Building Globalization
Transnational Architecture Production in Urban China
Building Globalization
Transnational Architecture Production in Urban China
From the years 2004 to 2008, Beijing and Shanghai witnessed the construction of an extraordinary number of new buildings, many of which were designed by architectural firms overseas. Combining ethnographic fieldwork, historical research, and network analysis, Building Globalization closely scrutinizes the growing phenomenon of transnational architecture and its profound effect on the development of urban space.
Roaming from construction sites in Shanghai to architects’ offices in Paris, Xuefei Ren interviews hundreds of architects, developers, politicians, residents, and activists to explore this issue. She finds that in the rapidly transforming cities of modern China, iconic designs from prestigious international architects help private developers to distinguish their projects, government officials to advance their careers, and the Chinese state to announce the arrival of modern China on the world stage.
China leads the way in the globalization of architecture, a process whose ramifications can be felt from Beijing to Dubai to Basel. Connecting the dots between real estate speculation, megaproject construction, residential displacement, historical preservation, housing rights, and urban activism, Building Globalization reveals the contradictions and consequences of this new, global urban frontier.
240 pages | 18 halftones, 4 maps, 15 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2011
Asian Studies: East Asia
Geography: Urban Geography
Political Science: Urban Politics
Sociology: Sociology of Arts--Leisure, Sports, Urban and Rural Sociology
Reviews
Table of Contents
Preface: Up in Flames
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Map of China
Chapter 1. Space, Capital, and Global Cities: An Introduction
Building China’s Global Cities
The Stud
Organization of the Book
Chapter 2. Transnational Architectural Production: Firms, Cities, Trends
The Power of Large
The Power of Small
A Typology of Cities
Locating Transnational Architectural Production in China
Ordos 100
Chapter 3. Architecture, Media, and Real Estate Speculation
Architectural Spectacles: From SOHO NewTown to the Commune to Jianwai SOHO
Public Spectacles and Place Making
SOHO Xiaobao: From Sales Brochures to a Literary Magazine
Developers and Policy Making
The Art of Sales, the Game of Survival
The Divided City
Shifting Centers, Shifting Powers
Chapter 4. History, Cosmopolitanism, and Preservation
From Chai (Demolition) to Bao (Preservation)
Xintiandi: New Heaven and Earth
Displacement, Relocation, and Compensation
Beijing Preservation
The New “Old” Chinese City
Chapter 5. Olympic Spectacles, Critical Architecture, and New State Spaces
A National Bid for the Olympics
Going for Global Architecture
The Bird’s Nest Controversy
Critical Architecture: A Debate
Architecture, State, and Political Change
Chapter 6. The Power of Symbol
Symbolic Capital and Its Transformations
Symbolic Power: Repositioning of Territorial Elites
An Urban Revolution, from Above and Below
Appendix: A Methodological Note on Network Analysis
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Awards
ASA Political Economy of World Systems Section: PEWS Distinguished Book Award
Won
ASA Community and Urban Sociology Section: Robert E. Park Award
Honorable Mention
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