Dialogue 對話 Stephanie Lo 羅寶瑜

“First and foremost, XINTIANDI is a meeting place. It's about people.

新天地首先是一個相聚的地方，它關于人的實現。”

Stephanie Lo is an Executive Director of Shui On Land and the Vice Chairman of China Xintiandi. She is responsible for the development of the company's commercial strategy and project positioning.

羅寶瑜是瑞安房地產的執行董事及中國新天地副主席。她負責公司的發展策略及項目定位工作。

What is XINTIANDI in your eyes?

First and foremost, XINTIANDI is a meeting place. Twenty years ago there wasn't one single destination in Shanghai where you felt like you could enjoy going out. XINTIANDI truly discerned the future of urban development and our approach of the place-making practices in China has become exemplary ever since. So, fast forward to today, with many major changes in consumer habits and online and offline retail landscape, we see a strong growing demand on social and leisure destinations, especially ones that feel authentic and have cultural relevance. In any district, any city, it's the people that really make it come to life. That's really important for us. By fostering places that are able to encourage people to meet grow and engage where you can find unique cultural content and social experiences that are enriching, XINTIANDI has pushed itself further as a social destination. It's about people connection and more importantly celebrating social narrative and building a community.

Why XINTIANDI's new brand statement 'Social Renaissance' is so important?

You truly know people by looking them in the eyes, it is essential to building trust and relationships that way. 'Social Renaissance' is about encouraging people to make genuine connections and engagements. With many of the needs cannot be fulfilled online, people are looking to spend quality times experiencing different ideas and concepts and building memories together with friends and family. By initiating 'SocialRenaissance' XINTIANDI hope to be able to provide more unique content to our consumer base both online and offline.

Is that where the concept of XINTIANDI's eclectic new space Social House comes in?

Nowadays in terms of choosing what to do with your spare time, there are almost too many options. The most traditional method of hanging out is to have a meal or grab a coffee, but what if you wanted to share a different experience together? That's why we created Social House. The space is divided up into different small zones by travel, design, cooking, music and so on. There's a bookstore flowing throughout entire space and each zone has experience labs where you can go for different programs. It's a great space in which people can socialize or meet in a different context.

How does XINTIANDI differentiate from others?

I think by nature XINTIANDI has always been a social destination, bringing people together in a community, it has never fallen into a traditional retail format. We very much respect and celebrate the local culture and architectural heritage of each city. This informs much of the cultural narrative of each XINTIANDI, exploring what's authentic and unique. We have been an active player in creating vibrant cultural districts by developing not just the hardware, but also the content that fosters community. One other aspect we feel quite unique is that XINTIANDI as a platform has been working with local creatives and designerlabels to celebrate Chinese voices and brands. We firmly believe they will be an important cultural voice both in China and on the world stage in the not too distant future.

Can you tell me how you went about choosing the right brands, designers and restaurateurs to be involved in XINTIANDI?

XINTIANDI was created in China, with a strong Chinese heritage. When people come to Shanghai, they come to XINTIANDI as a destination. Because of that, we thought, “OK, what more can we do with this? Rather than just show-casing our own brand are there more local voices that we can celebrate?” We started this about ten years ago when it was really western brands expanding their massive footprint in China while local brands and designers were really just starting out. Now as China is coming onto the world stage, we are excited to see local talent coming to the fore with their own unique voice. We want XINTIANDI to be a platform for Chinese designers and brands and we are honored to be part of that conversation.

What element of XINTIANDI are you most proud of?

I'm proud of the fact that we are able to be part of Shanghai's story, and we are able to be part of the narrative of the city's growth – we have grown together. I think that's something we're really privileged to be part of, and we have to be respectful of it. I think we'd really like to continue to be an important part of that conversation going forward.

“I am proud of the fact that we are able to be part of the narrative of the city's growth.

