Chinese capital under neoliberalism : the Spanish urban transformation

Abstract

This research investigates the impact of transnational Chinese investment on the built environment and how, amidst the accelerating neoliberal urbanization of Spanish cities, it has been facilitating the country’s urban and architectural restructuring since the 1970s. In Spain, popular contestations over rising inequality in urban development have recently brought into focus the role of Chinese investment in the nation, whose impact includes the advent of large urban redevelopment plans, the renewal of neighborhoods in decline, the reactivation of housing markets, as well as the improvement of existing transport networks. This research adopts a contextual approach to examine the cities of Madrid and Barcelona as the two largest recipients of Chinese capital in Spain. It uses a range of building types and scales as units of analysis to explore the complex dynamics of neoliberal urbanization and market-driven urban transformations. These typologies span from commercial interiors and residential buildings to urban scales. The dissertation is also informed by the personal experiences of variegated agents and their involvement in a myriad of neoliberal urban practices— namely, how architects, planners, politicians, city activists and Chinese entrepreneurs have individually participated in the reshaping of an urban political economy that is not reflected in official reports or investment documents. The study begins by examining the redevelopment of the España Building, one of the most discussed Chinese investments in Madrid. The competing narratives from different stakeholders involved in the redevelopment of the edifice elucidate how new conceptions of city-making intertwine in complex and contradictory ways with neoliberal urbanization. The second chapter investigates smaller-scale Chinese capital invested in market-oriented residential housing. Through state-promoted investment schemes, this section illustrates how the commodification of homeownership meets current aspirations for future betterment within an emerging well-off Chinese middle class and aligns with larger trends of European liberalization. The third chapter examines the negotiation between Chinese entrepreneurs and the Spanish authorities over the reshaping of urban forms in industrial and commercial enclaves. This chapter argues that Chinese enclaves in Spain are above all financial engines for the local economy, actively contributing to the deindustrialization and tertiarization of the Spanish economy. The fourth chapter moves on to investigate one particular type of these commercial spaces: the café, which Chinese entrepreneurs are taking over in Spain and, through their acquired cultural knowledge, exporting back to mainland China. This chapter illuminates the processes behind the appropriation of tradition and the impact that this has on the production of everyday spaces of consumption. By investigating the contrasting reactions and discourses around Chinese-led urban development, I attempt to bring new insights into the ongoing remaking of the Spanish urban milieu as well as the particular effect of China’s growing influence in the production of urban forms under a globalizing world.