Xiaoran Zhang & Harvest Su Urban Ecology Case Study

TRANSFORMING URBAN VILLAGES in

SHENZHEN

Urban Ecology Case Study Based on Social, Economic and Ecological Systems

Harvest Su Xiaoran Zhang Spring 2020

Urban Ecology Mind Map

Urban Ecology

Ecology

Urbanization

Ecosystem

Economy

Society

Biology

Environment

Capitalism

Community

Human

Energy

Gentrification

Equality

Animal

Water

Consumer

Social Class

Vegatation

Air

Property

Health

Social Responsibility

Policy Justice Sustainability Resillience

Urban Analysis Conservation

Design Concept

Public Space Pollution

As urban designers, we include ecology and urbanization into the urban ecology system, and try to find their relationships. And define a vague boundary with which what we can do from urban ecological perspectives.

From our mind map, we can see ecosystem is directly related to urbanization process, because ecological environment can not only keep an ecosystem balance in cities, but is supportive for thousands of economic and social activities as well. In the complicated urban

environment, social issues appear as our cities developing rapidly. As urban designers, we should see them in a larger scale urban ecosystem background socially, economically and ecologically to come up with comprehensive methods for better sustainable cities.

Urban Theory: Le Corbusier’s Radiant City Corbusier’s idea not comes from virtual. It seems that he is an avant-guard architecture that invents everything. But his ideas also come from the old society.

What hidden behind ‘Radiant City‘ plan is his attitude that tries to preserve the old Arcadian dream of escaping the city to a picturesque green nature and take advantage of the benefit of the new technology. Actually, this is also the social concepts shared by a great bunch of people at that time. What Corbusier did was to combine the high-rise buildings, great space between the buildings and Moses planned highways connecting Urban and suburban. Which, in a sense, realized the ‘American Dream’ ideally.

However, gentrification appeared, driving away grassroots from the cities. The Slum clearance activities supported by the housing act provided both the economy and social support for the changes to happen.

In the process of urban renewal, should we care about the neighborhoods who lived in the city but facing the risks of losing their communities? Should we protect them under the transformation of cities as well?

SOCIAL A formal community meeting in urban village.

ECONOMIC/ECOLOGICAL The transformation of urban villages dramatically changed their economic values and ecosystems.

Shenzhen, China

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Urban Ecology Shenzhen, China

Shenzhen China

Shenzhen is the youngest city in China which is created just 40 years ago. As a special economic zone due to the opening policy in China, Shenzhen has abundant resources for development that attracted millions of workers outside this city. The boom of population formed the special type of housing group - urban village.

Without burden from history, Shenzhen is the best example for us to explore the how human connected with the SES system. Urban village is one of the most serious problem existed in Shenzhen.

It is so important because of the fact that Shenzhen is nearly running out of land. The only way to solve the problem is to renew the old project in the city.

Urban village emerged from a very specific era when all the people in China rushed to Shenzhen in order to find there opportunities.

Seeing the city as an experiment field, Shenzhen government had the policy privilege instead of financial support from the central government. They were not able to afford housing for all of the immigrant. Therefore, urban village serves as the solution for this problem in a market-based way.

At first, it was a win-win way. The land owned by the villagers was collected by the city government for city development. But they still held the right for their Zhaijidi(They land where their house located). As more and more people rushed to Shenzhen, the villagers found the opportunities to expand their small house to higher one. They earned their living by renting instead of agricultural activities. Even in today, the urban villages still offer 50 percentage of the housing in Shenzhen which provides new immigrants to Shenzhen great benefits, because the low renting price here which merely equals half of the average price. Many factories prefer to locate near urban villages because it reduce the cost of offering housing to the workers.

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WHAT SHENZHEN SPEED MEANS? The development time of Shenzhen since 1980s and its dramatic economic increase.

WHAT HAPPENS IN URBAN VILLAGE? Environmental issues in urban villages today.