很榮幸我們能夠成為城市故事的一部分。”

你眼中的新天地是什么樣的？

對我來說，新天地首先是一個相聚的地方。約二十年前上海能適合赴約聚會的休閑之處并不多，而作為東西方文化交匯、新舊相融的新天地，敏銳地預見到城市生活方式發展及消費升級的需求，獨具創新地將石庫門街區改造成為集時尚、娛樂、休閑與文化的城市會客廳，成為全中國的標桿性商業體、城市地標——上海新天地。現如今，中國線上線下的消費需求與習慣正經歷著劇烈的變革，我們洞察到消費者對于社交和休閑的需求更是與日俱增，特別是那些真正的、有文化特色的社交場所。“人”是真正讓一個空間和城市鮮活起來的靈魂所在，我們重視并鼓勵人們在新天地相遇、成長、交匯，收獲獨特的文化領悟和社交體驗。在這個不斷打磨和迭代的過程中，新天地已然蛻變成為了社交目的地的首選。在這里，我們關注人與人的連結，分享社交故事，建構社群體系。

你為什么認為新天地的全新品牌宣言“回歸社交本真”如此重要？

當你和別人四目相交的時候，才能真正地了解對方。通過這種方式來建立信任和關系非常重要。“回歸社交本真”主張的是人和人之間真誠的連結和交流互動。人們的很多需求無法僅在線上獲得滿足，他們希望能把寶貴的時間花費在交流觀點和思想碰撞上，亦或是與家人、親友共度一段美好的時光。新天地提出“回歸社交本真”的初心在于為線上線下的消費者提供更為獨特和有品質的體驗內容。

新天地即將推出的復合型全新空間Social House by XINTIANDI是基于這一理念嗎？

現在當大家討論消費時間和空間的停留，你會發現我們面臨著多元選擇。當然最典型的聚會方式就是朋友們一起吃個飯或者喝一杯咖啡，但這過程如何交換價值、分享獨特體驗呢？這是我們呈現Social House的初衷。這是一個集合不同主題區域的復合型新零售社交空間，打造了由旅行、設計、烹飪、音樂、健身等沉浸式社交場景構成的多元商業生態系統，文化與書的元素則會貫穿于整個空間，人們可以在這種獨特的復合社交體驗中找到自己的社群。

新天地有別于其他商業地產品牌的地方在哪？

我覺得從本質上來說，新天地其實不算是傳統的商業零售模式，一直以來它都是一個社交目的地，讓不同的人匯聚于此。我們敬重并不斷發揚每一座城市的在地文化以及建筑遺產，也正因如此，不同城市的新天地得以建立起它們各自獨特的文化風貌。新天地一直致力于創造富有活力的文化街區，更關注如何不斷激發社群生機的創意內容。另一個特別之處是新天地作為一個平臺吸引著本地創意人才和設計師一同在此為中國創造、中國年輕力量發聲。我也相信未來他們會成為中國，乃至是世界舞臺上文化發展的中堅力量。

能分享一下新天地在挑選進駐品牌、設計師或者餐廳時候的一些考量嗎？

新天地是一個真正的中國品牌，創立于中國，“中國創造”已經深深烙印在我們的基因中。作為一個國際知名的城市地標，新天地也是人們來上海的必到之處。正因如此，我們一直在思考我們能再多做些什么？除了呈現并不斷升級打造打造自身品牌，也應該更多的去發掘、鼓勵和幫助更多的本地創新及創意人才？早在十年前我們已開始著手，那時海外品牌涌入中國并不斷拓展商業版圖，我們積極關注并扶持剛剛起步的本土品牌。現在中國逐漸在國際上嶄露頭角，我們期待著這些本地的人才以自己獨特的話語站上國際舞臺。新天地希望能成為中國設計師、中國品牌的展示平臺，也很榮幸在這些年持續不斷聚合力量。

新天地最讓你為之驕傲的地方是什么?

很榮幸我們能夠參與和見證上海這座城市的崛起，隨城市一同成長，并成為城市故事中的一部分。這是屬于新天地的一份殊榮，我們對此深懷感念，也相信在未來，新天地還會更加深入地參與創造“中國故事”之中。