Collective Forms in China: An Architectural Analysis of the People’s Commune, Danwei, and Xiaoqu

A nationally enforced comprehensive collectivisation started in the new People’s Republic of China in the 1950s, and was achieved through the implementation of the rural people’s commune and urban danwei (work-unit) systems. These were “collective forms” in which production, reproduction, and administration spaces were unified. After economic reforms beginning in 1978, new forms of socio-spatial development were needed to deal with changing lifestyles and government or governance needs, as well as rapid urban growth. This led eventually to the current contemporary community (shequ) and xiaoqu (small district) model. Providing an introduction to these three dominant types of socialist space in China that have shaped its social, economic, and spatial histories and realities, a brief overview of the historical contexts and an architectural analysis of typical case studies is given.