'Da Lang Fever' at Shenzhen Urban Border Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture 2013

The International New Town Institute (INTI) will contribute to the Shenzhen Urban Border Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture 2013 (6 Dec 2013 - 28 Feb 2014) with the event and exhibition called "Da Lang Fever. Roller-skating, Dancing and Singing performances from Da Lang Neighborhood". Da Lang Fever is curated by Linda Vlassenrood.

Da Lang is a migrant neighborhood of 440,000 people located in the southeast of Bao’an district. It has a remarkable young and floating population: half of the migrants is between 20 and 29 years old and only 6% is older than forty. Da Lang is currently upgrading its industry and urban infrastructure, but faces the absence of a social-cultural life for workers and a lack of public facilities. Research, initiated within the New New Towns program of the International New Town Institute and executed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, China Development Institute and University of Amsterdam, proved that bottom up activities are flourishing in Da Lang due to a very open culture: conditions shaped by a combination of a floating population, a young society, and a facilitating, but distant government.

The owners of a local skating store and music store play a crucial role in organizing a wide range of leisure activities on the Labor Square in Da Lang. These shop owners have been invited to program The Value Factory. The program will showcase the potential of a young and floating migrant society, which is often considered very problematic, and the empowering possibilities of informal activities, which is one of the vibrant conditions of Shenzhen. It will simultaneously manifest the way in which vacant industrial buildings can play a role in providing urgently needed public facilities. A small exhibition will support the event.