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Urban Ecology Shenzhen, China

What Does Shenzhen Speed Brings to Urban Villages?

Shenzhen’s high development speed is under the influence of Chinese policies for economical development.

Originally, Urban village is based on former layout of villages that existed in the city originally. Under the influence of Reform and Opening policy of Shenzhen in the early 80s, workers rushed into this city for booming job opportunities, and they need residences with low rents ample living area. Therefore, as the number of workers increased dramatically, they built up their special ‘apartments’ by themselves even though this act was illegal at that time. However, the self-motivated construction was growing all the time, which in some way constituted organic and systematic communities in Shenzhen. Therefore, the government has approved the regulation to legalize these illegal constructions at the beginning of 21st century.

As time went by, due to the lack of regulation and extremely high density of the urban village, there are some problems existing in recent years. The environment pollution, the limited public spaces and backward infrastructure due to the overcrowded living environment causes the deterioration of urban village. In order to get out of such crisis, Chinese government decided to regenerate urban villages in Shenzhen rather than tore them down. The ecological concept that is being adopted can reveal a sense of sustainability in Chinese cities today.

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Urban Ecology Shenzhen, China

TRANSFORMATION PHASE 1 Reconstruction By turning the urban village to commercial projects, gentrification completely substitute the urban village communities and compensation happened in a wide range.

Phases of Tranforming Urban Villages TRANSFORMATION PHASE 2 Preservation & Regeneration Institutes and companies begun to explore conservation of urban village communities and tried to evaluate buildings’ type in urban renewal process.

Facing with current situation, the local government took actions making policies to instruct the city-wide urban village environmental remediation and urban renewal. In the whole urban renewal process, there are three phases that Shenzhen urban villages has gone through.

The first phase is completely reconstruction projects: take Dachong Village as an example, it was an urban village originally but later was turned into mixed-use commercial buildings. This is apparent that the regeneration process showed low respect on neighborhoods.

The second phase is that many institutions were conducting researches on urban villages renewal, which begun to consider the value of these neighborhoods’ cultural and historical value.

TRANSFORMATION PHASE 3 Developer Involvement Developers sought commercial opportunities from urban villages’ redevelopment: turning parts of houses in good quality to apartments for new renters, which is a countermeasure for increasing population in Shenzhen.

The third phase was the involvement of real estates’ investment on urban villages’ redevelopment. Though developers found a way of renovating some of the residences into rent-able apartments, there are still some conflicts between original renters and the developers due to the fast growth of rents.

Though transformation in Shenzhen urban villages is huge, it is still on the way to find a balance between conservation and development under the urban ecosystem of Shenzhen.

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Location and transportation Social living

Education

Renter

Low price

Cheap and good amenity

House owener Villager Immigrant Owner

Culture and history

Social Stablized

Government

Low-income Housing Profit

Infrustrature provide

Public school

Developer Culture need Costomer

Collective own

SOCIAL ISSUES RELATED TO URBAN VILLAGES’ REDEVELOPMENT Developers, renters and owners are three main roles involved in the whole process.

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MIND MAP OF STAKEHOLDERS This map generally lists all the key words related to urban villages’ renewal.

Baishizhou In Shenzhen, China

Baishizhou is one of the most interest place in Shenzhen since it could represent nearly the whole development of Shenzhen.

Baishizhou is the largest urban village exists in the central Shenzhen. There are more than 0.12 million people lives here. We would like to do a comparison to show the difference through the urban village renewal transformation.

The renewal process of Baishizhou includes complicated relationship among stakeholders. When developers and the government participate into the renewal precess, it relates more to a social and economic activity: owners get compensation and renters are facing higher rent; density changes due to abundant construction in the site; children are facing the problems of choosing education opportunities due to their relocation etc.

The renewal process also means financial input to the project, which is undoubtedly increase the burden of people who used to live in Baishizhou. Gentrification has always been enlarging the gap between social classes. What is more, the reconstruction can even build new gaps between people who was in a close social relationship and change the environment to another kind of urban ecosystem.

