Habitat International xxx (2015) 1e9

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Habitat International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatint

A new style of urbanization in China: Transformation of urban rural

communities
Wei Lang a, Tingting Chen a, Xun Li b, *
a
Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
b
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Rapid urbanization and urban expansion have produced a large number of urban rural communities in
Received 5 July 2015 China, of which two typical paradigms are urban fringe villages (Chengbiancun) and urban villages
Received in revised form (Chengzhongcun). This urbanized rural community usually is an informal settlement with low-quality
6 October 2015
housing, and lack of planning regulation adjacent to or merged into urban boundary. Meanwhile,
Accepted 15 October 2015
Available online xxx
Chengbiancun is transforming with traditional rural social and economic characteristics. In the absence of
planning guideline, the evolution of Chengbiancun lies in aggressive demolition to face rapid social
eeconomic transition. The demolition-rebuilt mode would no longer be the cost-effective solution for
Keywords:
Urban rural transition
urbanized rural communities in China, but alternative responses under culture-driven creativity advo-
New style urbanization cated by post-productivism would produce a positive regeneration strategy in the new urbanization era.
Post-productivism This study attempts to discover a new urban rural relationship driven by culture creativity linking to the
Chengbiancun filed practice in two Chengbiancun cases in China. On the interaction of a new style of urbanization and
post-productivism for Chengbiancun transition, this paper examines how these Chengbiancun are being
transformed in the new agenda of urbanization in China since 2014. More importantly, the findings from
the two cases in this paper illustrate how culture creativity, public participatory, local authorities, and
community planning can eventually assist an outcome of more satisfactory in this urban rural transition
movement.
© 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
With the rapid development of urban economy and social
change, China's rate of urbanization has grown year-by-year. The
urbanized population in China has grown from 17.9% in 1978 to 50%
by 2020 (United Nations, 2004). China has reached to its large-scale
urbanization state with an urbanization rate more than 50% in
2010. Ever since, a new urbanization phenomenon emerged in
China, which was featured by increasing household income as a
result of industrialization-dominated and production-oriented
development strategies. In addition to building a new countryside
policy, the young generation of villagers started going back to their
origin of places. The urban and rural relationship has changed,
characterized by a high rate of rural communities as well as social
injustice.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: wei.lang@connect.polyu.hk (W. Lang), tingting.chen@connect.
polyu.hk (T. Chen), lixun23@126.com (X. Li).
Urban villages emerged in China since the 1978 economic re-
form from the southern coastal cities like Shenzhen and Xiamen in
the 1980s, and expanded to inland cities in the 1990s (Chan, Yao, &
Zhao, 2003; Liu, He, Wu, & Webster, 2010). It is a by-product of
rapid urban expansion. In the process of converting rural land into
urban area, the farmland is requisitioned while the rural settlement
is left to avoid compensation cost and time-consuming relocation
of indigenous villagers (Hao, Sliuzas, & Geertman, 2011). In China,
three kinds of villages coexist in the national urbanization onward
that are urban village (Chengzhongcun), urban fringe village
(Chengbiancun), and rural village. These villages are different from
the lifestyle communities of villages in the US (Smart, 1985).
Chengbiancun is a unique spatial phenomenon surrounding by
both urban and rural landscape. In recent years, more than urban
village (Chengzhongcun), urban fringe village (Chengbiancun) pro-
vides the ground for interpreting how rural settlements are
evolving into urban neighborhoods. Since the reform and opening
up, China's rapid economic development has made urban built-up
area expand to the suburban, and driven boundaries between ur-
ban and rural increasingly blurred. The nearest parts of rural-urban

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.10.009
0197-3975/© 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Please cite this article in press as: Lang, W., et al., A new style of urbanization in China: Transformation of urban rural communities, Habitat
International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.10.009
2 W. Lang et al. / Habitat International xxx (2015) 1e9
elements accumulate at urban edge that gradually gives the birth to
Chengbiancun rise. Due to the absence of formal regulations and
planning, the construction and maintenance of Chengbiancun are
on the basis of self-development. These initiatives lack the moti-
vation to improve their built neighborhood. Compared to the urban
neighborhoods, most Chengbiancun is far from urban nature of
modernization, associated with relatively low-quality construction,
severe infrastructural deficiencies, deteriorated urban environ-
ment, not effectively integrated with urbanization process, unable
to meet requirements of sustainable urban development, and
negative impacts on city's image. The evolution moment of
Chengbiancun status in quo is at the primary stage of rural devel-
opment in China. Changes in Chengbiancun can best embody the
process of urbanization, to which the development management
and planning control will greatly boost the urbanization in return.
As for the appearance of a new style of urbanization in China,
Chengbiancun is obviously impossible for local municipal author-
ities to provide an all in one approach in fast-urbanized cities.
