‘Co-producing Alternative Urban Futures through Experimental Urbanism’ Symposium Series, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 15–16 September 2025.

Jingyi Qin presented her work titled ‘Co-Producing Alternative Consumption Spaces: Creative Youth in Experimental Community Governance in Shanghai.’ Amid post-pandemic economic slowdown, fiscal austerity, and rising youth precarity, the paper examines the emergence of alternative consumption spaces that combine retail with low-cost cultural programmes. Focusing on a ‘consumption cooperative’ at the Xinhua Community Development Center in Shanghai, the study explores how creative youth and a social organisation jointly produce these spaces. Drawing on fieldwork including interviews, participant observation, and digital trace analysis, it shows how young creatives re-purpose institutional resources for self-initiated projects while participating in a broader arrangement linking grassroots initiatives, market actors, and local governance.

Photos by CPRG