Abstract ID: 3.11617 | Accepted as Talk | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

This presentation investigates the role of ski resorts in driving mountain urbanization, focusing on the case of Chongli, China’s first Olympic mountain city and a co-host of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Located 200 kilometers from Beijing, Chongli was once marked by severe poverty but has undergone a dramatic transformation, with the rapid emergence of nine ski resorts. Originally a Western cultural import, skiing has adapted to Chinese preferences, evolving from a niche, elite activity to a form of mass consumption. Conceptually, I draw on two perspectives. First, resort spaces operate as urban enclaves, anchored in global cultural flows yet distinctly separate from their immediate surroundings. By maintaining strong links to distant metropolises, these enclaves further catalyze extended urbanization in the mountains. Second, I understand ski resorts as social infrastructure, the foundational structure and networks of services and spaces that shape and respond to consumer demand. In Chongli, the resort-led transformation has produced entire ski towns with high-end real estate projects, displacing villages to free up land for large-scale construction. This speculative model has generated the marginalization of local communities and significant financial risk, exacerbated by shifting real estate policies and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the turn toward consumption-oriented development signals a new trajectory for mountain regions, extending discussions of amenity migration and rural gentrification. In the post-Olympic and post-pandemic era, these findings suggest the need for more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable strategies of mountain urbanization.