Villages in Development

Text by Marco Cenzatti

Project by Adam Christian, Max Hirsh, Lily Huang, Minyoung Kim & Nick Smith with Nilay Mistry, Dorothy Tang, Andrew Watkins

Translations by Jianhang Gao

This is the first in a series of seminars, workshops, and studios that will identify ways in which villages in the Pearl River Delta can play a more active role in the process of development and urbanization that is rapidly changing the spatial, economic and social landscape. Rather than starting from the expansion of cities and the dynamics of globalization, we pay particular attention to the socio-economic, cultural, and physical characteristics of villages themselves as the starting point for local development. Our focus on local conditions and participation can intersect with central and local governments’ top-down planning efforts to produce a more stable and equitable urbanization beyond the boundaries of the individual villages.

Given the vast differences between China’s regions and even between individual villages, the workshops are limited to the Pearl River Delta area – the Chinese region that has been developing most rapidly over the last twenty-eight years. Furthermore, given the study’s attention to conditions specific to individual villages, each semester we select two to four case studies. For this year, we chose two villages from the Panyu district of Guangzhou: Longmei, which is rapidly becoming a “village in the city” and Xiani, still a largely rural village.

Starting from What is There

Attention from central and local governments, however, may sometimes lead to a distorted view of villages. Villages can easily end up being seen as remnants of the past and in need either of drastic changes to fit with the new, modern China, or preservation, frozen in time for their historical value. Yet villages are already part of the new China. In the Pearl River Delta, like in other developing regions, they provide housing and services for migrants. They are also the location of the manufacturing plants that support the regional economy. Even when agricultural production is still the main activity, its output has changed, in response to growing demand for fresh food and local products from nearby urban centers. Villages are also the sites for many large new residential developments.

The purpose of our workshops is to complement government-initiated village planning by shifting perspective and considering the positive influence that villages can have if they are recognized as active agents in the development of the region. Thus our starting point is the villages themselves and what is already present there – problems, positive assets, and opportunities.  These become openings for physical, social, and economic development. In particular, we are focusing on two areas of planning intervention:
1.    Interventions that can improve the daily life of villagers, residents, and visitors (such as public spaces, leisure, landscape, and other everyday activities).
2.    Interventions supporting and extending economic activities already present in the village as a starting point for developing a local competitive advantage.