Waiting, Acceleration, Stabilization: Polychronic Temporalities as Drivers of a Large-Scale Chinese Green Technology Project in Thuringia, Eastern Germany

Abstract

This chapter addresses the key role of host-state actors and place-specific histories and power structures, which significantly influence the localization of China’s global infrastructure expansion. Drawing on empirical findings from a recently implemented Chinese gigafactory for the manufacturing of electric vehicle battery cells in Thuringia, Eastern Germany, the chapter introduces a temporal-relational framework to explore the entangled time-infrastructure relations that shape and are shaped by the project deployment. It offers three temporal lenses – waiting, acceleration and stabilization – and argues that their ‘polychronism’ is central to the project’s success while also fostering speculative urban development and reinforcing regional power imbalances. The findings highlight the federal government’s pivotal role in steering the project’s localization, progressively extending its influence while diminishing the authority of local municipalities over time.