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This talk will review the emergence of ‘urbanism’ under China’s market transition. What is ‘new’ referred here is not just ‘new urbanism’ known as neo-traditionalist urban design which has recently become fashionable in China but also ‘new’ urbanism as a new way of life. The talk will highlight how this new way of life has made ‘the urban’ the substantial scale of accumulation. Three key elements in the making of new urbanism – state, market, and space – are examined. Since the scale of the ‘urban’ is now substantiated, there is now an emerging ‘urban question’ similar to the original notion of Manual Castells in the context of Keynesian capitalism. The context of China’s market transition is intended to be used as a laboratory to observe three inter-linked transformations: economic restructuring (urbanization), political neo-liberalization, and social polarization. |
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