The thesis studies the urban condition formed by labour-intensive industries and mobile capital in China’s Pearl River Delta cities. It takes particular interest in Shenzhen’s urban transformation in relation to its industrial changes, labour upgrading, social mobility and vocational education over the past ten years. On the one hand, social mobility accelerates the commodification of urban space. On the other, migrant workers struggle to find opportunity. From the perspective of social mobility, the dual urban landscape is part of the same system, while marketization privileged some and marginalises other. This urban conflict arises from the state’s lack of providing basic welfare services, especially education, to the floating population although critical for their work productivity. In this context, the thesis studies the potential of using educational projects to recreate the disappearing urban block.
