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ARCHITECTURE AS SOCIAL LABORATORY: Modernity, Cultural Revival, and Architectural Experiment in Peri‐urban China

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  • Junxi Qian
  • Yanheng Lu

Abstract

This article engages with the emerging scholarship on experiments in urban and regional contexts to investigate an architectural experiment overseen by Wang Shu, a renowned Chinese architect, in Wencun Village, a peri‐urban village on the fringe of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. In particular, we examine how architectural projects are mobilized to provide a solution to rural decline amidst deepening urban–rural integration. Architecture is supposed to generate knowledge about the relationships between built forms and positive social and cultural changes, in this case involving the revival of rural cultures and identities. Empirically, this article provides a novel study that investigates culture‐based interventions into the revival of peri‐urban regions in the context of intensifying urban–rural interactions. Theoretically, it contributes to the study of experiments in urban and regional contexts by, on the one hand, correcting the urban bias inherent in this corpus and arguing for the relevance of experiment to peri‐urban and rural contexts. On the other hand, while this study reaffirms the importance of using relatively bounded sites of study and controlled parameters to produce plausible knowledge about regional transformation, it equally calls for attention to the contingencies and surprises that exceed and destabilize preconceived theories, epistemological frameworks and hypotheses.

Suggested Citation

  • Junxi Qian & Yanheng Lu, 2022. "ARCHITECTURE AS SOCIAL LABORATORY: Modernity, Cultural Revival, and Architectural Experiment in Peri‐urban China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 729-748, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:46:y:2022:i:5:p:729-748
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.13127
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. James Evans & Andrew Karvonen, 2014. "‘Give Me a Laboratory and I Will Lower Your Carbon Footprint!’ — Urban Laboratories and the Governance of Low-Carbon Futures," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 413-430, March.
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    6. Jacob C. Miller, 2019. "Embodied Architectural Geographies of Consumption and the Mall Paseo Chiloé Controversy in Southern Chile," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 109(4), pages 1300-1316, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Shaun S.K. Teo, 2023. "SOCIALLY ENGAGED MUNICIPAL STATECRAFT IN URBAN CHINA? The Shenzhen Biennale as Situated Planning Experiment," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 581-600, July.

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