No. 2 (2024): Anthropological approaches to urban space
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Rivoluzioni Rurali. Villaggi Taobao tra Contro-Urbanizzazione, Reinvenzione e Infrastrutture Umane

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  • Sofia Leoni
Sofia Leoni
Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, Politecnico di Torino
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/contest-15645

Published 2025-05-29

Keywords

  • rurality,
  • logistics,
  • urban-rural relations,
  • Chinese urbanisation,
  • digital infrastructure and urbanism

How to Cite

Leoni, S. (2025). Rivoluzioni Rurali. Villaggi Taobao tra Contro-Urbanizzazione, Reinvenzione e Infrastrutture Umane. Contesti. Città, Territori, Progetti, (2). https://doi.org/10.36253/contest-15645

Copyright (c) 2025 Sofia Leoni

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The present article is the result of a doctoral research project that began in November 2022, aimed at investigating the forms and characteristics of Chinese urbanization processes occurring in rural areas. The research included extensive fieldwork in rural China, allowing direct engagement with various subjects through interviews. It was further enriched by a photographic survey and a review of literature from different backgrounds. The objective is to address various debates, especially concerning the infrastructural turn and rural geography, and to advocate for a more grounded approach that often gets overlooked due to excessive automation. The research uses the case study of Junpucun to offer an interesting case of “counter-urbanization” and to prove the capabilities of the "human infrastructure" to make space(s). The aim is also to propose a renowned reflection on the relationship between urbanism and ethnography by adopting a methodology that integrates socio-ethnographic readings (in the forms of interviews) with spatial analysis.

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