In China, spatial transformations and urbanisation in its eastern and coastal regions have received a great deal of attention. In this talk, Madlen discusses the relatively little explored urban development in China’s Northwestern Uyghur homeland of XUAR (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region). The talk highlights the ways in which Uyghur urban middle-class citizens negotiate ethnicity, social status and the relation to the state through architecture. Uyghur ethnic belonging used to manifest visually in urban spaces through mosques, Muslim cemeteries or lowrise mud-brick buildings. In recent decades, such structures have been gradually demolished and replaced with Chinese style urban landscapes such as high-rise residential compounds, riverside promenades or large central squares. This leaves a void for Uyghur ethnic self-identification through forms of the built environment.