The UBPA will be divided into four exhibition fields, namely Livable Cities, Sustainable Urbanization, Protection and Utilization of Heritage, and Technological Innovation in Built Environment. The UBPA mainly presents various on-going practices, along with some examples of experimental architecture that has huge application potential.

Managing the Multitudes on Foot

The organizer estimates that the Shanghai Expo will receive around 70 million visitors, or about 400,000 per day on average, which will be the greatest attendance ever recorded in the history of the World Expo.

So an obvious problem will be how to cope with the usual challenges of heavy and slow visitor flow, and long, exhausting queues. According to Director Hong Hao of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, the organizing committee has adopted multiple mechanisms. There will be a floating ticket price. For example, during national holidays such as the May Day and National Day and in the last week before the closing ceremony, the tickets will be sold in limited quantity and at greater expense through the hours from nine to five. Since visitor flow will be stemmed after 5 pm, tickets will be available then at the regular price. Through discounts on group tickets, visitors are encouraged to visit the Expo site via pre-scheduled travel agency tours.

To those venues expected to be popular, like the China Pavilion, Theme Pavilions and some artistic performances, tourists can use a fast pass, reserved from any of the 184 machines located in 22 places around the Expo site.

Program management is another type of regulator, as well as the timely update of information. During weekdays and non-peak months such as June and September, the more extravagant crowd-pleasers will be scheduled, effectively drawing traffic away from the peak load months of July and August.

"A system for visitor flow forecasting will be established to release information and activate various measures to avoid excessive congestion, via broadcasting, screens and text messages," says Hong Hao.

Traffic Jam Busters

Handling traffic jams during the 184-day expo also calls for a solution. According to the executive committee, most new transportation projects for the Expo, including the central ring road and new subway lines, have been completed and are already open to traffic. Ferry and streetcar lines across the Huangpu River will be completed by April.