Shanghai Urban Planning Museum

Looking at Shanghai – past, present, and future

Shanghai is a bustling, vibrant place that is constantly in the process of reinventing itself, and there is no better place to get a sense of that process than at the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. The museum captures the city’s architectural past, present, and future in six floors of exhibits. At the heart of the museum is a scale model of Shanghai’s inner ring area that takes most of the third floor.

What to Expect
Entering the museum, visitors will see a scale model of several of the towering skyscrapers from Shanghai’s Pudong business district, symbolic of the city’s powerful role in the world’s economy. Downstairs on two basement levels (which connect to the metro), the Shanghai of the 1930s has been recreated, complete with house entrances, cobblestone streets, shops, and teahouses. Heading upstairs from the main floor offers a chance to see the plans for Shanghai’s future, with districts marked for urban renewal shown on an array of maps.

On the third floor, walk around the city at ground level, or climb up to an encircling walkway for a birds-eye view of urban Shanghai as it will look in 2020. Controlled lighting shows you the city from morning through night time. The vision of future Shanghai is a sea of high-rise apartment buildings, punctuated by small urban parks and public areas. Clear plastic models indicate structures not yet built in the plan. In addition to the large model, the third-floor offers a virtual tour of Shanghai thanks to 360-degree video technology.

The museum also houses a photography exhibit of Shanghai past and present, an architectural bookstore, space for changing exhibits, interactive exhibits for younger visitors, a cafe, and an art gallery.

Hours of Operation
9 a.m. -5 p.m. daily
(Ticket sales end at 4 p.m.)

Admission
¥30 ($4.40)

How to get there
The Urban Planning Museum at 100, Renmin Avenue, is located in Shanghai’s People’s Square, within walking distance of the Shanghai Museum, the city’s Grand Theater, and the municipal government building. Take the Shanghai Metro (Line 1 or 2) to People’s Square Station.