One Lujiazui is not enough for Shanghai...

You heard that right, ladies and gentlemen... Our city's foresighted urban planners, God bless their hearts, have looked into their glassball and decided that Shanghai needs another Lujiazui — and really, soon — in three years to be exact. Well if they were able to build Lujiazui I in ten years, we have every confidence they can build Lujiazui II in three. Never ever ever doubt the ambitions of Shanghai city planners. Just build first, and everything will fall into place later.

The management committee of the new zone, however, was quick to assure us that it "will not have Lujiazui's cluster of skyscrapers", but "will feature a combination of modern and historic buildings". Xinhuanet has more:

The site, the Sanlin Expo Functional Zone, is to the south of the Lujiazui area and will cover 82 square km, three quarters of the 2010 World Expo Site.

"We hope the World Expo will bring more business opportunities to this new zone," Jiang Ming, head of the managing committee of the Sanlin zone, said Monday at a meeting to invite business interest.

Before the inauguration of the six-month world fair in May 2010, the area will be home to luxury hotels, an Expo village for Expo staff, a huge public activity center and parks along the Huangpu River.

It also expects to attract various fashion and cultural studios, commercial outlets and complexes.

By the way, does anyone here remember how long the Super Brand Mall was left empty before the gods finally smiled on them?

Photo from Montrasio International.