MAKING SHANGHAI A "RATIONAL" CITY? Negotiating between two contradictory visions of advertising (threat vs. resource) and conflicting interests (companies vs. municipal authorities)

Homogeneizing/Standardizing advertising space
Differentiating/adapting at various scales (de l'espace rationnel-contradictoire à l'espace différentiel - Lefebvre)
1. District-driven mapping
  1. In the International Settlement : Central/Western/Northern/Eastern Districts
  2. In the French Concession : ...
2. Function-driven mapping (zoning)
  1. Residential zones
  2. Recreational zones
  3. Business/Commercial zones
3. Street-oriented mapping
  1. Main roads in the International (the busiest and the most congested, charged at the maximum rates) vs. elsewhere
    1. Cadastre publicitaire dans la Concession Internationale (1931-1943)
  2. "Chinese" streets occupied by open shops are unsuitable for special advertising media (kiosks or pillars on pavements)
    1. Although the applicants state that kiosks would not be erected in front of house entrances in the case of Chinese streets, most of the prooerty consists of open shops and the tenants would undoubtedly complain. Report from Commissioner of Public Works. 11 December 1920. Atkinson & Dallas, Limited. Advertising Kiosks. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3387 (2606)
4. Site-oriented mapping
Maximizing space occupation
1. Filling empty spaces (l'horreur du vide ou l'obsession du remplissage) (publicité = ressource)
  1. Deriving revenues (= resource)
    1. Taxation (= Revenue Office view)
    2. Maintaining or expanding business (clients/contracts) ( = companies' view)
2. Eliminating obstruction/congestion (= danger, risk)
  1. Obstruction to traffic (= Police view)
  2. Obstruction to visibility by competitors (= companies' view) = competition for consumers' attention
Territorializing - Fixing boundaries
1. Cutting off encroachments and overlaps
  1. Encroachment on Municipal roads/Properties
    1. Special Regulations with respect to Advertisement Structures and Boards = a quite lately formalised body of rules (1931)
    2. Encroaching advertising board for Isis Theater (China Advertising Agency). January 28, 1924. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-582 (1518)
  2. Between competitors (= avoiding advertising wars/street guerillas)
2. Dividing/Slicing Space and Marking territories for various/competitive uses of space
  1. Zones
    1. Restricted/Authorized (FC)
    2. Taxation Zones (IS)
    3. Functional Zoning
      1. Residential
      2. Business/Commercial
      3. Recreational
  2. Sectors
    1. Advertising Spaces on Jetties/Pontoons: specially allocated to transportation, silk and heavy industries and further divided into micro-zones
      1. Shanghai Silk Guild - Jetty No.26 - Soochow Road. Sept. 2, 1938. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3265 (0793)
  3. Property
    1. Public vs. private uses of space
      1. Public necessity/utility
      2. In regard to a possible site at the Thibet and Peking Roads junction, I regret I cannot recommend any as being suitable. I have the strongest objection to a kiosk being erected on any part of a footpath or roadway which is used as a thoroughfares. The only other possible site in this neighborhood is on the circular island near the middle of the junction. This, however, is objectionable for two reasons: firstly because the island provides a necessary and much used refuge for pedestrians and secondly because it would have to be removed altogether when the proposed railless tram service comes into operation. Oriental Press. Proposed Advertising kiosks. Report from Commissioner of Police dated January 5, 1922. Source : SMA (SMC), U1-14-3387 (2627)
      3. The land occupied by public roads having been acquired for public use (p.2/2) it is possible that an action brought against the Council by a property owner for obstruction, would be successful in view of the fact that these kiosks are not in any sense a public necessity. Report from Commissioner of Public Works. 11 December 1920. Atkinson & Dallas, Limited. Advertising Kiosks. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3387 (2606)
      4. I have to inform you that the advertising hoarding on the roof at the corner of Yu Ya Ching and Burkill Roads is in a dangerous state, necessitating the cutting off the pavement from public use. I have therefore to request that you have the hoarding removed without delay. Letter to Wing Tai Wo Tobacco Company from Commissioner of Public Works. July 15, 1939. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3375 (0431)
      5. Municipal road widening/maintaining
      6. Municipal Building Operations
      7. I attach hereto site plan of the above, and have indicated in red the position of an advertising hoarding beliebed to be your property. This site has been leased by the Council from the Shanghai Race Club and as building operations are about to commence I shall be olibged if you will kindly arrange for the removal of the hoarding as soon as possible. Letter to McMichael's Agency from Commissioner of Public Work. October 5, 1939. "Proposed Public Latrines - Yu Ya Ching Road". Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3775 (0377)
      8. Did the Council have the right/power to prevent the Race Club from leasing their boundary walls to McMichael Agency for advertising purposes - then "disfiguring" one of the widest thoroughfares in the Settlement in 1935?
