The Shaping of Urban Cultural Memories Through Informal Employment: A Case Study of Dongguan, Guangdong, China

Abstract

This paper takes Dongguan city, Guangdong Province, China, as a case study to explore how informal employment participates in shaping urban cultural memory. Combining desk research, secondary literature, and fieldwork interviews, this study introduces a triple theoretical perspective: applying a threefold theoretical perspective: functional linkage theory to frame the concept of informal employment; Lefebvre's “space production” theory to analyze how labor practices shape urban space; and Halbwach’s “collective memory”, which explains how daily labor is transformed into shared cultural memory; and analyses several cases. The study revealed that informal employment in Dongguan shapes the collective memory of the city as a cultural force through repetitive practice, spatial embedding and group interaction. However, urban renewal and governance have challenged the continuation of these memories, resulting in the dissolution and burial of some memories. The conclusion of this paper points out that informal employment should be understood not only as an economic phenomenon but also as an integral part of urbanization and identity construction, offering a renewed perspective on the link between informal employment and urban development.