LSE Public Lectures: “Beijing Inside Out: Caochangdi”
Date: October 19, 2009
Speakers:
- Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray, Principals of Studio Works
Host: Fran Tonkis, LSE Cities Program
Podcast Series: LSE: Public Lectures and Events
Overview
This episode presents the 2009 James Stirling Memorial Lecture, featuring architects Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray. Through their Studio Works practice and the Beijing Architecture Studio Enterprise (B.A.S.E.), the duo shares their immersive, hands-on research into the rapid, complex, and informal transformations underway in urban and rural Beijing, focusing on the “urban village” of Caochangdi (Chaochengdi). They explore themes of legal/illegal urbanism, migration, creative economies, and the unexpected spaces created by grassroots action and hybrid top-down/bottom-up urban development. The talk offers a richly anecdotal, critical, and firsthand look at the overlooked forces shaping Beijing’s urban fabric in the 21st century.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Origins and Reception of the Stirling Prize (00:00–03:53)
- Intro by Fran Tonkis: The prize promotes critical thinking in urban design; introduced Mary Sterline and CCA partners; celebrates how research, education, and practice overlap.
- Speakers' Reflections: Express deep gratitude and personal connections to James Stirling, reflecting on architecture's city-making power.
2. Getting to Beijing and the Unplanned Base (03:53–07:34)
- Studio in Crisis: With days before their student program, their studio was seized by authorities. They improvised a new space in Caochangdi, next to Ai Weiwei, transforming a raw, sand-filled lot into a functioning studio in 72 hours.
- “Ruralpolitan” Reality: Their tongue-twister term for the hybrid conditions around Beijing—where urban and rural overlap, and where “extreme transformation” is the norm.
“We experienced a form of human congregation unlike anything we’d ever experienced before.”
—Mary-Ann Ray (04:40)
3. Beijing's Ecological and Material Contrasts (07:34–09:52)
- Afforestation: Beijing’s massive tree-planting—a legacy of a 1959 Mao-era plan for 40% urban greenery, a counter to earlier deforestation.
- Everyday Sustainability: Example of 45 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks produced yearly, necessitating millions of trees; bamboo now partially replacing wood. Studio projects recycled chopsticks into everyday furniture, blurring lines between art, craft, and social statement.
4. Engineered Weather and the Strange Normal (09:31–11:16)
- Urban Rainmaking: Silver iodide rockets, fired by workers like Yu Yonggang, create artificial rain to irrigate the manmade forests (and clear skies for Olympic ceremonies).
- Human Agency: “I don’t feel like God... I’m just an ordinary worker.” (Yu Yonggang anecdote, 10:05)
5. Life in Caochangdi: Legality, Economy, and Social Fabric (11:16–23:37)
- Challenging the City: The village lies amidst the high-revenue Chaoyang District, yet it’s a pocket of illegality—illegal residents, illegal constructions, a mosaic of farmers, taxi drivers, and international artists.
- Urban Rupture: Citing He Huishan’s “Rupture Urbanism,” they trace Beijing’s history through regimes: locations, names, and social fabric rewired by political and spatial upheaval.
- Layered Histories: From Qing burial site, to People’s Commune, to semi-private post-1978 industry, to bohemian art hub—Caochangdi’s transformations epitomize modern China’s perpetual state of “becoming.”
“Change has become a phenomenon… the city is forever in the process of becoming.”
—Robert Mangurian (15:10)
6. Hybridity, Migration, and “Heterotopia Extraordinaire” (17:17–20:54)
- Chain Migrations: Physical and economic landscapes are shaped by social/familial networks, including pet dog “migrations” echoing people’s movement.
- Social Collage: Traditional structures coexist with illegal multi-stories, active construction, outdoor market life, art studios, and even shepherds roaming modern streets.
- Illegal yet Supported: Even as structures are technically illegal, the government quietly improves infrastructure; the “illegal” becomes normalized by use and need.
7. The Culture of Copy and Creative Reproduction (36:41–39:48)
- Copy as Value: In China, copying isn’t just forgery—it’s creative restatement (“things gain value in their repetition or their remaking”—Robert Mangurian, 37:51). Ai Weiwei sets the precedent; farmers then replicate his architectural style.
- Thieves and Fakes: Fakes of fakes proliferate, blurring the authorship and innovator/follower lines.
“The copy has a totally different meaning from a kind of Western interpretation...”
—Mary-Ann Ray (37:15)
8. The Network of Urban Villages (39:48–46:41)
- From One Village to Many: The project expands from Caochangdi to mapping >500 urban villages in Beijing alone, forming a largely invisible but vital parallel city for over a million residents.
- Model for Mixed-Use Life: These spaces overlay producer cities (agriculture, production, living) with village democratic self-governance, providing cheap housing, specialized services, and vibrant street and nightlife often absent from master-planned districts.
9. Covert Democracy and The Floating Population (46:41–53:26)
- Village Elections: Local leaders are elected, a rare form of Chinese democracy.
