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This book is an attempt to understand the phenomenon
of urban transformation in Shanghai, one of the
world s fastest growing cities Having once been a
lucrative treaty port, Shanghai has re-embarked on a
quest to become a global economic powerhouse through
the combination of an assimilated industrialized
cityscape and the startling industriousness of
Chinese pragmatism from 1980 onwards. Driven by the
momentum of an increasingly open market-oriented
economy within the politics of a state-controlled
socialist entity, Shanghai's built form and urban
environment have been conceived as a cultural
construction of the conspicuous consumption of the
global financial market. Central to the aim of this
book are the questions on how the global market was
utilized, what internal and external forces were at
play, and the importance given to the perception of
values. This book outlines the city's pragmatic
developments dominated largely by its politics. "The
book offers a well-thought-out perspective in
understanding the amazing transformation of
Shanghai -- an excellent foundation for exploring
contemporary city-building issues." Dr Reinhard
Goethert, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology

Shanghai Contemporary: The Politics of Built Form: How divergent planning methods transformed Shanghai s urban identity Foreword by Stanford Anderson