Therefore, it is meaningful to learn the huge change from economic and ecological perspectives that greatly addresses the link between them to such social issues. From the comparison, we can have a more comprehensive evaluation of urban villages’ redevelopment in Shenzhen and have a further look to urban villages future in urban systems.

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Baishizhou and the City

What exist in ear the Baishizhou, and what is their connection to Baishizhou

Commercial

Residential

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Culture and Service

Green Space

Theme parks

Hydrogen

Site Boundary

Baishizhou is not a self-sufficient neighborhood. Instead, it highly depends on the whole city and surrounding context.

Baishizhou located in one of the most advanced areas in Shenzhen. On the west side of the urban village, it is the University Town and Science Park. Many world-famous technology and financial companies which hires a great number of white-collar workers gather here.

There are also some culture and service area exist in the area. The biggest red area on the west is Shenzhen university. Some college students and newly graduated students choose to live here. The other red area represents those malls. Workers in the mall such as shopping guides prefer to live here.

On the east side of the village, there is a great number of manufacturing plants. They benefit a lot from urban villages too.

Most of the housing and apartments near the urban village are high rise building and the both there rent and selling price are so high that is impossible for newcomers to afford. They only choice for them is Baishizhou. And even if you are not work in this area, the central location of this area and the subway system makes it convenient to go anywhere else in Shenzhen.

LAND USE MAP AROUND BAISHIZHOU The land use near the sites. On the left sides, there are a lot of commercial buildings which hold a lot of high-tech and financial companies. That is the reason why some white collar workers choose to live in Baishizhou.

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CONCENTRATION OF FACTORIES AROUND SITE Baishizhou’s low renting price attracts a large amount of factories to locate nearby.

Concrete plant Metal structure

factory Electronic

materials factory Paper mill

Bicycle factory

Electrical

manufacturing Woodworks

Steel

structure plant

Stainless steel

Metal structure

factory factory Concrete

structure factory

3000 Feet

Electrical

manufacturing

6000 Feet

12000Feet There was a time that there are lots of factories concentrate in Shenzhen.

And they prefer to locate here for the cheap housing resources to offer to the workers. Even Shenzhen has transfered to high-tech and financial industry, there is still some factory existing in Shenzhen.

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There are a lot of factories locating near Baishizhou, most of which are light industry that mainly serves the vicinity area.

Factories benefit from the urban village since most of their workers live in the urban villages.

SUBWAY LINES NEARBY Baishizhou is located at the intersection between Line 1 and Line 2.

There are two subway lines going across the urban village, which are Line 1 and Line 2.

Line 1 goes across the most developed area in Shenzhen and Line 2 goes to Qianhai, which is the fastest developing area in Shenzhen.

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Economic Cycle in Baishizhou The inner cycle existing in Baishizhou

Besides the connection between the Baishizhou and the city economic system, there is also a inner economic cycle existing in Baishizhou. There is more than 120 thousand of people living here which means there is great need for all the necessities. Basically speaking, we could separate all the service points (551 points) into 6 categories.

Vegetable Market All the vegetable points(Green One) in the site existed on a north-south inner street.

They are not located on the street that face to outside. However, since those stores mainly serve residents living inside or near the urban village, it is convenient enough for them to located in the middle that all the residents can access easily.

Food Market Likes the vegetable market, Food market also located in the middle from north to south in the street.

Hotel Hotel mainly located face to the west, which is the outside streets instead of the

inner street. Since they serve people from outside.

Service Provider Service provides (barbershops, repair stores, photo shops) located both at the inner streets and outside streets.

Compared to others, they are evenly distributed in the whole urban village.

There are still some of them located on some street that are hard to access but they tend to be stores with illegal service (such as sex service and unlicensed trading).

