Journal article (2014): Urban spatial restructuring, event-led development and scalar politics

14.coverA recent paper of mine on examining Guangzhou’s use of the Asian Games has just been published by the journal Urban Studies. Entitled “Urban Spatial Restructuring, Event-led Development and Scalar Politics”, it examines the use of the 2010 Summer Asian Games by Guangzhou in China as a means to justify its developmental vision that aimed at raising the city’s global profile and urban accumulation. Please click here to go directly to the journal page to download the paper.

Below is an abstract. Please e-mail me if you do not have access to the journal and I’ll be happy to share the paper. Other papers that have resulted from my project on Guangzhou can be found on this link (e.g. journal papers from Antipode and City).

Abstract of “Urban Spatial Restructuring, Event-led Development and Scalar Politics”

This paper uses Guangzhou’s experience of hosting the 2010 Asian Games to illustrate Guangzhou’s engagement with scalar politics. This includes concurrent processes of intra-regional restructuring to position Guangzhou as a central city in south China and a ‘negotiated scale-jump’ to connect with the world under conditions negotiated in part with the overarching strong central state, testing the limit of Guangzhou’s geopolitical expansion. Guangzhou’s attempts were aided further by using the Asian Games as a vehicle for addressing condensed urban spatial restructuring to enhance its own production/accumulation capacities, and for facilitating urban redevelopment projects to achieve a ‘global’ appearance and exploit the city’s real estate development potential. Guangzhou’s experience of hosting the Games provides important lessons for expanding our understanding of how regional cities may pursue their development goals under the strong central state and how event-led development contributes to this.

[In Chinese; thanks to Yimin Zhao for translation]

中文标题:“城市空间�构�赛会引领型�展和尺度政治�

本文借助广州举办2010年亚è¿?会的ç»?历分æž?了这座城市的尺度政治问题。文章首先分æž?了区域内部å?Œæ—¶å?‘生的多é‡?空间é‡?构过程,这些过程的共å?Œç›®çš„æ˜¯è¦?将广州打造æˆ?为å?Žå?—地区的中心城市。éš?å?Žæœ¬æ–‡è¿›ä¸€æ­¥æŽ¢è®¨äº†å¹¿å·žä¸ºä¸Žä¸–界关è?”而进行的”å??商性尺度跳跃”,并借助这一跳跃分æž?了广州进行地缘政治扩张的é™?度,因为该行为至少在部分程度上å?¯è§†ä¸ºä¸Žå…¨èƒ½åž‹å¼ºä¸­å¤®æ”¿æ?ƒå¦¥å??的产物。广州的上述å°?试得到了亚è¿?会的进一步推进:一方é?¢ï¼Œäºšè¿?会使得广州有机会进一步强调通过城市空间é‡?构增进其自身的生产ï¼?积累能力;å?¦ä¸€æ–¹é?¢ï¼Œäºšè¿?会帮助广州更便æ?·åœ°é€šè¿‡åŸŽå¸‚å†?å¼€å?‘工程构建所谓”å…¨ç?ƒå½¢è±¡”,并进而充分å?‘掘城市房地产业å?‘展的潜力。研究广州举办亚è¿?会的ç»?历能深化我们对以下两个问题的ç?†è§£ï¼šä¸€æ˜¯åœ¨å¼ºä¸­å¤®æ”¿æ?ƒçš„管辖下,区域性城市如何追寻自身的å?‘展目标;二是大型赛会引领型的å?‘展策略对于区域性城市的这一抱负是å?¦ä»¥å?Šå¦‚何å?‘挥作用。

Below is one of the images used in the paper, which shows how the new central business district (Pearl River New Town or zhujiang xincheng �江新城) has changed substantially during the ten years prior to the Games opening.

Transformation of the Pearl River New Town, 2000 - 2010

Transformation of the Pearl River New Town, 2000 – 2010