Mary-Ann Ray received a publication subvention grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research, which was also matched by Taubman College and by the Architecture program. The funds will go toward the forthcoming book, Beijing Inside Out: Caochangdi, authored by Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray. The content for this work has involved nearly sixty students from Taubman College to date through their involvement with seminars in Ann Arbor and with the Beijing studio that has taken place at BASEbeijing for the past three years with Mangurian, Ray, and Associate Professor Robert Adams.

Caochangdi, one of nearly 500 urban villages in the city of Beijing, tells the story about itself and its mostly illegal residents, including farmers, “floaters” (members of the Floating Population who are rural to urban migrants), taxi drivers, and world-class artists. The village also has embedded within it both the problems and possibilities of a new urban space that is redefining the city of Beijing at this pivotal point in human history when cities make up half of the world’s population. The authors, who live and work in Caochangdi for part of each year, dissect the multiple phenomena that form this dynamic urban condition.

Beijing Inside Out: Caochangdi will be published by Timezone8 publishers, Beijing, and distributed by DAP (Distributed Art Publishers), and will include never before published texts by Pi Li and Ai Weiwei. The book is expected to be published in the spring/summer of 2009.