Remaking Chinese Urban Form: Modernity, Scarcity and Space, 1949-2005(Planning, History and Environment Series)

This book charts the evolution of Chinese urban built environments. Following the socialist revolution of 1949, China's architects and planners attempted to remodel urban settlements according to modern neighbourhood design and planning principles. However, gigantic social upheaval left these attempts unsuccessful. The result was a divided landscape: a modern functional urban world of largely self-contained entities integrating workplace, housing, and social services, strictly separated from an underdeveloped rural world. Against this background the book explores questions of Chinese modernity, nation building, spatial injustice and urban-rural conflict with insights drawn from urban studies, environmental design history, urban studies, and critical theory.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Socialist Space, Postcolonial Time Part I: China Modern 2. The Neighbourhood Unit in China: The Travel of a Global Urban Form 3. Work Unit Modernism Part II: Urban Dreams 4. The Socialist Production of Space: Planning, Urban Contradictions, and the Politics of Consumption in Beijing, 1949-1965 5. Modernity as Utopia: Planning the People's Commune, 1958-1960 Part III: Shifting Boundaries 6. The Latency of Tradition: From the City Wall to the Unit Wall 7. The New Frontier: Urban Space and Everyday Practice in the Reform Era 8. Epilogue

About the Author :
University of Sydney, Australia

Review :
'This volume is an insightful analysis of the urban built environment in the context of a transforming political economy within material constraints ... In the fields of Chinese development and architecture, this is an essential addition.' - Reginald Yin-Wang Kwok, University of Hawai'i at Manoa '[This book] makes a major contribution to our understanding of the socialist production of space ... an important benchmark in the study of Chinese urbanism and urbanization.' - Margaret Crawford, Harvard University 'With extraordinary detailed first-hand fieldwork and archive search, [Lu] depicts space production in both socialist and reform periods... The book has two outstanding strengths: its sensitivity to history and keen observations of spatial details. It traces current urban forms to historical tradition and related many seemingly irrelevant forms to the their common logic of space production... Overall, this is a truly benchmark work in the study of Chinese urban form.' - Fulong Wu, China Information, Vol. XXI, No. 3, 2007 'Contemporary Chinese urban space is viewed as the product of socialist modernization and Third World scarcity. This volume is an insightful analysis of the urban built environment in the context of a transforming political economy within material constraints. The narrative has a rare insider’s perception and understanding. In the fields of Chinese development and architecture, this is an essential addition.' - Reginald Yin-Wang Kwok, University of Hawai’i at Manoa 'In her study of the work unit as a socialist concept, living and working environment, and fundamental element of the distinctive morphology of the Maoist city, Duanfang Lu illuminates both space and society. Her nuanced interpretation of the work unit, based on extensive research and utilizing a sophisticated theoretical framework, makes a major contribution to our understanding of the socialist production of space. This book is an important benchmark in the study of Chinese urbanism and urbanization.' - Margaret Crawford, Harvard University 'Remaking Chinese Urban Form is a work that anyone interested in the question of China and urban planning must read. Yet, in many ways, it is also much more. Bursting with new ideas, the author takes the reader on a barnstorming tour of issues and problems that have afflicted Chinese architecture and urban planning over the last fifty or so years. …This bold and innovative approach pays dividends, and while I might not agree with every argument, I was left with an impression of both detailed archival scholarship and rare imagination in the field of China studies.' - Michael Dutton, University of London (Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review) 'This is a fascinating book about the transformation of the Chinese urban form. Duanfang Lu traces the changes in the built environment to the beginning of a "new time"—a socialist and postcolonial time. With extraordinary detailed first-hand fieldwork and archive search, she depicts space production in both socialist and reform periods. The story of work-unit working and living space is narrated with sophistication, using the perspectives of political economy and postcolonialism to offer a fresh angle on contemporary China. …Overall, this is a truly benchmark work in the study of Chinese urban form.' - Fulong Wu, Cardiff University (China Information) 'Lu’s discussion of the architectural and social history of the work unit is a major contribution to Chinese architectural history. …It must be emphasized that this history would otherwise be out of reach for the "visible foreigner" in China, as non-Chinese scholars would almost certainly be barred from many of the relevant archives and spaces discussed in this important new book.' - Johnathan A. Farris, Michigan Technological University (Journal of Society of Architectural Historians) 'This volume is an insightful analysis of the urban built environment in the context of a transforming political economy within material constraints ... In the fields of Chinese development and architecture, this is an essential addition.' - Reginald Yin-Wang Kwok, University of Hawai'i at Manoa '[This book] makes a major contribution to our understanding of the socialist production of space ... an important benchmark in the study of Chinese urbanism and urbanization.' - Margaret Crawford, Harvard University 'A work that anyone interested in the question of China and urban planning must read' - Michael Dutton, TDSR 'An extremely interesting book that deserves to be widely read and studied' - Michael Dutton, TDSR