ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the complexities and paradoxes in China’s urban renewal practice through the case of Nantou Old Town, an urban village, in the highly urbanized city, Shenzhen. Chosen as the main venue for the 2017 Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, the regeneration of Nantou Old Town presented a new approach to urban renewal whereby renovation of a city space took place side by side with an art exhibition. While it was claimed that such an approach to urban renewal would preserve the distinctiveness of the urban village as well as inject vitality to the renewed space, in reality, the reconstructed space, in the name of art, destroyed the once thriving and well-ordered economic ecosystem, reshaped the previously unique social relations in the urban village, and stifled the vitality of the community. This chapter uncovers the causal effects of the exhibition using a multimodal social semiotic framework. It provides insight into how art can conspire with capital, masking political interests and social issues in contemporary China. The chapter unveils the complex relationship between stakeholders in urban renewal and discloses the cooperation and competition between politics, culture, and the community in spatial practice.
