http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/553287023

Building globalization : transnational architecture production in urban China

This dissertation examines the role of transnational architectural production in the process of making global cities. The study is situated within the larger literature on global cities and urban regeneration. Previous research has approached global city formation by examining the changing functions of global cities in the world economy. This study examines another path leading to global city formation by exploring the linkages between architecture and urban political economy. The study also tests urban regeneration theses drawn from Western experience in the Chinese context and questions to what extent urban policies promoting mega projects is driven by Chinese nationalism, along with the ideology of global consumerism. The research is based on case studies of three high-profile urban mega projects in Beijing and Shanghai: a private residential and office development, a case of historical preservation, and the construction of the National Stadium for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The three case studies are complemented by a quantitative network analysis of the global urban hierarchy in the field of architectural design. The network analysis reveals the positions of Beijing and Shanghai in the global network of architectural design services. The main argument of the dissertation is that architectural design from internationally recognized architects functions as symbolic capital in the process of making global cities. The concept of symbolic capital is defined as the capital that is derived from signs and symbols. The symbolic capital of transnational architectural production is transformed into economic, political and cultural capital by various actors. Prominent international architects are sought after as a branding tool by local private developers to better market their properties; by city officials to advance political careers; and by the authoritarian Chinese state to symbolize the arrival of a modern China onto the world stage. Nationalism, along with the economic imperatives of place-marketing, drives local elites to choose a global architectural language to articulate their ambitions. Importing global architecture to re-brand Chinese cities has brought about conflicts and controversies, which in turn have undermined the legitimacy of the political regime. These processes have marked a new mode of spatial production--the transnational production of urban space. It is characterized by the participation of transnational actors in the production, consumption and interpretation of urban space. This study contributes to the literature on global cities by demonstrating how the symbolic articulation of urban space has become a major force of capital accumulation in the making of global cities, and the mixed consequences of transnational architectural production on urban economy and governance.

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