Restaurant Restaurants tend to locate in group and can be easily accessed for people from outside. Which means they serves not only residents but also those outside visitors.

The restaurants in urban village are always cheaper and has more diverse flavors than other place.

Retail Shop Retail stores has the greatest number in Baishizhou. They serve both residents and visitors.

BAISHIZHOU INCLUDES FOUR VILLAGES

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UPPER LEFT Xintang Village

LOWER LEFT

MIDDLE LEFT Upper Baishi Villager

LOWER RIGHT Tangtou Village

Lower Baishi Village

Vegetable Market Subsidiary Food Hotel Service Catering Retail

COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION IN BAISHIZHOU

Data and Picture Source: Mao, Suxi. “Baishizhou: Heterogeneous Spatial Structure and Its Vitality”.

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Baishizhou Village

CaiwuWei Village

Rate:1:1(Housing) Way: Money + Property

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Gangxia Village

Rate:1:0.88-1:1(6 choice) Way: Money + Property

Dachong Village

Rate:1:1(Housing+Commercial) Way: Money + Property

They way of compensation has changed several times since 2000. Basically speaking, it has go through 4 versions.

CaiWuWei Village Caiwuwei is among the earliest large scale urban renew projects (started in 2004). The standard has been changed a lot during the period. The compensation rate was 1:1 but all in terms of housing.

At first, people were worried that the project won’t be success.

Thus, they refused to sign the contract. However, later on, the developer came up with the idea that the area of first floor will be compensated in money ahead of time in higher price so that residents can buy new houses to ensure their living before the completion of construction.

GangXia Village Gangxia project was started in 2009. Based on experience in Caiwuwei, the developer came up with ‘ Two standard, Three mode, Six choices.’ The villagers can choose among the six choices (two times three). The two standards means that the compensation can be counted in both area (the compensation will be in house) and number of floors (the compensation will be in both commercial and housing but in lower ratio). The three mode means residents can choose the way in money, property and a combination between money and property.

DaChong Village

COMPENSATION CHANGES IN THE URBAN RENEWAL PROCESS The change of compensation in different urban renewal projects in Shenzhen.

Dachong village started in 2008 but the project lasted for two years so it was finished in 2010. The ratio of compensation has been changed a lot from 1:0.8 to 1:1. Also, it counts the compensation of the first floor and the upper floor in different ways and the property compensation will go into both housing and commercial.

BaiShiZhou Village The Baishizhou village is the biggest urban renewal project existing in Shenzhen and was started in 2019. The standard has gone more detail compared to previous projects.(As shown on the left)

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Housing Change

Previous The average area of the house is 20 sqm2

Latter The average area of the house is 85 sqm2.

(Approximately)

Previous The housing for limited budget

Latter The house for better live

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People change Teacher, Shopping guide, Used clothes collector, Cleaners, Designer, Lawyer, Driver, Delivery

Teacher, Designer, Lawyer

New immigrant

Those who has earned some money

The urban renewal project has bring a great change to the spatial and housing type which may influence the people that live in this area.

Social gentrification after the renewal project There will be a great change after the urban renewal project. The changes happen in both the way of rent price and housing type.

Before the renewal project, the average house area in the urban village is 20 sqm2. Counting the lower price in an urban village, if two of them live inside, it just takes 600 yuan per person. Nearly all the people works nearby can handle the money.

However, after the renewal project, the average housing area will be more than 85 sqm2. Also, the rent price will be higher counting the more fancy interior decoration and modern facade. The rent price will be at least three times the original to 1800 yuan per person. These are so hard for those low income so that only teachers, designers, and lawyers can handle the price.

Before the renewal project, most of the housing is built for immigrants. Thus, they are in small size like 10 sqm2 and 20 sqm2 which best fit for new immigrants and newcomers to Shenzhen.

After the renewal project, the house type will be designed for those middle-class people. It will mainly be in 30 sqm2 that fits for single people, 80 sqm2 for those core family and 120 sqm2 for those with the ability to afford better living.

