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Chinese Exceptionalism in Architecture and Urban Design Wong

and authorship within the exceptionalist high-rise apartments, they note the
concept of Chinese reform, the deductions of diminishing agencies of architects as they are
which challenge the Western self-referential tasked to replicate features and compositions
system of knowledge. Therefore, these books of commercially successful projects (p. 147)
make contributions not only to Chinese [2] . Put differently, these apartments within
studies, but also to the architectural field new towns tend to design themselves, either
where a Western perspective is dominant. as a result of stringent governmental
regulations on the design of units, or the
3.1 Architecture in Chinese new towns inflexible and highly predictable demands of
The City After Chinese New Towns notes the Chinese consumers. Apartments are thus
emergence of architectural typologies around designed as generic spaces, assembling
the same time expertise emerged in the new “minor differences in their spatial and
towns. The editors foreground “spaces” that architectural features” that are abstracted
[2]
have “their own functional and aesthetic products (p. 147) . Bonino echoes this view
[2]
centrality” (p. 131) , including exhibition by noting the influence of commodification
halls, high-rise apartments, underground on architectural production. He compiles, on
spaces, and urban parks. Repellino suggests one hand, architectural mimicry examples
exhibition halls as spaces that facilitate the such as the miniature world tour in Lanzhou
circulation of an architectural commodity in a New Area or an Eiffel Tower replica in
speculative housing market. These spaces Tianducheng New Town (Sky City), and on
host mock-ups, models, renderings, and other the other hand, highly branded projects like
architectural representational forms, and are the Zhengzhou Kurokawa urban design and a
visited by the public, authorities, developing Xiaoqing urban park competition that brought
companies and agencies. Alessandro together designers like Standard Architecture,
Armando and Francesco Carota categorize Vector Architects, Pei Zhu, Teamminus, and
high-rise apartments as a depository of so on (p. 99) [2] . In both scenarios,
expertise, as common unit types and layout architectural authorship either reproduces or
logics recurred in a trend of housing produces a marketable iconicity, as architects
commodification. In new towns, real estate recede to having no real agency in designing
companies commission assignments that these new towns.
emphasize speed, feasibility, and profitability.
Valeria Federighi and Filippo Fiandenese 3.2 Architecture in the Special Economic
single out underground spaces as crucial to Zone
new towns. They remark that a well-designed Du’s chapter “Towers by the Hong Kong
underground that successfully integrated Border” unpacks the tower typology that
infrastructural elements like parking and dominates Shenzhen’s skyline and public
subway networks achieves a market image. She understands typology as a
efficiency for these projects (p. 156) [2] . contentious category based on a
Finally, Bianca Maria Rinaldi reviews the discriminatory definition of expertise that
role of urban parks in satisfying China’s excludes the contribution of the subaltern.
“virtuous urban model, focused on She narrates the early establishment of
sustainability and capable of tackling Shenzhen in the late 1970s and early 1980s,
[2]
environmental risks” (p. 167) . A display of where Shenzhen Infrastructure Corps were
environmental awareness through green among the first builders to build towers in the
spaces is tasked to satisfy a governmental city. However, behind the typological
mandate. triumph, Du documents the labor-intensive
The emergence of expertise on these constructions and the lack of shelter for the
spaces in new towns is mapped against migrant workers. Comrades such as Yang
seismic changes in architectural practices in Hongxiang were living in regiments that
China. In Armando’s and Carota’s account of offered horrific living conditions while

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