Negotiating the City – Towards a New Role of Public Participation in Urban China

This book is not an exploration of overt activism. Instead, it traces the quiet urgencies and everyday negotiations of practitioners working within critical spatial practices across China. They are not stories of revolution in the conventional sense, but of persistence — of passionate, value-driven individuals committed to creating a more liveable, inclusive urban future, often against the grain of top-down systems. 

Through interviews, reflections, and grounded case studies, this collection brings to light the day-to-day struggles faced by architects, artists, designers, researchers, and community organisers. Their work is not simply about delivering projects; it is about nurturing social ties, protecting memory, and creating platforms for community agency. It is about redefining city-making — not through plans and profits alone, but through informal, affective, and collective forms of organising from below.

With contributions by Meiqin Wang, Zoénie Liwen Deng, Yanki Lee, Jingyuan Huang, Yuan Zheng, Jenny Chou, Qiuling Wu, Yunting Zhang, Yi Xu, Eddie Ma, Clare Lewis, and Brigitte Felderer.


Virginia Lui, 21st Europe and Mai Ling
Aki Lee, PhD candidate, University of Applied Arts Vienna, as well as Mai Ling

The publication is published as Social Design Reader, published by the Department of Social Design, University of Applied Arts Vienna.