HOUSING CHANGES BY RENEWAL The change of rent needed and housing type in Baishizhou.

Hence, after the project, there will be greater social gentrification happen in the urban village. What’s more, for those companies and factories near Baishizhou, it will be hard for them to find employers because of the housing type changes in Baishizhou.

Data Source: https://new.qq.com/omn/20180426/20180426A0F3KO.html 21

Golf Club Theme Park

Theme Park

Artificial Landscape Amusement Park

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URBAN VILLAGE IN GENTRIFICATION ENVIRONMENT Baishizhou is located in a commercial central district where gentrification is mostly taking place.

Baishizhou is between a golf club and a amusement park, which is landscape in large area but not open to public.

Ecosystem in Baishizhou

Landscape of Gentrification As a fast developing city, Shenzhen is going through a process of gentrification. The value of lands is growing fast and there are more opportunities in this city. However, for urban villages, it means that the residents are gradually taken rights to the city away.

As a self-organized community, Baishizhou is located in a district with rapid development in Shenzhen. As the city expanding, Baishizhou was surrounded by well developed commercial and entertainment sites.

Gentrification not only brought high-rise commercial buildings to the city, but turned urban spaces from public to private as well.

We can find that even though there is a well planned green space system in the map, most of the parks are not accessible for free and for public use. Under this circumstance, urban green spaces are changed from connections to barriers for citizens. Therefore, there is a severe environmental injustice in the district where Baishizhou locates, which means residents there cannot have much right to enter surrounding green spaces.

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Urban Villages’ redevelopment completely changed the space structure of ecosystem.

Previous Tiled All Direction Accessible Distributed Green Space

Latter High-rise Restricted Entrance Concentrated Public Space CHANGES OF CONNECTION TO SURROUNDINGS By planning the number of accesses in the site was reduced.

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Green Space 27.1%

Green Space 53.0%

CHANGES OF GREEN SPACE TO SURROUNDINGS By planning the green spaces was enlarged and have greater ratio of the site.

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Eco-Social System in Baishizhou Space forms changes social activities

By changing the forms and structure of an urban system, activities will be totally changed because urban design is creating forms in cities to support different spaces functionally, environmentally and socially.

The redevelopment of Baishizhou has completely changed the form from a self-organized community to a mixed used commercial and residential group. By redesigning the structure of building footprints and roads, the form of commercial space and public space were also reorganized, which formed different scales for activities from previous to latter.

ACTIVITIES UNDER DIFFERENT STRUCTURES Two different scenes vividly show that social activities was under the restriction of forms and structures in urban villages.

From this change we can see the physical form changes of urban village. However, a more significant change is the transformation of community organization forms. The redevelopment of urban villages is a process from bottom-up to top-down planning.

Through this way, we can see the basic social changes happening in the site.

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Urban Villages’ redevelopment changes both space and social activities.

Building Footprint

CHANGES FROM FORMS TO SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

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Roads

Combination

Commercial

Organizing

Space

Style

Management

Villager Street Office Villagers’ Joint Stock Company Neighborhood Committee

Self Organized

Developer Street Office Community Workstation Neighborhood Committee

Residential Based

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WHAT IS THE NEXT STOP FOR URBAN VILLAGES IN SHENZHEN?

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From social, economic and ecological perspectives, we can see the transformation of urban villages is still on the way. Different stakeholders can see one problem from various even opposite points of view. So by analyzing the urban space in the complicated urban ecosystem can help us see issues from a lot of angles.

Since development has brought both opportunities and drawbacks for urban villages in Shenzhen, we should keep on working in process as urban designers.

Therefore, we should explore a more sustainable way to both keep the traditional value of these special neighborhoods and improve the living quality of the neighborhoods. Learning from multiple perspectives, we may find a better way combining the support from different aspects to keep these urban village keep growing in Shenzhen.

Urban Villages’ Future

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