Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Bolun Wang
This paper engages in a dialectical analysis of street invading, a common phenomenon in China. Taking a specific case in Shanghai, the article tries to figure out the phenomenon’s social appearance and understand the essence behind it. Basing on the conceptual framework of “informal,” it is easy to find the essence of the phenomenon is informality. From the mechanism of the generation of informality, the paper then analyzes the intrinsic logic behind the street invading through top-down and bottom-up aspects, pointing out that this phenomenon should be understood as a new urban culture. Hence, despite this phenomenon has plenty of deficiencies, we ought not to forbid it all the time (like what the local Chinese government did before). Instead, the article suggests that instructing it in a proper way weighs more important and then introduces the specific measures taken by the local government in this case from both the top-down and bottom-up perspectives. Finally, the paper draws to a conclusion that in face of the street invading, instructing is more important than forbidding and summaries three strategies in how to deal with the similar cases.
https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.Intl.2018.34
Volume Editors
Ángela García de Paredes, Iñaqui Carnicero & Julio Salcedo-Fernandez
ISBN
978-1-944214-18-0
