The spatial transformation mechanism of Beijing Songzhuang Cultural and Creative Industry Zone: A perspective of production of space

摘要

Beijing Songzhuang Cultural and Creative Industry Zone (hereinafter referred to as Songzhuang Art Zone) was originally a small village in the rural area of southeastern Beijing, which was chosen by some painters as their resident place in the 1990s for its lower rents and peaceful environment. Now it has grown into a famous commercial zone of original arts and culture in China. Its tremendous transformation from a peripheral village to an official artistic zone in the recent more than twenty years can be considered, to some extent, a process of production of space. With the theory of Henri Lefebvre as the framework, the production process of the physical space, social space and creative space of the zone is examined and the mechanism behind the evolution of the space is revealed from the perspectives of capital and power. It is found that the development of Songzhuang Art Zone is essentially a dynamic game manipulated by capital and power among the three players, namely, the physical space, the social space and the creative space, of which, the physical space naturally serves as the basis. Specifically, the spatial development of the zone is strongly molded by capital and power on the one hand, while on the other, it is taking on a homogeneous form, for the spatial production of the zone is operated under the principle of making profits due to the profit-driven nature of capital. Consequently, the production of heterogeneous space, particularly distinctive space of its own, should be emphasized as a key to improving the competiveness of Songzhuang Art Zone.