TITLE:
The Neglected Voices within Urban Village Regeneration as a Historic Urban Landscape: A Case Study of Nantou Village in Shenzhen
AUTHORS:
Tiancheng Zhou, Xiangting He, Tongguang Zang, Xiaoqi Yang, Konomi Ikebe
KEYWORDS:
Urban Regeneration, Cultural Landscape, Urbanization, Spatial Rights, Urban Rural
JOURNAL NAME:
Current Urban Studies,
Vol.10 No.4,
December
30,
2022
ABSTRACT: Rapid urbanization has resulted in uneven regional development in China’s
urban villages. As well as providing affordable housing for low-income foreign
residents, it also provides income for indigenous residents. Despite this, the
government has often been plagued with problems such as poor living conditions, insufficient public services, and illegal
construction. Despite its potential for improving environmental quality and
bringing economic benefits to urban villages while maintaining urban culture,
the Historic Urban Landscape concept remains problematic for a number of
reasons. Taking the Nantou Village renovation project as an example, we
conducted semi-structured interviews with residents, combining
literature review and field observations, with the aim of understanding the
actual living conditions and spatial rights of the residents after the project’s
renovation. As a result of the project, visitors have been attracted, economic
benefits have been generated, and the quality of the environment has been
improved. Even so, it has not improved the residents’ sense of belonging and has neglected to address the
issue of high living costs faced by the original low-income residents. To
balance excessive increases in rent, the government should either provide
affordable housing for low-income foreign populations, or provide differentiated
rental products.