History, Memory and Heritage Value in Tianjin as a River City

This is an in-person event hosted by the International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology (ICCHA), which will take place in Room 612, 6th floor of the UCL Institute of Archaeology. This seminar is free and open to all. All welcome! 

Abstract 

This presentation aims to analyse the connection between urban transformation and eco-heritage value over time, using Tianjin as a river city as a case study. It will focus on the Hai River’s (海河) role in shaping the spatial and power dynamics in imperial, hyper-colonial, and globalising Tianjin. After a historical overview of the Hai River’s political, economic, and historical significance, the discussion will shift to its role in transforming Tianjin into a spectacle city in contemporary times. The objectives are to highlight the urban ‘beautification’ strategy led by the Tianjin Municipal Government and to analyse the aims and objectives of the 2002 ‘Comprehensive Reconstruction and Redevelopment Plan of the Haihe’s Riversides.’ This analysis will also consider the on-the-ground experiences of this transformation in relation to urban prosperity. The author argues that the Hai River has been instrumental in Tianjin’s design politics through the process of heritagisation: the historical processes of adaptive use of cultural heritage to strategically promote a favourable image of the river city for political management.

About the Speaker

Maurizio Marinelli is Professor of China and Global Prosperity at the Institute for Global Prosperity, UCL, where he also co-leads the Asia Prosperity Research Hub. His research is comparative and transnational, and located at the crossroads of history, geography, politics, and society, specialising in urban studies. Through an interdisciplinary lens, exploring socio-spatial transformation becomes a means to engage with universally experienced themes, such as urban aesthetic regimes, regeneration of colonial/global spaces, public space, living heritage and sustainable development, within the broader framework of global socio-ecological prosperity. He completed four book-length projects (1999, 2007, 2014, 2019), including several studies on the historical and socio-spatial dimensions of urban transformation in Tianjin, Beijing, and Hong Kong, published in major journals, including Built Heritage, Theory and Society, Emotion, Space and Society, China Information, Urban History, China Heritage Quarterly, Postcolonial Studies and Cultural Studies Review. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Architecture, International Centre for Cultural Heritage, Tianjin University.

Future ICCHA event - save the date

• 12 March 2025: Francesca Bray (Professor Emerita of Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh) ICCHA Annual Public Lecture entitled 'Internal Colonialisms in Archaeology: the Three-age System, Chinese Genealogies of Civilisation and the Challenge of the Jade Age.' Registration is now open.