In this pioneering study of contemporary Chinese urban form, Duanfang Lu provides an analysis of how Chinese society constructed itself through the making and remaking of its built environment. She shows that as China s quest for modernity created a perpetual scarcity as both a social reality and a national imagination, the realization of planning ideals was postponed. The work unit the socialist enterprise or institute gradually developed from workplace to social institution which integrated work, housing and social services. The Chinese city achieved a unique geography made up in large...

In this pioneering study of contemporary Chinese urban form, Duanfang Lu provides an analysis of how Chinese society constructed itself through the making and remaking of its built environment. Drawing on archival documents, professional journals and her own fieldwork, she explores hitherto overlooked issues including the history of China's residential planning paradigms and the development of the work unit as an urban form.

Lu shows how China's quest for modernity created a perpetual scarcity as both a social reality and a national imagination. Although planners attempted to apply...