This book is an attempt to understand the phenomenon of urban transformation in Shanghai, one of the world's fastest growing cities Having once been a lucrative treaty port, Shanghai has re-embarked on a quest to become a global economic powerhouse through the combination of an assimilated industrialized cityscape and the startling industriousness of Chinese pragmatism from 1980 onwards. Driven by the momentum of an increasingly open market-oriented economy within the politics of a state-controlled socialist entity, Shanghai's built form and urban environment have been conceived as a cultural construction of the conspicuous consumption of the global financial market. Central to the aim of this book are the questions on how the global market was utilized, what internal and external forces were at play, and the importance given to the perception of values. This book outlines the city's pragmatic developments dominated largely by its politics. "The book offers a well-thought-out perspective in understanding the amazing transformation of Shanghai -- an excellent foundation for exploring contemporary city-building issues." Dr Reinhard Goethert, Massachusetts Institute of Technology