Policy Press

Engaging Comparative Urbanism

Art Spaces in Beijing and Berlin

By Julie Ren

Published

Dec 9, 2020

Page count

182 pages

ISBN

978-1529207057

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Dec 9, 2020

Page count

182 pages

ISBN

978-1529207088

Dimensions

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Dec 9, 2020

Page count

182 pages

ISBN

978-1529207088

Dimensions

Imprint

Bristol University Press
Engaging Comparative Urbanism

Julie Ren investigates the motivations and practices of making art spaces in Beijing and Berlin to engage with comparative urbanism as a framework for doing research, beyond its significance as a critical intervention.

Across vastly different contexts, where universal theories of modernity or development seem increasingly misplaced, she innovatively explores the ways that art spaces employ creative capital to sustain themselves in a competitive urban landscape.

She shows how these art spaces are embedded within a politics of aspiration and demonstrates that aspiration is an important lens through which to understand the nature of, and possibilities for, urban change.

Julie Ren is Senior Scientist of Social and Cultural Geography at the University of Zurich.

Elsewheres

Operationalizing Comparative Urbanism

Envisioning Art Spaces

Making Do

Expressions

The Capacity to Aspire