Curated in China: Manipulating the City through the Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture

Curated in China: Manipulating the City through the Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism Architecture explores the Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism Architecture, an exhibition that aims to build a relationship between architecture and socio-spatial issues and manipulate the city's urban fabric. The book unpacks the layered frictions between a temporary events narrative apparatus and its physical outcomes, questioning the relationship between biennials as theoretical platforms and their agency in real urban spaces.

Format: Hardback
Length: 236 pages
Publication date: 29 February 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Curated in China, the Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism Architecture offers a profound exploration of an architectural and urbanism exhibition with transformative goals. Through the use of simultaneous narratives, it delves into scales and perspectives, shedding light on the layered spatial and political agency that an ephemeral event, the Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism Architecture, has gradually established within the city between 2005 and 2019.

Encompassing Shenzhen's aspirations as a world-class city, the Biennale aims to actively foster a relationship between architecture and socio-spatial issues as a means to investigate the city's rapid development while also manipulating its urban fabric. The spaces transformed by the exhibition exude visual delight and urban extravagance, serving as a testament to the interlocking of multiple (intellectual, corporate, and institutional) actors who exploit the event for their own purposes. While individuals stroll and revel in the spectacle created within the purportedly calming space of the exhibition, it is essential to consider what lies beneath and beyond the event.

By engaging students and scholars in the fields of architecture and urban space, this book unpacks the intricate frictions between the narrative apparatus of temporary events and their physical outcomes. It raises questions about the relationship between biennials as theoretical platforms and their actual agency in shaping real urban spaces. The Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism Architecture serves as a captivating case study, shedding light on the complex dynamics between architecture, urbanism, and the power dynamics that shape cities.

Weight: 630g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032462585