Multi-scalar separations: Land use and production of space in Xianlin, a university town in Nanjing, China

• Production of space is used to explain land use in Xianlin university town.
• The development of Xianlin shows multi-scalar separations.
• Differentiation of social space in Xianlin is an outstanding issue.
• Social processes and influences of LUCC should be discussed sufficiently.

The university town is an important phenomenon in the course of urbanization in China. This article introduces and applies theory of production of space and socio-spatial dialectic to explain the processes and mechanisms of production of space in Xianlin university town in Nanjing City, China. As a typical case, Xianlin university town displays multi-scalar separations. The time-scale separation has four sides: the old and new campuses are completely different; teachers and students spend a significant amount of time commuting that they cannot communicate well; during summer and winter vacations, the university town becomes an “empty nest”; and life of low-income earners is fragmental. The four kinds of spatial scale splits are inside the campus, between universities and downtown, among universities, and between the city and its citizens. Resources and rights have an imbalanced distribution among the different classes, which leads to social space differentiation or alienation. The powers of discourses and land resource distribution are in the hands of the government. University managers are stimulated by the idea of a “larger and newer campus” and keep a watchful eye on competing for more land resources. Planners usually cater to such ideas. However, teachers, students, and low-income earners of the university town are neglected. Social process and the influences of land-use/cover change (LUCC) should be more frequently discussed in the future.