EXPLORING URBAN VILLAGE REDEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES: A CASE STUDY OF BEISHAN VILLAGE IN ZHUHAI, CHINA

Abstract

The course of urbanization in Chinese cities since 1978 when the Open Door Policy was officially launched has been tremendous in terms of speed and scale. As urbanization rate drastically increased, the number of newly established cities and towns escalated. City expansion has almost been an omnipresent phenomenon in most Chinese cities’ development process, urbanizing rural farm/residential land and absorbing floating populations while creating numerous urban objects—the urban villages (城中村). As urban villages continue to exert more social, economic, cultural as well as political influence, the attention gathered and the discussions over the issues of urban villages, especially the current Top-Down, market-led redevelopment strategies, have generated incredible amount of momentum that push forward in-depth studies into this urban phenomenon. This dissertation paper examines the impacts of current redevelopment strategies of urban villages in Chinese cities and attempts at formulating alternative strategies based on urban regeneration methods, focusing on community involvements and local participations. Through the case study of Beishan Village this paper proposes that it is possible to prioritize renovations, improvements and re-inhabitations of existing urban villages over total demolishment and redevelopments while dealing with urban villages. With the investigations into the community efforts and strategies employed in regenerating and revitalizing Beishan Village, this paper proves that strategic conservation and active reuse of historical and cultural facilities together with continuous improvements on the living conditions could prevent urban villages from being totally demolished and rebuilt. It is concluded at the end of this paper that renovations and improvements on existing conditions of urban villages carried forward by active community efforts and local participations could be an alternative more beneficial to Chinese society comparing to the current redevelopment methods.