Public art, public sphere, and urban development in the Chinese metropolis

Alongside the rapid urban development and continuous infrastructure improvements that accompany the urban transformation of contemporary China, the challenges of defining and shaping a distinctive image for a city has attracted considerable interest from many urban planners, property developers, and city administrations. Among the wide range of urban development strategies employed to promote and enhance urbanization, the deployment of artworks in urban space (“public art”) is increasingly visible and widespread. This paper aims to analyse the relationship between public art and urban development in the metropolitan contexts of Beijing and Shanghai, seeking to identify the circumstances that accompany the implementation of public art in mainland Chinese cities. Selected case studies in the business centres of the political capital of Beijing and the economic centre of Shanghai are analysed and used to discuss how strategies of urban development intersect with the implementation of public art projects. The findings reveal a number of ways in which this nexus is configured, and suggest several categories useful for the study of public art in China. The paper aims to contribute to an ongoing discussion of the complexities that attend the implementation of public art within the rapidly transforming Chinese metropolis, and ultimately improve the understanding of the distinctive trajectory of China’s urban development.