Making post-colonial place identity: the regeneration of the St Lazarus neighbourhood, Macau
ISSN: 0168-2601
Article publication date: 1 December 2020
Issue publication date: 4 February 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify how the place identity of the former Portuguese neighbourhood of St Lazarus was reshaped for the purposes of place branding, tourism and consumption in post-colonial Macau.
Design/methodology/approach
This study sees place identity as a constructed multiplicity whose components are strategically assembled to (re)make the self. It uses the Deleuze–Guattarian theory of assemblage to analyse identity-making, specifically to examine how urban elements, including material content (material qualities of forms, programmes and life) and narrative expressions (interpretations of place), come together to shape the sense of place.
Findings
The heritage conservation policy and creative district planning guidance are overarching controls. Following them, several material and narrative elements are connected. The colonial character of the architecture is reinforced and an artistic atmosphere is created, while inhabitants’ everyday life is suppressed and the difficult past is almost erased. The newly processed post-colonial identity seems another kind of colonisation. Coloniality as a power relationship continues in a different form. The hidden structure driving these processes is global capitalism.
Originality/value
Studies on colonial architectural heritage in Macau, particularly outside of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, remain relatively scarce. This study aims to fill this gap and to further examine the Deleuze–Guattarian theory in the context of place study.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the Higher Education Fund of the Macao SAR Government (HSS-MUST-2020–9). The funder offers monthly subsidy to the author for fieldwork expenditures, copy editing and publishing fees.
Citation
Ye, X. (2021), "Making post-colonial place identity: the regeneration of the St Lazarus neighbourhood, Macau", Open House International, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 114-129. https://doi.org/10.1108/OHI-06-2020-0068
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited