World Expo 2010, in Shanghai: BETTER CITY, BETTER LIFE

ARTICLE:
After the great success of the Italian Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, the council of the
Shanghai Expo has decided to reopen it, thats because of its stateliness.
After the closing of the Chinese Expo, the Italian pavilion reopened in March proposing once again
to the public the typical Italian way of life, presented earlier in 2010, during the world exhibition.
The Italian pavilion bought since 2010 the task to accelerate exchanges of political, cultural and
economic relations between Italy and China.
Unlike 2010, the pavilion designed by Giampaolo Imbrighi contains Ferraris first museum outside
of Italy. Despite this, inside of the Pavilion, tourists can find Italian and Chinese restaurants, and
also fashion shows.
Why, even if the Shanghai Expo is terminated by two years, the Italian pavilion continues to
represent a huge success? The answer is simple: Chinese people love Italy, its way of live, the way
of eating, fashion and certainly the architecture represented in the pavilion. And this interest is also
present in many Italians who start to move to China not only for tourism but also for work.

Expo 2010, officially Expo 2010 Shanghai China was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in
the city of Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World Expo in the
tradition of international fairs and expositions, the first since 1992. The theme of the exposition was
"Better City Better Life".
When it begins, the Expo 2010 in Shanghai represents a powerful demonstration of the Chinese
efficiency. Even if China certainly had no need, after the Olympic Games of 2008, to give the world
further proof of its ability to organize an event of universal importance perfectly, Shanghai 2010
sets a record in terms of management and strategy that is the result of a project proper and
indispensable. On the first day half a million persons entered the Expo area without difficulties,
moving through river tunnels, electric cars, buses, cooled paths, bridges, road bridges, landing
stages, platforms, frame canopies, large gates and entrances. An incredible, exceptional program if
compared to the time of realization.
The Expo of Shanghai is born with the importance of the theme: a planetary emergency. Better
City, Better Life centers on the fact that the hosting nation has made the world aware of the
priority of an environmental emergency which rings as a decisive question for the survival of the
planet. But, has Italy consciously interpreted this theme?
The key value of the theme of Expo 2010 is the urban sustainability, to explore the global
urbanization in urban century in order to meet the global challenge. The World Expo is an
important event of urbanization and in 2010, Chinese people tend to relate World Expo with a new
era, new life and modern cities. World Expo gathers people from all around the world to look into
the future. A Japanese architect said in 1970 Modern expositions should have the primary
objective of representing the wisdom and culture of human beings by gathering people from all over
the world and facilitating their face to face exchange of ideas and feelings. World Expos inspire
human progress, promote cultural infusion, and create spaces and platforms for communication.
The theme of Shanghai World Expo Better City, Better Life, with its core value being the
sustainable development of cities. The aim is to promote the global sustainable development of
cities, the relationships between cities and create better and more beautiful ones by focusing on
cities, the relationships between cities and nature, and peoples life, as well as as via the exploration
into ideas of future cities and future life and the presentation, display, discussion and
communication of the theme. On of the key missions of this Expo would be the solution of how to
construct harmonious city ecology. But has Italy in this Expo embodied the concept of the city of
harmony?
THE ITALIAN PAVILION
The Italian Pavilion was designed by Giampaolo Imbrighi, who won with his architectural project
in a competition which has seen the participation of other 65 Italian candidates for the construction
of a pavilion dedicated to our country.
As Imbrighi said in an interview: Better City, Better Life is a means of expressing interest of
international community in town planning strategies and sustainable development. According to the
theme of Expo 2010, the Pavilion was to represent a showcase of the very best of Italian products
associated with life quality in urban areas. One therefore wanted to present the new Italian trends in
the fields of engineering, architecture and design and technology.
During the 2010 World Expo, the pavilion is presented as a true miniature city, with clear cultural
references to the contents of Expo, but above all to the composite character of our country; it tells
the story about Italians, their creativity and their millennial culture. But, where is the answer to the
theme Better City, Better Life? Imbrighi considers the theme of the Expo as a challenge, a
message of auspice in the design of new spaces on a human scale, focusing on the human beings
and the importance of sustainable and energy-efficient architectures.
Concerning the interior of the Italian Pavilion, we can talk about the typical Italian messa in
scena. The pavilion is presented as an exhibition of the great Italian beauties. It starts with a
spacious lobby, with a glass wall that propose the proscenium of the Olympic Theatre in Venice. On
the other side of the wall there is the inscription "The City of Man. The Italian Way of Life" and is
repeated thirty-six times in different languages in order to form the Chinese character "Fu", that
means happiness in Chinese.
In the room that follows , technological innovations of the past and present are confronted. At the
center of the room there is in fact a car Isotta Fraschini nearby a modern reproduction of a bicycle
and a motorcycle. The main lobby attracts the attention of tourists because there is a particular
scene. The tourist is in front of a symphony orchestra but on a wall. The idea is to create the scene
of a pause between an act and the other of a lyric opera. Also in the main lobby is proposed the
dome of Santa Maria del Fiore and the painting "The Enigma of a Day" by Giorgio De Chirico. In
the same room there are two dummies 4 meters high dressed by four famous Italian designer. The
last room of the pavilion showcases the culinary excellence of our country, from pasta to wine.
In my experience of Italian tourist, I found the Shanghai Expo a great architectural and cultural
event. As for the other pavilions, everyone showed their beauty and their ideas for the theme "Better
City, Better Life", but the Italian one, although beautiful and considered the third best pavilion of
the Expo, didnt answer fully the question of the event. The pavilion was unable to submit ideas for
the recovery and the reuse of unused areas, talking more about the the environmental respect and
sustainable energies in Italy, which are important but due to many factors, such as participation in
an event so important as the World Expo, it was clear of the presence of a component of pure
entertainment. The pavilion is a pure exaltation of Italian beauties. What makes reference to the
subject is a small plastic model of a sustainable home.
As demonstrated, today's Universal Expo have lost their main role that was to be a place dedicated
to celebrating the optimism in the progress through architecture.