世博过后,展馆将何去何从?

2010年的上海世博会即将华丽闭幕，可是这些世博园内的各大馆别的去留也成了一大难题。鉴于本次博览会很大程度上以可持续发展为热点，与会的国家和地区不得不绞尽脑汁，选择最妥善的安置方案。

According to the governing rules of the Shanghai Expo, all foreign pavilions must be dismantled after the site finally closes its doors at the end of October. As a result many participants are currently in the process of working out exactly what to do with their strange constructions.
"There are people who are interested in taking this pavilion over but we have not yet decided what to do with it."

Walter van Weelden is the Commissioner general of Netherlands pavilion. This structure covers 5,000 square metres, contains a 400 metre long pedestrian street with buildings and is raised 22 metres off the ground.

"Of course, there's an option to leave it where it is, and the second option is that third parties take over so it will be removed from the spot where it is right now to some other place, and the third option is to make scrap metal out of it and recycle it."

The future of the Norwegian pavilion, which is primarily made of wood, has also yet to be decided. The organizers are currently in talks with several potential buyers. But, regardless of whether a sale is made, Communications Director Philip Lote says there is one part of their exhibition that will definitely not go to waste.

"The water purification system is a very simple and very applicable technical solution to cleanse any kind of water. And very much, we believe, in the spirit of Expo, to show that some of these things will be used to improve the livelihoods of people, most likely this will go to a hospital or school in Andhra Pradesh in India after the Expo."

One of the strangest pavilions in the whole of the Expo must be the British pavilion, affectionately dubbed the dandelion by Chinese. The building is made up of 60,000 transparent rods, each containing plant seeds to symbolize the importance of biodiversity. And it seems the Brits may have come up with an equally innovative plan for the building's future, as Louise Bisset from the British pavilion team explains.

"We've had lots and lots of different ideas. We've had offers to turn the rods into modern pieces of furniture, and we've had offers to use them as teacher training tools. We do have actual packs online about some of the different seeds. So using the combination of the rods and the information packs with the seed details they should be able to use them for teacher training tools."

After such a successful Expo it's hoped that more pavilions will find a future use so they can continue their contribution towards a better city, and a better life.

For CRI at the Shanghai Expo, I'm Dominic Swire.