Trialectics of Spatiality: The Negotiation Process between Winter Swimmers and the Municipal Government of Beijing

Abstract

Different cultural groups establish different usage habits while using public spaces and there are contradictions between them. For instance, the issue of whether Beijing’s public waters can be used as winter swimming spaces is controversial. Based on Edward William Soja’s Trialectics of Spatiality, we analysed the literature analysis, semi-structured interviews and participatory observations to conduct the survey, and the following conclusions were drawn. First, the contradictions between winter swimmers and public water administrators in Beijing are divided into three stages, and the turning points of these stages are based on the changes in Secondspace. Second, after three rounds of gradual progress in the Trialectics of Spatiality, Firstspace not only preserves the winter swimming areas for Beijingers but also avoids the current contradictions due to different usages of public waters between different subjects. Third, winter swimmers and urban managers may not be aware of the potential contradictions of public waters in the future without using Soja’s concept of Thirdspace (or Lefebvre’s concept of “representation of space”).