China is currently in the midst of an unprecedented building boom and, indeed, interest in Chinese contemporary architecture has been fuelled by this huge expansion. Through a cutting-edge theoretical discussion of Chinese architecture in relation to Chinese modernity, this book examines this phenomenon in detail. In particular, it highlights how changes in the social-political system, the residual influence of Mao and the demands of the market have each shaped and determined style and form in recent years. Using key case studies of Liu Jiakun, Cui Kai, and URBANUS, it analyses the intricate details of historical pressures and practical strategies affecting Chinese architecture. In doing so, it demonstrates that Chinese architects contribute in specific ways to the international architectural discourse, since they are actively engaging with the complex societal transition of contemporary China and managing the dynamics and conflicts arising during the process. China's Architecture in a Globalizing World: Between Socialism and the Market offers a lens into the innovation and uniqueness of architectural design in China. As such, this book will be useful for students and scholars of architecture, Chinese culture and society and urban studies.

This book offers a unique glance into the process of globalisation of the architectural practice during the last three decades through the lenses of innovative methodologies in architectural history based on quantitative data. Focusing on the golden age of globalisation (1990-2019), it investigates the transnational work of more than one thousand architectural firms of different business models from Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific in a broad sample of emerging markets: Mainland China, South-East Asia, India, the Persian Gulf, Sub-Saharan Africa, Russia and Kazakhstan, and Latin America. In the book, different thematic geographies are presented to explore the global scope of the contemporary profession, examine significant projects and the structural conditions behind them, and reveal the debates that such works generated. Understanding the global agency of design firms in emerging markets also becomes a way to study different market conditions, modes of production, and architectural trends comparatively and to highlight the shifts that occurred in the profession over the last few decades. The use of quantitative methodologies produces a novel and updated narrative on contemporary architecture in emerging markets grounded in quantitative data rather than in preassumptions and purely qualitative interpretations. Richly illustrated, this book is further enhanced by an ample set of maps, graphs, and tables to visualise data better.

A History of Design Institutes in China examines the intricate relationship between design institutes, the state, and, in later periods, the market economy through a carefully situated discussion of significant theoretical and historical issues including socialist utopia, collective and individual design, structural transformation, and architectural exportation, amongst others. It shows how, over the past six decades, China’s design institutes have served the state’s strategy for socialist construction and urbanisation to create socioeconomic and cultural value. Through first-hand research, authors Xue and Ding reveal how the tensions between pragmatism, creativity, collaboration, and resistance have played a crucial role in defining architectural production. Appealing to academics, researchers, and graduate students, this book provides a much-needed contribution to the discourse on architectural history, building practices, and policymaking in contemporary China.

The book provides new perspectives from leading researchers accentuating and examining the central role of the built environment in conceiving and implementing multifaceted solutions for the complex challenges of creating resilient communities, revealing critical potentials for architecture and design to contribute in more informed and long-term ways to the urgent transition of our society. The volume offers a compilation of peer-reviewed papers that uniquely connects knowledge and criticality broadly across practice and academia; from new technologies, theories and methods to community engaged practice on many scales, and more. The book is part of a series of six volumes that explore the agency of the built environment in relation to the SDGs through new research conducted by leading researchers. The series is led by editors Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen and Martin Tamke in collaboration with the theme editors: - Design for Climate Adaptation: Billie Faircloth and Maibritt Pedersen Zari - Design for Rethinking Resources: Carlo Ratti and Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen (Eds.) - Design for Resilient Communities: Anna Rubbo and Juan Du (Eds.) - Design for Health: Arif Hasan and Christian Benimana (Eds.) - Design for Inclusivity: Magda Mostafa and Ruth Baumeister (Eds.) - Design for Partnerships for Change: Sandi Hilal and Merve Bedir (Eds.)

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- Chapter 1 Introduction Worldmaking of Architecture -- Chapter 2 A Global Development Path Accra, 1957-66 -- Chapter 3 Worlding Eastern Europe Lagos, 1966-79 -- Chapter 4 The World Socialist System Baghdad, 1958-90 -- Chapter 5 Socialism within Globalization Abu Dhabi and Kuwait City, 1979-90 -- Epilogue and Outlook -- A Note on Sources -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Image Credits.

