The City after Chinese New Towns: Spaces and Imaginaries from Contemporary Urban China

Published by Birkhäuser 2019

The City after Chinese New Towns

Spaces and Imaginaries from Contemporary Urban China

Edited by: Michele Bonino , Francesca Governa , Maria Paola Repellino and Angelo Sampieri

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783035617665

Overview
Contents

About this book

Analysis of an unprecedented phenomenon

By 2020, some 400 Chinese New Towns will have been built, representing an unprecedented urban growth. While some of these massive developments are still empty today, others have been rather successful. The substantial effort on the part of the Chinese government is to absorb up to 250 million people, chiefly migrants from the rural parts of the country. Unlike in Europe and North America, where new towns grew in accordance to the local industries, these new Chinese cities are mostly built to the point of near completion before introducing people.

The interdisciplinary publication, written by architects, planners and geographers, explores the new urbanistic phenomenon of the "Chinese New Town". Especially commissioned photographs and maps illustrate many examples of these new settlements.

Drawing on research from three highly reputed universities: Politecnico di Torino, Tsinghua University, Beijing, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
"New Towns" are an unprecedented phenomenon
Attractive and inspiring photo essay

Author / Editor information

Michele Bonino, Francesca Governa, Maria Paolo Repellino, Angelo Sampieri, Politecnico Torino, Italy

Reviews

"It is refreshing to see an attempt to address the new-town phenomenon with a modicum of academic rigor, though this can sometimes Iead to overly dense descriptions that are not suitably differentiated from the officious proclamations from the authorities from which they are derived. There is thorough and honest examrnation of the trend, and representative examples thereof, rather than simplistic representation of harbingers of a dystopian future. The contrast between the formal; academic languagewith its page-long, unbroken paragraphs, and the stark, black-and-white photos and personal essays about on-the-ground visits and conversations with locals, is quite pronounced, suggesting there couid be a middle ground." (In CTBUH Journal, 07.2020)

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	1
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	4
Preface Michele Bonino, Florence Graezer Bideau and Liu Jian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	6
I. Introduction
Questioning New Towns Michele Bonino, Francesca Governa, Maria Paola Repellino and Angelo Sampieri Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
What Are We Talking about when We Talk about Cities? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
Between the Exceptional and the Ordinary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
What Does a New Town Do? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
About This Book Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
Walking Through Samuele Pellecchia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
II. Chinese New Towns in Policies, Narratives and Traditions
A Policy Discourse on New Town Development in Contemporary China Liu Jian and Xu Gaofeng Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
When Ends Don’t Meet. Historical Interpretations of Twenty-First-Century New Towns Filippo De Pieri and Davide Vero Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
New Urbanisation and “Go West” Policies Mauro Berta and Francesca Frassoldati Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
Shaping Urbanity. Politics and Narratives Florence Graezer Bideau and Anna Pagani Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
Architecture and New Towns Michele Bonino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
The New Towns of Zhaoqing, Zhengdong and Tongzhou Filippo Fiandanese, Leonardo Ramondetti and Astrid Safina Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
III. Spaces
Exhibition Halls Maria Paola Repellino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
High-Rise Apartments Alessandro Armando and Francesco Carota Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
Undergrounds Valeria Federighi and Filippo Fiandanese Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
Urban Parks Bianca Maria Rinaldi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Mapping New Towns Michele Bonino, Francesca Governa, Maria Paola Repellino and Angelo Sampieri Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
IV. Openings
The City Is Available. Chinese New Towns as a Backup Space Angelo Sampieri Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
Scaling Up and Scaling Out. New Towns and “the Standpoint of an Absence” Francesca Governa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	230
About the Authors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	246
Index of Places Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Illustration Credits Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Birkhäuser
Audience: Urbanists, architects, sinologists
Pages
- Main content: 240
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 65
Keywords: China; New Town; Stadtentwicklung

eBook

Published: March 4, 2019
ISBN: 9783035617665

Hardcover

Published: March 4, 2019
ISBN: 9783035617658