Vertical Liminal Space: The User-Generated Visual Experience of Urban Informal Rooftops

An urban informal rooftop refers to a rooftop space in a city that is not officially designated for formal use but is instead repurposed by residents or communities for various activities. As a common spatial genre in Asian cities, Informal rooftops frequently appear in visual media such as Japanese anime, Korean dramas, Chinese-language films, and music videos. The rise of the “rooftop economy” has further contributed to their prominence as commercial symbols. However, beyond these mediated depictions, everyday users on digital media have transformed the rooftop into a creative canvas for expressing urban experiences. This paper explores public visual practices related to urban informal rooftops on Bilibili, one of China's most popular video-sharing platforms. By examining user-generated videos centered on rooftop spaces, this study analyzes how these spaces function as "vertical liminal spaces"—a term that captures their ambiguous status between public and private, sacred and mundane, and accessible yet secluded.

Drawing on theories of urban informality, liminality, and verticality, I identified three main types of rooftop content: connected spaces where relationships and communities are forged, confrontational spaces of personal or social conflict, and introspective spaces for self-reflection. These video narratives showcase how Bilibili users reimagine the rooftop as both an aesthetic and socio-political site, where they engage in dialogue with the city's physical and emotional landscapes.

Through visual discourse analysis, this paper unpacks the aesthetic, emotional, and socio-political meanings embedded in these videos. It contributes to a deeper understanding of how digital platforms like Bilibili facilitate everyday urban visual culture and how users transform these liminal spaces into sites of meaning-making and identity construction. This analysis also highlights the role of digital media in reshaping public perceptions of urban environments in contemporary China.