatory frameworks, in key sectors ranging from energy and food security to urban management and e-government.

About The Centre of International Business and Sustainability (CIBS)?
    The Centre for International Business and Sustainability (CIBS) is an interdisciplinary research centre at London Metropolitan Business School (LMBS).     CIBS and its members work with collaborators in other institutions to examine the 'Sustainability World' and its interrelated issues and policy responses. CIBS contributes a distinctive voice by bringing together researchers from economics, econometrics, computational economics, policy analysis, strategy and ethics to explore together what we call the 'Sustainable World'.

About ABM Analytics Ltd
    ABM Analytics is a privately held energy consultancy company dedicated to providing services and a variety of policy and strategy packages to meet the specialised needs of organisations. The partnership between Strategic Asia Europe and ABM Analytics aims to provide solutions to complex energy-climate policy challenges, to simplify a confusing picture, to deconstruct the relevant market into its constituent parts and re-assemble those parts to enhance the capabilities of our clients.

About Capital City Commerce & Urban Planning Design Academy (CCCA)
    CCCA is a modern urban planning and design center and research institute. It consists of: President's Office, Business planning department, store design department, the International Marketing Department, budget department, Information department, integrated projects, international exchange center, business planning research centers, production center.
    The Academy specialises in understanding local economies, and planning their continued growth, drawing on a number of in-house economic experts and engineering professionals, it uses state of the art equipment and techniques in urban planning.
    The People's Republic of China Ministry of Commerce has tasked the Academy with formulating a comprehensive "urban commercial network planning and management protocol", which will be applied to all urban planning projects across the country. The Academy also works privately in design and consulting for business planning, marketing
    strategy design, research and other special programs, having completed 49 large enterprise projects across the country.

Mr David CaoWei
    Vice president of the Capital City Commerce & Urban Planning Design Academy in Beijing. ?He is part of the China Federation of Urban Commercial Outlets and Commercial Building Construction Management Review Committees and Sina City Channel’s special adviser, and was named in the 2009 publication: "60 years of urban construction in China: who’s who ". He is a visiting professor and a member of the Steering Committee at the Beijing Vocational College of Finance. He has contributed to the articles: "commercial arrangement with the network structure" and "commercial layout and store design" . In 2008, David CaoWei was awarded for Design Excellence in Lecce, Italy, and in the same year was named as the top hundred most influential people in urban development in China and he has a particular interest in sustainable development and green building practices. 

Dr. Vlasios Voudouris
    CEO and founder of ABM Analytics and the Deputy Director of the Centre for International Business and Sustainability, London Metropolitan Business School, Vlasios has a wealth of experience in evidence-based policy, quantitative analysis and risk-adjusted investment processes. He was a Senior Advisor for the NEEG of Defra – Central UK Government. He also wrote a number of evidence-based reports for the Cobra meetings chaired by the UK Prime Minister. Vlasios also contributed to the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Select Committee inquiry into the "UK's Energy Supply: Security or Independence?” Vlasios is in the Advisory Board of Strategic Asia where he builds an effective portfolio of clients, policy papers and strategies. Vlasios also contributes to the Pacific Energy Summmit following the invitation by the US National Bureau of Asian Research.

Mr Ashish Mishra
    CEO of the European Office of Strategic Asia was formerly in charge of the Emerging Markets Programme for China and India at the London Development Agency on behalf of the Mayor of London. He has over 20 years of global business experience. He is currently Visiting professor at London Metropolitan Business School and Professor at the Cities Institute for Business and Sustainability, UK and Advisory Board Member to a number of technology firms on Asian strategy, and Special Advisor to the CEO of Asia House.

Barbican Arts Centre
    The Europe's largest arts center and performing arts center, located in London, England, The Barbican estate is situated in the north of the City of London (the Barbican Estate Barbican Centre, opened in 1982 by the government of the City of London, is Britain's third-largest arts funding agencies - the City of London spent 160 million pounds (equivalent to nearly 400 million pounds in 2007’s currency rate) constructed and managed by the City of London Corporation. ?"Barbican" meaning the "Urn", refers to the Barbican estate as this huge building complex located in the City of London, by the ancient city gate and is connected to the castle on the site.     Barbican Arts Centre came under heavy bombing in World War II, the City of London, and the original buildings were all destroyed. ?The entire estate accommodates high-level and multi-storey living space, including schools, museums, YMCA facilities, fire stations, clinics, music colleges, libraries, art galleries and a collection of large performing arts venues - where the latter three constitute of the Barbican Center for the Arts. The Barbican estate commenced in 1965, built in 1976, but the inter-connected art center was completed in 1982, which was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on March 3, 1982.

    The Chinese Architect, David Cao was awarded by Strategic Asia Europe with the Design Excellence Award for his project - Qingdao Laixi Green Affinity City