- Invisible Workforce: Migrant (floating) populations—illegal from the city’s perspective—do the bulk of construction and service work; they form the backbone of these villages, often living in ad hoc, makeshift conditions.
10. Density, Economy, and Urban Alternatives (53:26–57:15)
- Self-Built Density: Urban village infill housing can triple the density of nearby legal high-rises at a fraction of the cost, offering affordable rents and serving as economic ladders for both local and migrant residents.
11. Demolition and the “Nail Households” (57:15–58:00)
- Uncertain Future: Many villages face destruction by bureaucratic edict, with “nail households” (dingzihu)—those stubbornly resisting relocation—hanging on amidst the ruins while compensation negotiations rage.
12. The New Socialist Village and Rural Change (58:00–63:34)
- Top-down Policy Shifts: The “new socialist countryside” initiative (2006-11 Five Year Plan) aims to rebalance conditions for China’s huge rural population, encouraging small-scale entrepreneurship and more flexible, mutually beneficial rural-urban links.
- Entrepreneurial Spirit: Stories of bee farmers finding international markets, clever waste management tinkering, and others, illustrate unexpected rural vitality.
13. Shrinking Rural-Urban Divide (63:34–68:35)
- Interdependencies: Jane Jacobs’ observation that “work we usually consider rural has originated not from the countryside, but in cities”—the Chinese urban/rural is more fluid than fixed.
- Reverse Migrations: Rural youth, thanks to new opportunities, may prefer to remain or return to villages, seeking modern amenities without urban congestion.
“We want to be part of the life of the city. But we certainly like the fresh air that we have.”
—Young villager (66:45)
14. Economic Incentives, Self-Build Boom, and Uncertain Futures (68:45–77:58)
- Construction Frenzy: Faced with demolition deadlines, villagers rebuild old homes into multi-story rental complexes, betting on future compensation windfalls.
- Irony of Compensation: Those whose homes are demolished often become windfall millionaires through rapidly rising payout rates, driving up “self-urbanization.”
15. What Urban Villages Offer that Master Planning Cannot (79:20–83:27)
- Heterotopic Potential: The urban village, rather than master-planned or “Soho” style projects, sustains a multiplicity of uses and populations, vital nightlife, and street culture.
- Open-Endedness: Cities should not aim for “completion”; their vitality comes from unfinished, adaptable, bottom-up processes, combining both official support and informal action.
“Could we consider design that might produce a dynamic environment that is never finished? ... Ever open and adaptable?”
—Mary-Ann Ray (82:34)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- On Improvisational Urbanism:
“We experienced a form of human congregation unlike anything we’d ever experienced before.”
—Mary-Ann Ray (04:40) - On Copying as a Creative Act:
“In Daoist philosophy, things gain value in their repetition or their remaking—the kind of restatement of something anew.”
—Robert Mangurian (37:51) - On The Hidden City:
“An estimated 1.5 million people, or one in every 10 Beijingers live in these villages. ... It is a Beijing not seen during the Olympics or even by normal city dwellers.”
—Mary-Ann Ray (45:59) - On Village Democracy:
“The leaders of the villages are elected through voting ... in terms of that, it’s a kind of democracy.”
—Mary-Ann Ray (49:26) - On Urban Adaptability:
“Could we consider design that might produce a dynamic environment that is never finished? When we’re finished, we seem to be in the ground. So why would we want our cities to be finished...”
—Mary-Ann Ray (82:34)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 00:00–03:53 — Introduction, context of the lecture and speakers
- 04:40 — Arrival and improvisation in Caochangdi
- 07:34–09:52 — Beijing’s reforestation and ecological plasticity
- 11:16–23:37 — Social, legal, and political hybridities of the urban village
- 23:37–26:53 — Profiles in grassroots architecture and the “natural village”
- 36:41–39:48 — The “culture of the copy” and creative appropriation
- 39:48–46:41 — Mapping Beijing’s wider landscape of invisible urban villages
- 46:41–57:15 — What urban villages offer: housing, community, informality, democracy
- 58:00–63:34 — The “new socialist countryside” and the changing role of the rural
- 68:45–77:58 — Construction frenzy and economic speculation over demolition
- 79:20–83:27 — Rethinking planning: open works, adaptability, future potentials
Final Thoughts
Mangurian and Ray conclude that the energy and adaptability of informal, self-built environments like Caochangdi yield insights that conventional planning and architecture often miss. They urge architects, planners, and city-makers to learn from these “inside out” processes, tolerating ambiguity and activism—encouraging open-endedness, hybridity, and adaptability in future urban and rural development. Their lecture reframes the future of cities as not planned but perpetually “in process,” alive with the “wisdom of cumulative improvisation.”
This summary captures the structure, tone, and substance of the lecture, highlighting the vivid firsthand storytelling that animates the episode while distilling its critical arguments for listeners new and old.