THE city will hold a biennial exhibition showcasing urbanization process and the history and future of architecture for the first time this year to promote the development of the cultural industry as a pillar industry.

The 2005 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture is to be held at the Overseas Chinese Town Contemporary Art Terminal from December this year, Vice Mayor Yan Xiaopei said at a press conference Thursday.

The nonprofit biennale would become a cultural event for the city to promote itself, Yan said.

It will be hosted by the Shenzhen Municipal Government and organized by the municipal urban planning bureau and cultural bureau.

She said the biennale would help Shenzhen showcase itself as an avant-garde city as Shenzhen had always been at the frontier of China's urbanization, and led the nation as an open city. Yan said other cities could learn from Shenzhen's rapid development.

The event was the first one in the world to use city life or urbanism as the theme, the organizers said. It will focus on urbanization process and development of architecture in China as well as in other parts of the world.

About 60 pieces of artworks, including about 10 from overseas artists, will be on display at the exhibition, which will last three to four months.

Zhang Yonghe, a famous architect and Beijing University architecture research center professor, will be the biennale's curator in July.

Editor: Wing