Book excerpt: Over the last few years, architects from around the world are discovering China as the perfect place to develop their architecture. By contrast to the restrictions and limitations of European and American cities, Shanghai, with its seemingly boundless possibilities, represents a bold new opportunity for architecture and urbanism. Shanghai, with the upcoming 2010 World Expo, is immersed in a deep physical transformation, reconsidering the relationships within the city as well as surrounding neighborhoods, and investing in buildings with national and international signatures. "Shanghai Transforming" examines this transformation, focusing on a widely diverse aspects including history, natural and artificial resources, economy, society, and public perception.Graphics and data, along with photographs, and maps, provide the reader with a rich resource from which to understand and appreciate this complex process. With photographs by Juan de Dios Perez and texts by Denise Scott Brown, Saskia Sassen, Silas Chiow, Sharon Haar, Xiangning Li, Xiaochun Zhang, Weigang Qiu, Haolun Shu, Philip Enquist, Sol Madridejos, Juan Carlos Sancho, Robert Venturi, Greg Girard and Jonathan Miller.