Chinese Cities - Sciences Po - OGLM 3050 - 59127 - S2 2025 Clément Renaud [hi@clementrenaud.com](mailto:hi@clementrenaud.com) (use left/right keyboard arrows to navigate) --- class: inverse, center, middle ## Week 9 # 闹 ## Activism: The Right To The City #### 1 Apr 2025 --- class: inverse, center, middle ## Character of the week # 闹 [Purple Culture](https://www.purpleculture.net/dictionary-details/?word=闹) / [Hanziyuan](https://hanziyuan.net/) / [CUHK dic](https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=闹) --- class: inverse # Some practical matters - [Fiche de présence](https://scolarite.sciences-po.fr/PROD/twbkwbis.P_GenMenu?name=homepage) - Assignments - Any questions? --- # The program Today - Participatory urbanism - Urban activism: some case studies - Online Activism: Ai Weiwei, cao ni ma - Final assignment --- class: title, inverse, middle # 1. Participatory urbanism Some examples --- # Participation with "Chinese characteristics" "Communicative" planning theory (Healey, Forester) - Consultation is mostly state-led (commissioned architects) - Consultative rather than deliberative democracy - Technocratic expertise first - International development agencies requires participatory approaches for funding - Some Chinese Concepts: - "Orderly participation" (有序参与) - "Governmentality through participation" (Yi & Wu) - "Deliberative authoritarianism" (He & Warren) --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/dam.jpg) # Nuozhadu Dam resetllement ### give a "choice" : government-organized or self-organized resettlement .footnote[ [stats](https://www.power-technology.com/marketdata/power-plant-profile-nuozhadu-china/) - loss of 37.48 kilometers of the Simao-Lanchang Highway as well as a 168-meter bridge over the Lanchang River ( from [World Bank report](https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/210541593565161978/pdf/A-Review-of-Resettlement-Management-Experience-in-China-Hydropower-Projects-Identifying-Key-Lessons-Learned.pdf)) - Hydro Power: national priority - calls for ‘mass participation’ (群众参与 qunzhong canyu) - governemnt village comes with provision (water, electricity, etc). Self-porganized has to provide certificates and follow regulations. - transfers the responsibility of resource management from the state to communities and individuals - 87 households, 73 moved to the village 90 km away / 14 decided to stay closer and organize by themselves (Habich-Sobiegalla & Rousseau, 2020) - [Mekong reservoir issues](https://www.planet.com/stories/nuozhadu-the-mekongs-largest-dam-releases-6-billio-T2w4uDTNg) - [official newspaper report](https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202209/1276056.shtml) ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/dafen-village.jpg) # From Dafen Village to Dafen Oil Paiting Village Shenzhen Urban Villages Regeneration (2005-2015) - Before 1990: ~300 families (fishing) - 1990s: Huang Jiang "godfather of Dafen" started painting office there - 2004: sz gov - Strategic Projects of Cultural Industries - "transforming from a “chaotic” and “less civilized” village to a pleasant cluster of trade painting" - Goal : prepares the “right spatial configuration” for the new economy to attract talents (hukou, benefits, etc) esp art dealers - 2006: villagers blocked the bulldozers and surrounded the demolition team. - 2007: Urbanus Architects make 3 proposals + 1 museum in Dafen - 2010: Shanghai Expo .footnote.inverse.small[ > I found that these communities, built by the original residents on their own land, formed a world that was independent and open, where they accepted outsiders, but also maintained autonomy, using their own wisdom to create a kind of inexpensive and convenient, but also rich and rowdy street life. (Ou Ning, Shenzhen Biennale, 2009) ] --- # Tools for participation ### "Smart" approaches - Beijing "I Make the Plan" (我规划) platform [link](https://ghzrzyw.beijing.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi/zxzt/wsghs/) - Hangzhou "City Brain" by Alibaba (城市大脑), esp for traffic ### Events for Public Space Co-creation - Shanghai Urban Space Art Season: - Community-led installations in public spaces - Resident-designer collaborative projects - Beijing Hutong Public Space Activation: Dashilar / Beijing Design Week --- class: inverse, middle # 2. Urban Activism ### The Right to the City in China --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/dingzihu.jpg) # Nail Houses 钉子户 .footnote[ - Chongqing "Most Stubborn Nail House" (2007) - Wenling Couple (2012) - **Policy Impact**: - Land Acquisition Compensation Standards reform - Procedural requirements for demolition - Prohibition of forced demolition without court orders - Property rights reinforcement in Civil Code (2020) ] --- # Activism with Chinese characteristics? - "right to the city": Lefebvre's Collective right to reshape urbanization processes - In China, "Rightful resistance" within official rhetoric (O'Brien & Li) - Activism as negotiation rather than opposition - How citizen actions influence policy outcomes? --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/mortgage-strike.webp) # Chinese mortgage boycott [Read more](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2022/07/28/in-china-the-boycott-of-real-estate-loan-repayments-worries-authorities_5991689_19.html) .footnote[ - **Guangzhou Homeowner Rights Defense (2009-2014)** - **Wuhan Property Fee Protests (2018)**: - Policy Outcome: standardized homeowner committee regulations, developer accountability mechanisms, mediation in property disputes ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/wukan-lost-course.jpg) # Wukan example ### Property ownership as new basis for rights claims --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/strikes-china.jpg) # Worker Strikes in China See [China Labout Bulletin map](https://maps.clb.org.hk/?i18n_language=en_US&map=1&startDate=2024-10&endDate=2025-04&eventId=&keyword=&addressId=&parentAddressId=&address=&parentAddress=&industry=&parentIndustry=&industryName=&pageEmbed=) .footnote[ - Post lockdown Covid protests - Retirees in the streets against insurance cuts [(in Wuhan)](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinese-retirees-take-streets-protest-health-insurance-cuts-2023-02-15/) - etc ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/px-protests.jpg) # NIMBY - Anti-PX Protests ### against para-xylene (PX) chemical factories some [pics](https://hongkongfp.com/2015/07/01/px-an-explosive-word-in-china-the-long-history-of-anti-paraxylene-protests/) .footnote[ - **Xiamen (2007)**: First major success - relocation of chemical plant - **Dalian (2011)**: 12,000 protesters force temporary shutdown - **Maoming (2014)**: Violent confrontations over petrochemical expansion - Lead to "Environmental Impact Assessment Law" amendments ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/china_incinerator_protest.webp) # Urban Waste Management .foonote[ - **Beijing Waste Incinerator Protests (2011-2015)** - Asuwei and Liulitun neighborhoods - Citizen-led environmental monitoring - **Shanghai Garbage Classification System (2019)** - **Policy Outcomes**: "Zero-waste city" pilot programs in 16 cities ] --- class: title, inverse, middle # 3. Online activism ### Organizing change --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/cnblog-1.jpg) # The "change makers" ### "Social" as experimental mediation --- class: inverse background-image: url(/talks/mythologie/img/fangbinxing.jpeg) # 火墙 .footnote[ Fang Binxing - Global Times - Feb 18, 2011 ] --- # memes   --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/tang-ping.jpeg) # "liying flat" (躺平) --- class: inverse background-image: url(./img/ai-317.jpeg) # 草泥马 🦙 .footnote[ Ai Weiwei ] Ai weiwei vs bulldozers <!-- --- stuff to add : - 上方 - under the dome / Beijing Airpocalypse - **"Under the Dome" (2015)**: Documentary viewed 300 million times --> --- # Final project questions and comments