The production of art districts and urban transformation in Beijing

This dissertation examines the dynamic between the production of art districts and the urban transformation of Beijing. The study takes Henri Lefebvre's the production of space theory as framework, situating in the urban regime theory, the space of capitalism, and global discourse of creative industry. This qualitative extended study chooses China's capital and cultural center Beijing as single case with three sites: the Liulichang historical cultural district, the Songzhuang art district, and the 798 art district. Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted with government officials, planners, artists, cultural enterprises, local inhabitants, and tourists. A "regressive-progressive" approach, with vertical and horizontal dimensions, is utilized as an analytical model.;The study concludes that art districts are contested terrains that possibly mobilize a "right to city". Art districts cultivate and spread "artistic seeds" throughout society through exchanging, educating, and excising. Additionally, to what extent does the everyday life of art districts lead to an "art of living" raises a question. The art district is both a product and a producer of urban transformation. Good urban conditions include the existence of cultural producers and consumers, a supportive and tolerant government, supportive property owners, and available cheap land. However, the mechanism under the current political regime is an unbalanced interaction among artists, enterprises and government forces. The government plays the dominant role, and enterprises play differing supportive roles based on the source of capital. While artists are a crucial driving force at the beginning of production, their role rapidly becomes subjective to the coalition between government and market forces. Art districts contribute to urban transformation in economic, political, spatial, and socio-cultural dimensions, by different extents and mechanisms, and in different historical conditions.;The study tests western generated theories in a Chinese context. The findings illustrate the relevance, validity, and differences when the production of space theory applies to Chinese society. The study draws attention to the dynamics in the government's hierarchical structure and functional divisions, as well as the increasing local autonomy and social forces in urban regime building. The study provides an analytical model by hybridizing the production of space theory and urban regime theory.