Transnational Architectural Production in Urban China

Xuefei Ren speaks in the Michigan Center for Chinese Studies noon lecture series.

A talk by Michigan State University Assistant Professor of Sociology, Xuefei Ren. Professor Ren will talk about her forthcoming book "Transnational Architectural Production in Urban China." Based on more than 100 interviews with developers, architects, residents, governmental officials in Beijing and Shanghai between 2004 and 2007, the book explores why China's urban elites have repeatedly turned to international architects to design their mega projects, and how Beijing and Shanghai have become strategic nodes in the global network of architectural production. Xuefei Ren is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Global Urban Studies Program at Michigan State University. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Chicago in 2007. Her research interests include global political economy, politics of urban development, and sociology of space and built environment. She is currently working on a few projects, including (1) heterogeneous Chinese urbanism, (2) urban governance in China and India, (3) the global art market. She has published her work in a number of academic journals, such as City and Community, Journal of Urban Affairs, and Built Environment, and CITY.