Relativizing State Space: Deciphering China’s New Dynamics of Urban Transformation Engineered through the Creation of National New Areas

Abstract

Abandonment of the taken-for-granted attitude of territoriality in the studies of state space has been followed by diverse concerns and competing interpretations with different focuses notably on state–market relations, spatiality of social life, and relativization of scale. Inspired by Lefebvre’s spatial triad, applied textual analysis, and in-depth interview, this study critically evaluates the Chinese practices of setting up National New Areas to reshape the trajectory of urban and regional development using the Liangjiang National New Area (LNNA). Our research foregrounds the relativizing dimensions of state space in which the creation of the LNNA was conceived, perceived, and lived by key stakeholders holding different positions and vested interests. The LNNA is the spatial manifestation of the special vision and mission of China’s national developmental agenda and the adjustment of power relations within an authoritarian Party-state. However, it is a controversial project which requires negotiation, contestation, and reconciliation among grassroots people. This study shows that even in China, there existed pervasive negotiation and resistance from diverse stakeholders from the bottom up. Our research suggests an alternative perspective that goes beyond the popular dichotomy of state–market or society–space relations in the studies of state space and takes seriously the dialectical relations among the forces at work in the (re)production of state space.