Semiotic ideology and mutable sense of place: Chinese ecological urban renewal through the lens of advertising codes

Abstract

This paper analyses the structural shift of land management and landscape symbolization in urban Chongqing within the political framework of Chinese ecological civilization. It follows the entanglements of Chongqing's public service advertising (PSA) and upscale real estate commercial advertisement and their relationship with the local land renewal process in the 2010s. Based on multimodal discourse analysis, the semiotic deconstruction of visual-ideological allegories highlights institutional tactics aimed at modifying the sense of place perceived through the reconstruction of individual and social identities integrated into a highly politicized and commodified urban landscape. The paper reflects on the epistemological production of spatial knowledge through the instrumental use of representational resources and their historical-mythical code modalities. It also sheds light on how PSA and commercial advertisement may enforce familiar state-driven narratives in authoritarian regimes, questioning diachronic perceptions of nature and dwelling habits in a partially atomized post-socialist society. In so doing, the paper enriches the discussion on the urban ecology-selective (green) gentrification nexus, offering a contextualized perspective of ideological power on environmental protection conveyed through media content technology.