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MODERNITY vs. MODERNIZATION: Reflections on the Individual and Collective Experience in Mass Urban Housing Projects in China in the 20th century, Shanghai as a Case City
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This research examines the socio-spatial transformation that took place in China between 1950s and 1970s, commonly known as Mao’s China. This era has probably witnessed the most exceptional and intense interaction in human history between a series of radical socio-political programs that were supported by the newly formulated communist ideology and an equally astonishing spatial practice that was implemented rapidly and broadly throughout this most populated country. Yet not enough studies have been produced on such specific socio-spatial dynamics. Based on a general reading of the social, political and cultural history during this particular era, we argue that neither an urban-centered nor rural-centered narrative is adequate in capturing its essence.
Three different types of model settlements which cross the conventional boundary between urban and rural – Caoyang, Dazhai and Daqing – are studied as primary cases to demonstrate different development modes, planning paradigms and architectural practices that coexisted during the era’s immense socio-spatial (trans)formation process. Basic notions such as private/public, individual/collective are also re-examined within the Chinese historical and cultural context to illustrate how their connotations have been reinvented and/or revitalized in defining the new socio-spatial (trans)formation. Furthermore, the research reads the mediating role of settlement planning and dwelling architecture between nation-building and new (wo)man construction through the practice of everyday life.
The conclusion is that an integral development approach, stressing both socio-spatial and urban-rural dynamics within the everyday environment, was vital to the overall transformation in Mao’s China. The dual ambitions of the Chinese leaders and people – realistic and pragmatic attitude, on the one hand, and heroic and utopian sentiment, on the other hand – affected both the process and outcome with legacies and lessons.
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Project number:
3E040894
Duration of the project:
01.10.2004 - 23.10.2007
Onderzoek met eigen middelen
Nederlands
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