Three New Books on Chinese Urbanization, Large-Scale Design, and Contemporary Architectural Trends

The three new publications by China Room demonstrate the possibilities offered by the Chinese context as a strategic repository for investigating spatial mutations, observing phenomena that often occur at accelerated speeds and emphasize global behaviors. In this sense, the researchers at the China Room have looked at China as an expanding laboratory where precise scientific questions can be tested. Readers can embark on an enlightening journey into multi-scale and multi-actor processes, where spatial transformation is a remarkable constant

One of the books focuses on urban growth and suburbanization: Leonardo Ramondetti is the author of the book "The Enriched Field: Urbanising the Central Plains of China," which addresses the urban growth that has transformed China in the past two decades. Agricultural spaces are drastically altered by the construction of new industrial settlements, and new cities dot the landscape. In particular, the Central Plains in the Henan province, previously predominantly agricultural, is located at the border of these new developments, undergoing radical changes that give rise to a new landscape, unlike anything seen in 20th-century China or elsewhere in the world

Michele Bonino, Edoardo Bruno, Alessandro Armando, and Giovanni Durbiano, on the other hand, in the book "The Story of a Section: Designing the Shougang Oxygen," tackle the topic of large-scale design and industrial renewal. Specifically, the book tells the story of the cross-section of a project to transform a factory into a Visitor Center for the XXIV Winter Olympic Games in Beijing 2022. Through the detailed analysis of over 300 drawings, the evolution of the architectural project moves between Italy and China, intertwining both cultural differences and attempts at mutual understanding

Lastly, Maria Paola Repellino, in "Fun Mill: The Architecture of Creative Industry in Contemporary China," explores the creative industries that have played a crucial role in the economic transition, shifting from "Made in China" to "Created in China." Over the past decade, this has led to an explosive growth of creative industries and their physical manifestation in cities. Hundreds of creative clusters, art districts, cultural areas, media bases, incubators, and creative industry parks, also known as fun mills, continue to proliferate and trigger real estate value enhancement strategies, reinventing significant urban districts