The East’s West

In recent decades Asia has seen a proliferation of housing developments that mimic Western cities. Most of them are in China: its liberalized economy and growing population have created a construction boom. The older mass construction techniques (often based on the Soviet model) are now being applied in the more privatized housing market. Customers prefer alternatives to the traditional or communist look, including “Western” styles, meaning European and American architecture. In many cases, a typical Western development will include a central area that is open to tourists, and a gated community in the same repeated style for residents, like the replica of Austria’s Hallstatt in Luoyang. But there are other types of western styled cities, that have different components, such as shopping malls or just one single mixed residential and commercial area, such as the version of Paris in Hangzhou.

South Korea’s German Village is a unique settlement of Koreans who had worked in Germany and married locals there. In the last two decades these couples were enticed to return and build in a predetermined German style and to help develop the area for tourism. In Japan, the most prominent example of a western re-construction is the enormous Huis ten Bosch, which is both an amusement park and an upscale gated community in Dutch style. 

All three countries have been visibly influenced by western colonialism, trade, or military interventions. However, these latest western constructions are different in that they are an interpretation of the West by the East and symbolize independence and economic power.

Andrea Robbins und Max Becher 2012/2015