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Transforming Macau: Planning as Institutionalized Informality and the Spatial Dynamics of Hypercompetition

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  • Kah-Wee Lee

    (School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, 4 Architecture Drive, Singapore 117566)

Abstract

This paper examines the crucial years between 2002 and 2012 when land enclosures, reclamation works, and architectural production transformed the urban landscape of Macau. Building on the literature on urban informality, I first analyze how planning as institutionalized informality unmapped the city of Macau through a complex medium of neoliberal ethos, technical rationality, and geopolitical calculations. Then, I show how the casino concessionaires remapped the city in a highly competitive milieu by tracing how they maneuvered to secure relative locational advantage. This analysis shows the importance of framing mapping and unmapping as a simultaneous dialectical process so as to render the creative–destructive dynamic of capitalist urban transformation. It also suggests how we can further the analysis of urban planning as an informalized practice and institution.

Suggested Citation

  • Kah-Wee Lee, 2014. "Transforming Macau: Planning as Institutionalized Informality and the Spatial Dynamics of Hypercompetition," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(11), pages 2622-2637, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:11:p:2622-2637
    DOI: 10.1068/a130007p
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hendrik Tieben, 2009. "Urban Image Construction in Macau in the First Decade after the “Handover”, 1999-2008," Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 38(1), pages 49-72.
    2. Neslihan Demirtas-Milz, 2013. "The Regime of Informality in Neoliberal Times in T urkey: The Case of the K adifekale Urban Transformation Project," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 689-714, March.
    3. William R. Eadington & Ricardo C.S. Siu, 2007. "Between Law and Custom—Examining the Interaction between Legislative Change and the Evolution of Macao's Casino Industry," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1-28.
    4. Brett Christophers, 2014. "Wild Dragons in the City: Urban Political Economy, Affordable Housing Development and the Performative World-making of Economic Models," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 79-97, January.
    5. Kah-Wee Lee, 2014. "Feeling like a State: Design Guidelines and the Legibility of ‘Urban Experience’ in Singapore," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 138-154, January.
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