Rural urbanization in China: a research based practice

Abstract

With China’s recent drive to urbanize to provide new areas for economic growth, the tension between agricultural land and urban land is reaching a critical impasse. The dwindling supply of fertile arable land due to urbanization is exacerbated by a growing population that is wealthier, consuming more food than ever before. The inter-relation between urban processes and rural processes has produced a diverse landscape of blurred, ambiguous territories as land is being transformed. It is these zones which play out the contestation between policies, land ownership, development rights and individual land speculation; between farmers, developers, local government, factory owners, or foreign investors. They often describe in-between states: half finished, partially abandoned, or half demolished. This research context is the backdrop for our work as architects to extract design tools for projects ranging from schools to an agricultural education and community centre. Each project encapsulates China’s relentless transformation and with it the inherent tensions underlying such growth. The intention is to understand this context, act within it and speculate on how China will consolidate economic growth with agricultural sustainability.