Where is this, and why do they call it The Golden Intersection?
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It’s Shanghai – to be specific, the view towards the meeting of the Yan’an and South-North Elevated Roads (map here), two of the 14 freeways that criss-cross this region of 23 million. And no, this is not a time-lapse photograph; the blue streaks are LED lighting that line the ramps where these arterials cross.
And it is the property industry that has termed this “The Golden Intersection” – reflecting land values associated with office towers and government buildings that cluster around “People’s Square” adjacent to the freeways. Once a racetrack in the colonial era, when the British and French had extracted concessions from the Chinese in the mid-19th century, it is now the cultural heart of Puxi, the left bank and historic centre of this burgeoning, prosperous city.
Surprisingly, the urban environment underneath these elevated roads is not unpleasant (right, click to enlarge), 
even though they ran the Yan’an flyover down the centre of what was once a grand boulevard – Edward VII – that marked the demarcation between the British and French Concessions.
The concrete has been painted in muted colours, lined with flowerboxes and, at night, spectacularly lit. The ramps are high enough to feel sculptural and they’re all surrounded by trees and greenery. (It’s almost enough to make one wonder about possibilities for our viaducts.)
Up top, however, not so nice. The freeways, not surprisingly, are jammed for much of the day, as the Chinese unleash demand for vehicles by the rising middle class.
This is just one image from the current issue of Price Tags 110 – downloadable here – that explores urban design and development in Shanghai at this high point in its history.