IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section A

Abstract

On the 1st of April 2017, the central wings of the Chinese government announced the creation of Xiong’an, a new area just south of Beijing. As a city, Xiong’an New Area purportedly proposes a new model of development that aims to transfer Beijing’s non-capital population; create new modes of innovation; and act as a new socialist city for China’s modern era. Such a project allows us to re-examine themes that underline Chinese development and development practises in general within an international context. Seven years on, the area has seen significant construction of the future city and the realisation of many of the proposed visions in context of a tableau rasa. However, there to exists a future city that balances the existing population and their resorting. As such, this paper explores further in how we might interpret the notion of futures within the Chinese urban context. In specific this paper looks into the different kind of neighbourhoods being proposed in contrast to the current existing ones and the different citizens and trajectories of urban livelihoods they might have. To create a sustainable future, we must understand how we define futures, especially the context to which they were curated. Through the analysis of specific moments of city creation, we can reflect on the urban past and how it is reinterpreted to justify a specific urban future – where the conceptualised ideas from Xiong’an could potentially re-orientate a new trajectory for not only China’s urban future but also our eclectic understanding of cities.