Nomos/Nomad: Millennium Spatial Framework of a People

Abstract

This thesis finds the connections between the issues of contemporary China that capture the attention of architects and other spatial thinkers by reexamining a millennium of Chinese history and spatial practices through a new spatial framework. It is constructed in the form of a new journal of architecture and urbanism, Xintiandi.

This thesis is the first volume of Xintiandi in its entirety, centred on the concept of Nomos/Nomad. It document the spaces produced by the ever-entangled relationship of the State, Nomad, and Nomos throughout Chinese history.

The theoretical concept of Nomos/Nomad is first examined through philosophical writings including Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Carl Schmitt, and Giorgio Agamben, the concept is then applied to specific spatial narratives and events in Chinese history. Each issue of the journal consists of a single theoretical concept, with five narratives that ground it, all told and documented through architectural methods of spatial representation.This thesis is the rst volume of Xintiandi in its entirety, centred on the concept of Nomos/Nomad. It document the spaces produced by the ever-entangled relationship of the State, Nomad, and Nomos throughout Chinese history. The theoretical concept of Nomos/Nomad is rst examined through philosophical writings including Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Carl Schmitt, and Giorgio Agamben, the concept is then applied to speci c spatial narratives and events in Chinese history. Each issue of the journal consists of a single theoretical concept, with ve narratives that ground it, all told and documented through architectural methods of spatial representation.