Focusing on the non-Western context and case studies, this book explores theories of interdisciplinary architectural thinking and the construction of urban memory in Chinese cities, with an emphasis on contemporary architecture and the diversity of agencies. China has undergone one of the fastest urbanisation and urban renewal processes in human history, but discussions of urban memory in China have tended to be practice-oriented and lack theoretical reflection. This book brings together interdisciplinary architectural scholarship to interrogate the production of urban memory and examine experiences in China. The 14 chapters explore different processes, projects, materials, architecture and urban spaces in different Chinese cities by analysing cityscapes such as temples, bridges, conservation projects, architectural design, historical architecture, memorial hall, market street, city images, custom bike, food market and so on. The book deals with different agencies and methods, tangible and intangible, in the construction of memories aimed at promoting hybridised multiple identities, and explores the interplay of different versions of memory, i.e. state, public, regional, local, individual and collective memory. This book will be essential reading for scholars and students of architecture and urbanism, cultural studies and China studies, as well as architects, urban planners and historians interested in these fields.

This edited volume is first of its kind to document and critically analyse the changes took place snice China’s opening-up and reform and its impact on Dongbei, China’s North-East region, known for its remote and vast landscape, unique and othered culture, rich resources, mighty infrastructures and industries, geopolitical significance. Through presenting up-to-date and multidimensional case studies, the book covers three major aspects of Dongbei, which put people at the heart of our scholarly focus, namely people’s mediated life through traditional and new media; people’s social, cultural, and living spaces; artistic and fictional representations of people’s everyday life.

Through the lens of the city of Suzhou, this edited volume presents views on the complex interaction between the central state, market agents, local governments and individuals who have shaped the development of Chinese cities and urban life. Featuring a range of disciplinary perspectives, contributors to this volume have all undertaken research in one municipality – Suzhou – to consider how history and culture have evolved during the modernisation of Chinese cities and the transformation of urban space, as well as shifting rural–urban relations and urban life during the reform era. The volume is underscored by a complex dynamic system consisting of three interlocked mechanisms through which the central and local state interact: history and culture, social and economic life, and administration and governance. As such, chapters analyse responses both from the state and society as driving forces of local development, with an interplay between tradition and heritage on the one hand and China’s economic and social development on the other. Suzhou in Transition will appeal to students and scholars of Chinese and urban studies, as well as urban sociology and geography.

As China enters its proclaimed ‘New Era’ under President Xi Jinping, this book examines changes and continuity in social relations and political development, investigating new developments against the backdrop of continuations of long-term trends and previous policies. What has remained outside many scholarly discussions is a larger backdrop of continuity, into which the policies of Xi Jinping’s administration are inserted to further shape social, economic and political trajectories in contemporary China. Presented as a volume of methodologically diverse studies exploring some of the key aspects of social and political development in contemporary China, its authors examine the structural factors that continue to exert influence on China’s trajectory – in the ‘New Era’, as before – at the deeper and subtler levels. This is the first publication of its kind to focus on how continuity and change interplay under Xi; it enables readers to appreciate both genuine novelties and the enduring, long-term trends, as well as to estimate future trends in the proclaimed ‘New Era’ and beyond. Social Relations and Political Development in China will be of significant interest to students and scholars of Chinese studies, political science and sociology.

Using the analogy of an orchestra, the book looks at the ways in which the Party-state conducts communications in China. Rather than treating China’s communications system as purely one of centralised top-down control, this book proffers that it is the combination of the government through its state policies, the propaganda bureau’s campaigns, commercial consumer culture, digital and traditional media platforms, celebrities, entertainers and journalists, educators, community interest groups, and family and friends, who all contribute to the evolution of how ideas are perpetuated, enforced, and legitimised in China. Covering themes such as censorship, surveillance, national narratives onscreen and in everyday life, political agency, creative work, news production, and gender politics, this book gives an insight into the complex web of conditions, objectives, and challenges that the Chinese leadership and commercial interests face when orchestrating their visions for the nation’s future. As such, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of media and communication studies, Chinese politics, and Chinese Studies.