From roots to routes
Name
986529732-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
15.32 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ac7c8087583217a5a070a7023e107a63
Author(s)
Ma, Xinyi, M. Arch. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor(s)
Arindam Dutta.
Date Issued
2017
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Over the past two decades, more than 200 million people in China moved from rural to urban areas. These migrants fled the countryside, which is regarded as an economic wasteland in perpetual stagnation that is locked by feudal traditions and peasant values, to the largest cities. They sought to be connected to a modern China, one that is marked by a booming economy and pronounced popular culture. These rural- to-urban migrants have formed the largest peacetime inland migration in history. Mobility is a socially produced motion that often bears ideologies. It is associated with a desire for progress, freedom, and opportunity. The massive inland migration in China demonstrates the tremendous social force that aims to overcome the outdated social strata. However, as migrants move, limitations on mobility emerge. The Hukou, the household registration system in China, is an institutional framework that has entrenched the social strata for ages. Records of births, marriages, and moves identify each person with a place. As soon as migrants move from their designated origins, immobility appears: welfare exclusion, job inequity, urban transit inaccessibility, to name just a few. This thesis proposes to study this condition of mobility, immobility and estrangement in the district of Minhang, Shanghai, where 1.5 million migrants currently live and work. Scooter, an emerging fast and cheap personal vehicle, is the protagonist in this story of migrants. Linking closely to migrants' life, scooters are not only their primary means of transportation but also their means of production. Its mobility empowers migrants to move beyond their territory, while its unique scale and flexibility links to rich spatial possibilities.
Description
Thesis: M. Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2017.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 78-79).
Subjects
Architecture.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
Terms of Use
MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
