  | Book Details Title: The Shenzhen Experiment: The Story of China’s Instant City |
Book DescriptionReview “A major contribution to understanding a fascinating city.”―Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, Wall Street Journal“Shenzhen, the fastest growing city on earth, has been globally acknowledged as the test tube for modern China. In The Shenzhen Experiment, Juan Du deftly uncovers the secrets of the city famous for its unprecedented economic development and social mobility.”―Ole Bouman, Founding Director of Design Society, Shenzhen“In stark contrast to conventional, flattened accounts of this vast Chinese city, Juan Du has given us an architect’s magical encounter with a place that we cannot quite see with our eyes, but can experience in fragments. I love this account of Shenzhen.”―Saskia Sassen, author of Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy“A rich history of China’s famous ‘instant city,’ which may not be so instant after all. Juan Du takes us on an informative and unexpected journey through a major metropolis.”―Yung Ho Chang, Principal of Atelier FCJZ, Beijing“This remarkable exploration of modern China reveals the humanity hidden in the shadows of international finance and globalized architecture. It is the extraordinary story of ordinary lives surviving and thriving in one of China’s most dynamic cities.”―Austin Williams, author of China’s Urban Revolution and New Chinese Architecture: Twenty Women Building the Future“Explores the blurry history of the city, beginning with its farmers and oyster fishermen…An important story for architects and planners everywhere facing the excitement as well as perils of rapid urbanization and industrialization.”―Architect’s Newspaper“Endeavors to move beyond the caricature of Shenzhen as a historyless tabula rasa…The area which would become ‘Shenzhen’ was a well-populated and culturally rich landscape, and its history is here outlined in detail…Provides a nuanced and detailed historical grounding, drawing on a diverse range of sources and primary research. Blending the personal and the historical, it is an outstanding primer on the fascinating fortunes of a city which will only grow in national and global significance over the course of the next decade.”―Jonathan Chatwin, Asian Review of Books“As urban planner Juan Du shows in this deep dive of a history, the ‘instant city’ narrative is a myth. Sweeping aside slick origin stories, Du reveals a reality in which Shenzhen’s prosperity is driven by oyster fishers, vibrant night markets and the aspirations of millions, not just by the policymakers of Beijing.”―Nature Read more About the Author Juan Du, an award-winning architect and urban planner with extensive experience in China, Europe, and the United States, has been featured in international publications as one of Asia’s top designers. She is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong and was formerly on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She leads IDU_Architecture, a research and design office based in Hong Kong. Du is also the founding academic director of the Shenzhen Center for Design and is actively involved in the ongoing development and planning of the city. Read more Customers Review: Amazing book for those who really want to understand the “Shenzen experiment”. The enthusiastics of charter cities/special economic zones will find a lot of stuff to think about.This book reminded me of the insights of Ronald Coase, Elinor Ostrom and Robert Ellickson about the importance of studying the facts before buying the idealized views spread through some well intentioned, but often naive, literature on some topics. Just think about lighthouses and the classical Coase’s article, to quote one very famous example.I still love the charter cities/special economic zones topic, but it’s clear to me that we should not ignore the problems from the always challenging research topic of “how better institutions could be built”.Amazing book.
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