Abstract
Following the continuous development characterized by large-scale constructions, Chinese urban development has shifted to the promotion of refined urban space quality. Urban sculpture, an important part of public arts, has been receiving increased attention in China as an important carrier for highlighting urban characteristics, culture, and history within cultural policies. As a type of cultural capital, it offers innovative methods to address the issues of economic, social, and environmental sustainability, in particular cultural sustainability. Interdisciplinary theories of urban planning are creatively applied to guide, coordinate, and improve the sustainable production of urban sculptures in China. This research was initiated to: (1) Illustrate how urban sculptures are produced through an urban planning system in the context of China; (2) explain what kind of influencing factors in relation to sustainability exist, mainly within the framework of planning strategies and cultural policies; and (3) put forward sustainable planning strategies to produce urban sculptures. To answer the above inquiries, we reviewed more than 100 articles, plans, and government documents, and we conducted several semi-structured interviews. The article argues that urban planning strategies and policies have been conceived as strategic instruments by the Chinese municipal governments to realize sustainable development of urban sculptures. Our findings would enrich knowledge on geographic studies of public art planning through the contextualized analysis of a Chinese urban sculpture planning system. It also fills the gap in the literature on the sustainability of urban sculptures by approaching the perspectives of planning strategies and cultural policies.
Highlights
Ancient Chinese sculpture has flourished with a long history, boasting a splendid civilization
The planning documents can be divided into three different levels
Urban sculptures were creatively applied in urban renewal, cultural heritage protection, urban characteristics, and personalized expression
Summary
Ancient Chinese sculpture has flourished with a long history, boasting a splendid civilization. The wars and political movements stagnated the construction of urban sculptures. Since the 1980s, the construction of urban sculptures has been revived and has begun to develop dramatically. Since the economic reform in 1978, Chinese cities experienced a historic period of transition from a planned economy to market economy [1]. The industrial structure of several Chinese cities shifted from the traditional economy of manufacturing to a consumption-based economy, especially the cultural consumption industry. The conflict between the development of urban construction and the protection of urban features is always a problem faced during the process of urban development, especially in a post-socialist context [2]. The importance of art has gradually been granted within social policies in the economy, politics, and culture [1,3]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
