Monitoring Particles and Populations: Expo-Urbanism and the Rise of Eco-Governance Regimes

When UNESCO admitted Shanghai to its Creative Cities Network (CCN) in 2010 as a City of Design, it emphasized ‘Shanghai’s clear vision on the significant role creative industries can play in urban development’. The acceptance of Shanghai’s Expo bid in 2000 has accelerated a process of urban renewal that attempts to turn China’s commercial and industrial hub into an exemplary green metropolis, combining creativity and sustainability. This process is visible across the city – from apartment highrises that replace and shield from view old, often dilapidated homes, and the establishment of one of the world’s largest metro systems to new green corridors and a ‘pedestrianization’ that facilitates urban walks despite the expansion of cross-city expressways. It has also become the core concept of the Expo itself. The 2010 Expo is not simply another case of urban renewal, but a restaging of the drama of sustainable urbanization as a tightly-monitored process under the biopolitical slogan ‘Better City, Better Life’