A Study On Edwrd Soja’s Regional Urbanization Theory

Edward Soja is a famous contemporary postmodern geographers of American,who takes space as an entry point to explain social existence and devotes himself to the foundation of urban social space theory and the pursuit of space justice.Under the background of the further development of modernity,the practice of space urgently needs to profound the reflection.The theory of regional urbanization takes Los Angeles as a typical window,each chapter of My Los Angeles is shaped by a confident spatial perspective.It is based on the concept which is significant impact on the our life and history by the geographical location of our production and life.The historical development of this ever-changing urban landscape is captured by the multi-level interpretation and reinterpretation.As a urbanization trajectory shifts from the metropolitan model,regional urbanization is defined and described the latest morphing of the industrial capitalist city.The transformation of this notable paradigm is epoch-making,which is also a far-reaching deconstruction and reconstitution of the creating new cities of modern metropolis.Therefore,it demands a transformation in the corresponding aspect of the theory and practice of the urban.Only by recognizing that regional urbanization is a process of change,and the urban regional or regional cities is the final product,the structural adjustment of urban can attain the appropriate denouement.The discussion of this article is in the following four chapters:The first chapter reviews the space theory narration of cities and regions of Soja,and makes an further study of the background of his theory.It mainly explains therealistic,theoretical and ideological background in which regional urbanization theory can be formed.The further development of modernity has brought many problems to the economy,politics,culture and society of city.The spatial governance of the city has become a new vision of urban governance.First of all,considering several important factors of the realistic background proposed by the regional urbanization theory sucn as unbalanced economic development,cognitive ambiguity of human,and some drawbacks brought about by urban differentiation.It is aim to broaden the contemporary understanding of urban issues and point out the spatial dimensions of regional cities.Secondly,it discusses some thoughts of the neo-Marxist urban school which is influence on the urban theory of Soja,such as the urban right thoughts of Lefebvre,the urban political economic theory of Harvey,and the disciplinary thoughts of Foucault.Finally,from the unique ideological background of Soja to find out the reason why Los Angeles is selected as the focus of regional urbanization theory and why to extend to the regional urbanization to the whole world.Then summarizes the common problem in the development of modern society from the reality of Los Angeles.The second chapter is based on the Space Four-Frambinary of Soja,which explains the ontological basis of the regional urbanization theory by the main line of the four books.The main solution is to summarize the theory of the space theory,and to comb the relationship and development of the theory.Firstly,relying on the book The Third Space to comb the issue of the re-exploration of the post-modernity differences,and to highlight the gender relation,and post-colonial criticism.Secondly,using the book post-megalopolis as the main reference text to deeply analyze the ideology and theory of Soja,and put the attention on the social spatiality of modern cities such as the Re-exploration of urban geography and spatial imagination,highlight the role and influence of power relations in individual and collective space,and the democratic alliance pursuing space justice in the social practice.Finally,with a view of the pursuit of space justice of the critical perspective,which involves the pursuing strategies of the gender equality in family space,the equality of rights in urban space,and the distribution of regional space.The third chapter reviews the application and prospect of regional urbanization theory in defining the new urban forms in the process of urban reconstruction of theindustrial capitalist society.The main problem to be solved is to generalize the general characteristics of the globalized cities and regions through the empirical study of Los Angeles.Firstly,dicussing the development of regional urban space such as the multi-centered and networked geographical features,the expansion of capital and labor promotes the formation of "world cities",the urban areas will continue to integrate into the adjustment of scale in the process of urbanization.Secondly,the production process of space cannot be separated from the improvement of the information-based innovation environment,the use of advantages of the mass media to promote the reconstruction of public space and the means of continuously enhance the urban competition.Finally,it is a vision of the future regional urban planning according to the experience in Los Angeles of Soja such as the development of planar structure in geographic location,the development of organization and generalization of grassroots social movements and the maintained development trend of diversified societies on the basis of "seeking the existence of differences".The fourth chapter is the critical reflection of the space theory of Soja.It mainly explains and analyzes the theoretical contribution to the current urbanization research and the limitations of “applicability practice” of the space theory of Soja,in order to provide an effective analysis path and theoretical guidance for the urbanization construction and urbanization development of China.Firstly,affirming the contribution to the study of urban philosophy by stressing the urban living space,and highlights the development of space justice and regional democracy.Secondly,although Soja has seen the root cause of the problem is capital,he chose to discuss the concrete social space issue based on irreversible capitalist development and urbanization.In this aspect,the premise is still the capitalist system,so the theory has limitations which cannot be overcome.Finally from the perspective of the regional spatial layout should pay attention to the problem of multicenter,the political philosophy should pursue the difference of justice,the prevention and management of urban crisis problems to dicuss the enlightenment of the space thought theory of Soja.