History culture, and leisure holiday villages began to emerge at the
edge of big cities, such as Yuanqian in Xiamen, Zhouzhuang in
Hangzhou, Xianyang, Xiabei in Dongguan, Jiaochangwei in Shenz-
hen, etc. Rather than the previous demolition approach, such
tourism and culture oriented transformation is beneficial to retain
history and culture for urban rural areas into a new urban com-
munity. In the US at 1970s, scholars developed “new urbanism”
towards urban village, which advocates a sense of place and com-
munity participation (Murray, 2004; Shostak, 1997), and encour-
ages balanced community relationship among people,
environment and governance (Landman, 2003).
The studies on urban rural community has always been a critical
academic debate in China, including studies on rural land market
(Li, Xu, & Li, 2010; Tian, 2008), urban rural migration (Li, 2008; Ma,
1999; Rozelle, Li, Shen, Hughart, & Giles, 1999; Zhang, Brauw, &
Rozelle, 2004), rural industry and employment (Mohapatra,
Rozelle, & Goodhue, 2007; Shen & Ma, 2005; Unger & Chan,
1999), rural associations and state corporatism (Unger, 2008), ru-
ral taxation and government regulation (Tao, Lin, Liu, & Zhang,
2004), rural poverty alleviation (Heilig, Zhang, Long, Li, & Wu,
2006), rural transformation and development (Unger, 2002,
2008), urban rural land use change (Liu, Wang, & Long, 2008;
Peng et al., 2008), urbanizing rural areas (Fan, 2002), social net-
works in migrant settlement (Zhang, 2001), urban villages of
poverty neighborhoods (Liu & Wu, 2006), patterns of migrant
households (Wang, 2000; Wu, 2002), and hukou system (Duda & Li,
2008; Wong, Li, & Song, 2007). However, the urbanerural transi-
tion has been ignored due to rapid urbanization (Liu et al., 2008;
Long, Heilig, Li, & Zhang, 2007). Additionally, the research on the
characteristic and changes of urbanerural transition towards the
new style of urbanization has been put much less attention.
Transforming urban rural community is an important goal of ur-
banization in China (Wang, Wang, & Wu, 2009). Chengbiancun, as a
typical type of new urban rural transformation, has been very few
studied in China. Thus, this study should be seen as a supplement to
enrich the research on the transitional Chengbiancun.
As urban rural transformation is increasingly associated with
the characteristics of governance in China, we need a new
comprehensive vision to understand the changing communities.
The concept of post-productivism popularized in the 1990s as an
attempt to explain theorizations of rural development, particularly
focusing on agriculture production towards quality, ecological
modernization and preservation of cultural landscape in rural areas
(Almstedt, 2013; McCarthy, 2005). Thus, post-productivism is a
term that provides us the ‘new concept’ of scrutinizing and un-
derstanding changes in such urban rural transformation. While
productivism refers to intensive production with high yields and
Please cite this article in press as: Lang, W., et al., A new style of urbanization in China: Transformation of urban rural communities, Habitat
International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.10.009
maximum utilization of land value, post-productivism is an
approach to rural and countryside change ‘where farmers may look
into non-agricultural use of their land and resources’ to improve
their earnings (Jack, 2007, p. 910). Strong evidence has shown
successful practices of post-productivism in western community
planning, including function transformation, social integration,
public participation and cultural creativity, etc.
The evolving Chengbiancun retains traditional social networks
with local culture. The transformation from village to urban com-
munity is not a simple process of urbanization from rural hukou to
urban hukou (Liu et al., 2010). In fact, the culture and social network
is more complicated than changes in physical transition. To some
extents, it is a process of restructuring social networks (Li, 2004).
Chengbiancun is a special form of neighborhood for the character-
istics of its social networks (Liu et al., 2010). Thus without tradi-
tional culture value, it is difficult to generate a sense of belonging
and social cohesion. Post-productivism emphasizes a shift to
concern the function of farming (Woods, 2011) and the place of
consumption (Burton & Wilson, 2006). Culture creative industries
as an initiate supporting for post-productivism, any culture-led
creativity has to take account of the cultural-historical meanings
of local context (Li, Cheng, & Wang, 2014). It is, therefore, the post-
productivism shed light on a new social movement from the
perspective of social transformation, with an additional emphasis
on culture creativity.
Post-productivism has gained sufficient conceptualizations and
theorizations of the rural transition in different countries (Argent,
2002; Holmes, 2002; Wilson, 2002). Nonetheless, the significance
of post-productivism in relation to rural change (Evans, Morris, &
Winter, 2002; Mather, Hill, & Nijnik, 2006), new forms of gover-
nance (Wilson, 2004) and existence of consumptive uses (e.g.
tourism, recreation) has not been discovered in China. On the basis
of the gap in our knowledge above mentioned, the aim of this study
is to (1) to analyze the urban rural transition of Chengbiancun; (2) to
define a new community mode shaped by new style of urbaniza-
tion; and (3) to discuss the implications for culture oriented
approach in post-productivism in China. This study may contribute
to improve the “new style” urbanization in China to assist in
applicable and innovative decision-making through incorporating
existing planning theories and knowledge.