      9. An application has now been received from Mr. E.H. McMichael for permission to erect advertisement hoardings on the Race Club along Thibet Road. The hoarding will extent 4 feet above the top of the wall and be placed in the most conspicuous places covering a total frontage of over 700 feet. / While it is impossible to challenge the Race Club's right to lease their wall for this purpose, it would result in a serious disfigurement of one of the widest thoroughfares in the Settlement. / The Race Club is not primarily a commercial undertaking and it is quite possible that their Committee's attention has never been drawn to this aspect of the proposal. Do you think you might communicate with the Race Club authorities and ask them to reconsider the letting of the Club's extensive boundaries for advertising purposes? Report by Commissioner of Public Works. "Advertisement Hoardings". October 11, 1935. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3775 (0368)
    2. Competition between private uses of spaces - applying for Council's arbitrage
      1. Standard Vacuum Oil Company vs. National Brewery Beer & Cheng Tai Sing Advertising Agency. Jordan & Haig Avenue. 1935.
      2. There is a hoarding advertising National Brewery Beer erected on the municipal road on the Hordan Avenue side of our property at the corner of Avenue Haig. We contemplate erecting a fence on our boundary line to keep off squatters and we find that this hoarding including back brace slightly encroaches on our property. We request your assistance in having this hoarding moved so that it will not interfere with the erection of our fence. Letter to Commissioner of Public Works from Standard Vacuum Oil Company. October 26, 1935.
3. Rankng Territories (spatial hierarchy)
  1. Central
  2. Peripherial
Qualifying/Categorizing
1. Types of media
2. Types of locations at various scales
  1. Restricted/Authorized Zones (FC)
    1. Global
    2. Local
    3. Micro-local/Special restrictions
      1. Public Utility Poles
      2. An invariable rule of prohibition until 1941...
      3. Applications to fix advertisements to poles on the Council's roads are received from time to time but it has been an invariable rule never to permit advertising on any of the poles on the public roads, and I do not recommend departing from it. Report by Commissioner of Public Works, December 13, 1938. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3387 (2654)
      4. Broken for S. Wushida
      5. Part of rickshaw and motor vehicles
  2. Main roads/elsewhere
  3. Residential/Business/Recreational Districts
3. Type of materials (wood, steel/iron sheet, glass, electricity, fire-resisting...)
4. Methods of fixing
Measuring/Quantifying
1. In the street
  1. Dimensions (length, height, width, surface, volume, weight, capacity)
    1. First measuring/census operation in 1914: Oriental Advertising Agency, Harvey Advertising & Billposting, Hongkew District. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3267 (1047-1049).
      1. MP3_AdvertisingSpace_1914.xlsx
  2. Projection on public space
  3. Energy (electricity...)
  4. Times/Rythms
    1. Permanent (durable)/Temporary (Hoardings round buildings in course of construction)
      1. Advertising hoardings on the frontage of the Metropole Hotel building site. September 15, 1930 (在建的新城饭店，上海，1930年9月，英国钢铁归档项目，BS-S11), Source: Visualisingchina.net
    2. Measured by permits, agreements and easements granted by the Council Subject to either renewal or cancellation
      1. Easements on Jetties/Pontoons
      2. Shanghai Silk Guild - Jetty No.26 - Soochow Road. Sept. 2, 1938. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3265 (0793)
2. In the press/printed spaces
  1. Regulating size of letters and typography when liable to mislead consumers
    1. In this conneciton it should be mentioned that Palm Table Margarine contains 10% butter (as allowed), and in conformity with licence conditions, wording has been permitted on the cartons which states "contains 10% finest creamery butter" in small letters in addition to the wording "Palm Table Margarine" the last word being in half inch block letters in accordance with Regulations. "Palm Table Margarine - Misleading Advertisement". Commissioner of Public Health to Acting Secretary. August 22, 1938. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-4-724 (2380)
    2. Standardizing the labelling and packaging of food, drinks and fresh products in the 1930s. "Shanghai Municipal Council - Foreign Food Shop Licence - Conditions". Source: SMA (SMC, PHD), U1-4-724 (2372-2375)