The second book in a three-part, three-year research initiative headed by Christopher Lee was just released and is available on Issuu.
Common Frameworks: Rethinking the Developmental City in China documents the second year of a three-year research and design study on the future of the Chinese city. A collection of essays and design conjectures, Macau: Cross-Border City, focuses on the city of Macau and particularly on the challenges faced by cities in city-regions and the effects of cross-border urbanization. Asserting that the tropes used to describe and understand the border and its architecture fall short, the studio projects present an alternative urban strategy, conceiving a common framework for the border and its supporting facilities. The critique reconceptualizes the inherent architecture and spatiality of the cross-border city, its implicit ambition to bring about a city that is plural and equitable. It sows the seed for an alternative idea of the city for China.
The first book in the series, Xiamen: The Megaplot, is also available on to read on Issuu.