The Coast, Social Actions, and Architectural Production: A Review of The Social Imperative: Architecture and the City in China

Abstract

Is it possible to intellectually grasp the production of architecture in China over the past four decades? How should we make sense of such an unprecedented transformation of the built landscape in human history? Based on a three-year study by the editor H. Koon Wee, the book The Social Imperative: Architecture and the City in China presents a “sourcebook” that gathers multiple entanglements between architecture and society of China's economic reform era. This review attempts to provide an architectural-geographical perspective for readers to dive into this deep volume of collected essays: the socio-economic rapport between China's coastal regions and the hinterland. By situating architecture's “social imperatives” between geographies, this review presents a lateral reading across this multidisciplinary volume of work that would inform both practitioners and the broader audience on understanding the complex forces behind the process of architecture and the city, and contemplating the future role of the architect in, around, and beyond China.