Place-making and forgotten spaces in rural revitalization : an exploratory study of two villages in Sichuan, China

Abstract

Since the reform and opening up in 1978, rural China has gradually fallen into a trend of withering due to out-migration, urban-biased policies, and other reasons. In 2017, the rural revitalization strategy was proposed by the central government to echo the public and developmental demands of the times. The rural has also become the focus of scholarly attention. Rural studies have mainly centered on urban-rural integration, agricultural economy, land use and ecological environment. Relatively limited literature has traced and investigated the trajectory of changes in villages, the basic unit of the rural revitalization, through the lens of space. Place-making is usually used in urban contexts. Few scholars have studied the specific process and role of place-making in the transformation of rural space. Therefore, this study explores the patterns, development and results of rural place-making through a comparative study of two villages in Sichuan Province, namely Mingyue Village and Gaoqiao Village, through the lens of space. Meanwhile, this inquiry is also concerned about the forgotten spaces in rural revitalization. After in-depth interviews and participatory observations in the field, I found that in Mingyue Village, collaborative place-making has energized the decaying village through artistic practices, stimulating endogenous forces and promoting sustainable development of the village. While maximizing the preservation of the natural landscape and the recreation of land and houses, the in-migrant artists and local residents have given the rural space different meanings through transformative actions based on their diverse values and daily practices. Forgotten spaces are, on the other hand, the result of active acceptance by local villagers, manifesting their sense of place and belonging. In Gaoqiao Village, top-down place-making has transformed the local material space and beautified the rural environment through thematic construction. It reconstructed the social and cultural space through storytelling and interaction with villagers. However, due to the lack of active participation of local residents, the village stagnated again after revitalization. Exogenous development brings unsustainable consequences. Behind the rapid prosperity is a fragile rural community dependent on the government. The imbalance of development represented by forgotten spaces is a typical problem of rural revitalization in China. Its existence increases the risk of fragmentation of traditional agricultural communities and severely affects the sustainability of rural development. After an analysis of the two cases, some conclusions and suggestions for rural place-making and rural revitalization are advanced.