From Artist Enclave to Living Urban Heritage

Exploring the Unconventional Path of a 1920s Mixed-use Urban Block in Shanghai

Abstract

At the end of the 1990s, the Asian financial crisis severely unbalanced real estate development mechanisms in Shanghai’s former Luwan district that strongly relied on foreign direct investment. This momentary interruption created a unique opportunity for a long time unconsidered mixed-use urban block at the margins of the former French Concession, nowadays known as Tianzifang, to experiment with regeneration approaches that deviated from conventional “old city renewal” (jiucheng gaizao 舊城改造). Partly responding to Shanghai’s aspirations to become a “global city”, the focus was set on culture and its creative potential that enabled a multifunctional framing of the block as creative industry park, tourist destination, and ultimately a protected scenic block in Shanghai’s conservation system. The paper investigates which aspects of cultural heritage have (or have not) been mobilised at which particular stage of Tianzifang’s place-making process, thereby shedding light on specific mechanisms in dealing with material culture and memory in a Chinese urban context.  What broader implications did this uncommon approach have for the formation of heritage conceptualisations such as industrial and intangible heritage? Proceeding from a constructivist approach that allows for a comprehensive analysis of socially and politically negotiated layers of meaning, the study  examines how spatial environments are bound to notions of history and identity. Relevant aspects during these processes of authentication and revalorisation that the paper finds are artist-led spatial interventions, the practice of naming, an emphasis on the use value of industrial heritage, and an expansion of the notion of Shanghai nostalgia to include local-style shikumen lilong 石庫門里弄 housing.

20世紀90年代末，亞洲金融危機導致上海原盧灣區重度依賴外資的房地產發展模式遭受衝擊。這給位於前法租界邊緣、一直被忽視的田子坊，帶來獨特的發展空間。與常規的舊城改造不同，田子坊的發展更注重其文化價值和創新潛力的挖掘，逐步成為創意產業高地和旅遊亮點，且被納入上海歷史風貌保護體系。本文旨在深入解析田子坊如何策略性地調動和維護其文化遺產，探討對物質文化與集體記憶、工業遺產與非物質遺產的理解。借助建構主義視角，文章進一步分析空間環境與歷史和身份的交織關係，探析藝術介入城市空間、命名策略，以及石庫門式的“上海懷舊”，對田子坊的認知重塑和價值提升起到的關鍵作用。