Description
Abstract:
The digital economy has been transforming rural development, as evidenced by the emergence of new spatial forms like Taobao Villages in peri-urban areas. In this paper, we introduce a new concept—Digitalized Actor-Network Theory (DANT)—to analyze a typical digital economy platform. Specifically, we examine the emergence of actors, driving mechanisms, and digitalized social networks within Taobao Villages in China. Our findings reveal that: 1)the formation and growth of Taobao Villages involve ongoing and immediate communication with diverse actor-networks; 2) key actors, including government entities, e-commerce experts, local social networks, and Taobao live streamers, collaborate to build networks at various stages based on their specific objectives, visions, and values; 3) Actors within the network continually adapt their identities through effective and immediate online communication facilitated by the digital economy platform. We anticipate that this study could advance the enduring Actor-Network Theory (ANT) into the new digitalized era, thereby challenging traditional production-side urban economics theory.
Keywords: Actor-network theory; Rural redevelopment; Taobao Village; Transformation mechanism
