The design world flocked to Milan last week for its design week. But soon the action will shift to China, which is about to leapfrog the west when it comes to architecture and design, predicts Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs.

China is fast becoming the world's creative superpower. And it is doing it on its own terms. No longer an emerging nation that needs to learn from the west or copy its way to commercial success, China is in many ways already ahead of the rest of the world.
And it is moving fast. Bewildered visitors to the country talk about "China speed" ? the incredible velocity at which buildings get built, products get launched, start-ups get started, technologies get adopted.
Dockless bike-sharing networks are a good example of China speed in action. The first provider, Ofo, launched in 2014 and within a couple of years millions of rental bikes, unlocked via a smartphone app, were visible on Chinese streets. The market subsequently contracted dramatically but the speed and scale of the rollout of an entirely new urban mobility service was astonishing. Another example is WeChat, the app that combines social media, messaging, payment and web functionality that is streets ahead of anything we have in the west.
China is the leading global player in many other technologies of the future including solar power, battery technology, electric cars, facial-recognition tech and drones
Launched in 2011, it is now used by over one billion Chinese people, with new ...