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2021 China Fellowship
Spatial Reproduction in Industrial Areas: Study on Chinese Workers’ Spatial Production in Europe

“Spatial Reproduction in Industrial Areas” proposes to study the impact of Chinese workers in Europe and whether the new production of space can achieve a certain degree of social integration while balancing the interests of both local and immigrant communities.

Yunhan Zhu
Shandong Jianzhu University
School of Architecture and Urban Planning

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Oil tank brick factory transformation, Jinan, China, 2018. © Yunhan Zhu and Ting Wang.

Jury
Leo Chow (Chair)
James Shen
Chen Yifeng
He Wei

Zhu’s proposal “is a difficult research topic that should not be ignored in the era of globalization,” adding that “it takes skill and courage to complete such a complex topic in such a short travel time.”
He Wei, Juror

Beginning in 1978, after the Chinese economic reform or “Opening of China,” tens of thousands of people from Zhejiang came to Europe, driven by complementary trade. Many started their careers as laborers in Prato, Italy and Madrid, Spain. Tensions between the new Chinese communities and local residents constantly escalated, as these ethnic groups brought more living and communal functions to areas that had previously been for industrial use only.

Today, Prato has one of the highest proportions of Chinese immigrants in Europe. Because of the lack of living facilities, large factories have often been divided into multiple single-family workshops. The transformations provided housing for Chinese immigrants, including those who worked illegally, but also created an increased risk for disaster. In 2013, seven workers died after a fire broke out in a Chinese-owned garment factory [1]. The Cobo Calleja warehouse area in Madrid, another European city with a significant Chinese community, has a similar problem. After a large number of Chinese businessmen arrived in the late 1990s, the single-function warehouse buildings were transformed into shopping malls, restaurants, and clubs. But the influx of money from the interracial community has turned Cobo Calleja into a high-crime area.

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This research project will focus on the process of spatial reproduction, or the second production of space, in industrial areas in Europe. In the case of the city of Prato, much of the spatial reproduction has been guided by the local government. The government has gradually relocated functions of the Campolmi factory and corresponding support facilities to new zones, while transforming the original factory into a textile museum and municipal library. The Prato Urban Renovation Project (Piu Prato) is still in progress—so whether the process of spatial reproduction can gradually integrate the Chinese community with the local community and achieve equal spatial value remains to be studied.

Is there a value of “spatial justice” in this process of spatial reproduction? Or, what kinds of spatial practices can achieve a certain degree of social integration while balancing the interests of both local and immigrant communities? The result of this study will be a comprehensive report, including but not limited to the reconstruction of industrial heritage; an analysis of public spaces renewed by the process of spatial reproduction; and exploration of changing spatial use forms, behaviors, and boundaries of different community identities.

Notes

[1] “Italy Prato Fire Kills Seven in Chinese-Owned Factory,” BBC, December 2, 2013, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25180500.

Planning and design of Yinchen Village, Jinan, China, 2018. © Yunhan Zhu and Ting Wang.

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As a child of a Zhejiang merchant family living on the edge of a big city, I experienced the first spatial production process of a floating population. After reading Transcending Boundaries: Zhejiangcun: The Story of a Migrant Village in Beijing by Xiang Biao, I became more and more interested in the research on spatial reproduction that is being carried out or will be carried out in urban fringe areas. Can spatial reproduction lead to human reproduction from the perspective of “spatial justice”? Can overseas Chinese communities achieve self-identity through urban renewal, value equality in space, and integration with local communities? To be able to clarify the possible answers to the above questions and the relationship between them is the greatest significance of this award to me.
Yunhan Zhu

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“Staring.” Design for public seating, 2021. © Yunhan Zhu.

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“Staring.” Design for public seating, 2021. © Yunhan Zhu.

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“Staring.” Design for public seating, 2021. © Yunhan Zhu.

Somf 2021 china fellowship yunhan zhu headshot

Yunhan Zhu
Shandong Jianzhu University
School of Architecture and Urban Planning

Yunhan Zhu

was born in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Zhu is currently a postgraduate student majoring in urban planning at Shandong Jianzhu University. She enjoys traveling around the city by bus and especially likes to focus on urban fringe areas and the daily life of people in them.

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