Social experiments and the praxis of geographical knowledge production: Emerging architectural practices in urban and regional China

Abstract

While knowledge production in geography is adept at providing critical perspectives that unravel the deficiencies in existing social, economic, and political systems, it has been less forthcoming in considering the means of constructing alternative worlds. One way to address this shortfall is to draw insights from social innovations produced in real-world contexts by a plurality of actors. In this commentary, we draw on the theoretical points underlying the existing literature on experiments in urban and regional contexts to illustrate the importance of architectural experiments in China. We also reflect on how such a research focus can enrich the analytical framework of social experiments by highlighting plural knowledge producers, diverse rationalities underlying experiments, and socio-economic relations beyond the market.