Rural social space assemblage at the edge of a metropolitan development zone: A case study of Pengdu Village, Shanghai

While metropolitan development zones have played a pivotal role in driving regional economic and social development, they have also triggered profound restructuring in adjacent rural areas. Although existing studies have extensively examined the socioeconomic impacts of development zone construction on rural regions, relatively little attention has been paid to the transformation of rural social space, and the assemblage processes and mechanisms remain insufficiently explored. Drawing on assemblage theory, this study constructs an analytical framework for rural social space assemblage. Taking Pengdu Village, located on the periphery of the Minhang Development Zone in Shanghai, China, as a typical case, this study integrates participant observation, in-depth interviews, and statistical analysis into the research design. The findings reveal a close interrelation between the generation of Pengdu Village's social space and the construction of the Minhang Development Zone, reflected in the assemblage process of territorialization, deterritorialization, and reterritorialization. The construction of the Minhang Development Zone has broken the social space structure of Pengdu Village formed during the traditional agricultural stage, prompting the social space of Pengdu Village to move from territorialization to deterritorialization. The transformation and development of the Minhang Development Zone and the implementation of a series of rural conservation practices have contributed to the reterritorialization of social space in Pengdu Village. The transformation of social relations within Pengdu Village reflects the dynamic process of generating its rural social space assemblage, accompanied by coding, decoding and recoding, and driven by the definition of rural external relations, the interaction of heterogeneous elements, and the production of desires, ultimately generating Pengdu Village's social space form. By introducing assemblage theory into rural social space studies, this research provides a novel perspective for understanding the generation of rural social space and offers more possibilities for exploring rural development pathways and models.