2nd Call for Papers: AAG 2019
Innovation in urban China: Politics, Economies and Everyday Lifeworlds
We are looking for 2 more papers to complete this session!
Session organized by: Calvin Chung (University College London)
Shaun Teo (University College London)
Discussant: Shenjing He (The University of Hong Kong)
Session Sponsored by: Urban Geography Specialty Group
China Specialty Group
Asian Geography Specialty Group
It is said that China’s astronomical growth in the past three decades is a function of an ingenious innovative spirit, both in terms of political ideology and its translation into legislation, policy making and urban projects (for recent examples on innovative projects in China see Shen and Wu 2012; Zhang and Wu 2012; Caprotti 2014; Li and Wu 2015; He 2015; Teets and Hurst 2015; Ruopilla and Zhao 2017; Chung, Zhang and Wu 2018; Pow 2018). Innovation can originate from various sources: the state apparatus, corporate and professional society and the community, as well as between these realms. Innovation can create (quasi-) new spheres of governance, policy reform and spaces of transformation. Such ‘novelty’ can represent progressive prospects in Chinese cities but it can also facilitate ‘business as usual’, maintaining and intensifying lines of inequality within. Many have argued that the ambiguity and nebulousness of innovation are its greatest strengths, allowing the state’s flexible reach into its economic, political and social spheres (Schoon 2014). We argue that critical inquiry into innovation, broadly conceived, is important if we are to make sense of the trajectories, realities and prospects of Chinese urban governance/ transformation.
This session is interested in exploring three questions. In what forms does innovation manifest in urban China? What are the implications of these innovations on the politics, economies and everyday lifeworlds of urban China? How can these findings allow a more nuanced theorization of Chinese governance and/or urban transformation in China?
We are looking for 2 more papers that explore one or more of the following (non-exhaustive list of):
♣ Projects unique in look (aesthetics), feel (affects) and scale (mega, micro, transboundary, or virtual projects)
♣ Projects with progressive functions and goals, such as social equality and environmental sustainability
♣ Institutional and legislative changes/reforms paving way for new modes of urbanization
♣ New forms of collaboration, especially those which include experts, civil society and the community
♣ Projects in ‘new’ or ‘unexpected’ locations, such as those ‘in-between’ the rural and urban, in the air, or underground
Please submit abstracts of approximately 250 words by 23 October to Calvin Chung ([log in to unmask]) and Shaun Teo ([log in to unmask]). We will notify you if your paper has been selected for the session by 24 October. You will need to register for the AAG meeting and submit your abstract to the AAG by Thursday, 25 October. After you submit your abstract online, please send us your PIN so we can add you to the session.
Selected References
Chung CKL, Zhang F and Wu F 2018 Negotiating green space with landed interests: The urban political ecology of Greenway in the Pearl River Delta, China. Antipode 50(4) 891-909.
He S 2015 Consuming urban living in ‘villages in the city’: Studentification in Guangzhou, China. Urban Studies 52(15) 2849-2873.
Li Y and Wu F 2014 Reconstructing urban scale: New experiments with the “Provincial Administration of Counties” reform in China. The China Review 147-173.
Pow CP 2018 Building a harmonious society through greening: ecological civilization and aesthetic governmentality in China. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 108(3) 864-883.
Teets JC and Hurst W eds. 2015 Local Governance Innovation in China: Experimentation, Diffusion, and Defiance. Routledge.
Zhang F and Wu F 2012 Fostering indigenous innovation capacities: The development of biotechnology in Shanghai's Zhangjiang High-Tech Park. Urban Geography 33(5) 728-755.
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