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Futures and Ruins: The Politics, Aesthetics, and Temporality of Infrastructure

linked concepts. Especially in the age of a growing planetary crisis, conceptualising the future often anticipates ruination whereas ruins are symbols of abandoned futures. Nowhere is this paradox manifested more profoundly than in China’s recent frenetic development. In less than four decades, China has transformed from a predominately agrarian society to an urban one. The rapid pace of urbanisation is especially visible in the nation’s relentless urban renewal projects, the rise of instant cities, and more recently, the building of ‘smart cities’ and science parks. Meanwhile, intricately linked to this process is also a growing collection of modern ruins, including the so-called ‘ghost