International audienceThe article proposes to use the concept of scene to analyze artistic, cultural and creative spaces. For this purpose, four angles of observation of cultural scenes will be defined, and as many ideals-types – lived scene, experienced scene, built scene, publicized scene – allowing to characterize the spaces in which is embedded a network of artistic and cultural players that spills over the city and shapes its atmosphere and image, namely a scene. To illustrate this use of the concept of scene, the case of the M50 artistic district in Shanghai is analyzed through field investigations carried out using various methodological tools (semi-structured interviews, in situ observation, study of official documents and web disco...