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DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Even though comparisons to a theme park might seem at hand, we do not perceive the reconstruction of Hangzhou for the G20 as such. While it is an environment organized visually by a theme, it is not solely a commercial unit, but still actually a lived-in city. Such top-down intervention and thematic organization might be compared to the renovation of Paris under Hausmann in the latter half of the nineteenth century. We are not focusing on the end product of the reconstruction and will therefore refrain from an in depth discussion of the ‘newly ancient city’. However, the concept of the theme park and writings on theme parks in Asia are helpful in providing a different cultural perspective of the concept of authenticity (Chang Citation2014; Hendry Citation2000; Hoffstaedter Citation2018).
2 As the focus of our visual essay is not so much the end result of the reconstruction but the reconstruction process itself, we are also not focusing on the formation of identities through place nor are we following the afterlife of debris from construction sites and their role in mediating the relationship between citizen and state (Chau Citation2008; Chu Citation2014; Kao Citation2013).
3 At the same time, the social issues that arise during the process of reconstruction through demolition and displacement are also not our priority as we lack ethnographic material to be able to make a clear statement. Other studies have extensively engaged with these issues that have arisen across China in numerous contexts of development (Chu Citation2014; Shao Citation2013; Su Citation2011; Chau Citation2008; Zhang Citation2006).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ryan McCaffrey
Ryan McCaffrey is the founding principal of Regional Building Group, an architecture studio which specialises in projects involving rural development and reconstruction. He is an adjunct faculty member at Rhode Island School of Design.
Kiah Rutz
Kiah Rutz is a PhD candidate and lecturer in anthropology at the University of Zurich. She primarily works in the fields of material culture and visual anthropology, and specialises in visual methodologies and their application in ethnographic research and museum displays.