The rest of sections in this paper are organized as follow: in the
second section describes the empirical urban rural transition in
general. The third section particularly presents field practice and
evolution of two urban rural communities (Chengbiancun) in two
large Chinese cities. The fourth section discusses the driving forces
of new urbanization on the basis of two cases. On the basis of
discussions, it draws a concluding remark with new urban rural
transformation towards community-based culture integration and
multi-stakeholder partnership.
2. Transformation from post-productivism to new
urbanization
2.1. Post-productivism of rural governance
Spontaneous urbanization of rural society is main reason of land
fragmentation and inefficient land use. An important basis for the
unity and harmony of rural society is the merger of villagers and
land resources. Its essence is closely associated with interest. That is
to say, villagers have tightly interacted with the birth and death of
land resources. The main problem is the absence of “rules of the
game” for land development in rural area, which represents the
failure of urban master planning. It proposes some solutions to
solve this issue: (1) to integrate the collective's interests into urban
master planning, or (2) to think about an innovative way of
 W. Lang et al. / Habitat International xxx (2015) 1e9
community planning to avoid fragmentation of rural land
development.
The transition of alternative culture-oriented social values is
characterization of post-productivism. The concept has been
considered in Western Europe (Wilson, 2002), Denmark
(Kristensen, 2001; Kristensen, Thenail, & Kristensen, 2004), Spain
(Hoggart & Paniagua, 2001) and Australia (Argent, 2002; Holmes,
2002; Wilson, 2004). The extent applied to developing countries
has also been reviewed (Wilson & Rigg, 2003). A core characteristic
is a change from maximizing production of material goods to ser-
vice provision, encompassing recreation and amenity (Costanza
et al., 1998). A corresponding shift in development policy refers
to governance as a new social movement (Beck, 1992; Habermas,
1981). Engage with theoretical and empirical work on so-called
new governance (Goodwin, 1998; Goodwin, Cloke, & Milbourne,
1995), the transformation of regulatory processes in changing tra-
jectories of governance with empowerment of local stakeholders
(Bryant & Wilson, 1998; Dean, 1999; Hobsbawm, 1990; Jessop,
2002; Little, 2001; Marsden, 1999) should also facilitate participa-
tion of hitherto marginalized groups in on urbanerural commu-
nities, in particular immigrants and indigenous villagers (Cloke &
Little, 1997; Williamson, 1996).
2.2. Culture creativity as a strategy
Cultural creative development creates post-productivism
urbanerural communities, and helps to improve the transition for
Chengbiancun. With tremendous urbanization and social trans-
formation, many countries utilize culture creativity to promote
urban regeneration. Inspired by culture-led projects, decision
makers have detected the robust power of culture creativity in
urban regeneration (Peck, 2005). Under this account, culture-
themed projects are promoted as strategies to boost urban
growth (Evans, 2003). Culture creativity is now recognized as a
significant regional and urban development tool (Oakes, 2006). The
culture creativity is always used to serve as social and political
reflections (Morley & Chen, 1996). The merge of culture creativity
and urban regeneration can be dated back to the 1970s and early
1980s, when cities were urbanizing with massive economic
restructuring (Lin & Hsing, 2009). Culture creativity regeneration
cannot only be a physical and spatial practice without taking into
consideration of socio-cultural local communities (Li et al., 2014). In
China, culture creativity is also becoming an important policy in-
strument (Wang, 2001), constituting beautification drives (Wang,
2009).
2.3. Transitional urbanerural from a rural society to an urbanized
society
As Chengbiancun are undergoing an urbanization process has a
distinctive character of transformation. The Chengbiancun is more
of urban governance than socioeconomic development via urban
renewal projects. Some Chengbiancun locate around commercial
and residential areas, close to jobs, transportation, public facilities,
and good services. The government determination is to regenerate
and replace Chengbiancun with formal communities as soon as
possible, especially those in the central locations. Farmland that
belongs to rural collectives is progressively requisitioned and
converted into state land, leaving behind the rural settlements (Li &
Li, 2011). These rural settlements are not converted for the high
compensation cost that local authorities always try to avoid. In
addition, due to the lack of planning and regulation, the Cheng-
biancun has produced a negative image in the city. Urban land is
tightly regulated in planning, while rural is autonomously managed
(Hao et al., 2011). Chengbiancun often responded with more
Please cite this article in press as: Lang, W., et al., A new style of urbanization in China: Transformation of urban rural communities, Habitat
International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.10.009
3
intensive and extensive illegal construction. The rural population is
increasingly marginalized and natural environments are increas-
ingly destroyed (Gutman, 2007). Peasants are not granted perma-
nent and they have a low social and economic status and do not
enjoy social welfare reserved for the permanent urban residents
(Fan, 2003; Shen, 2002).
Chengbiancun are the products of China's rapid urbanization
process. The formation of Chengbiancun witnesses different interest
groups. The transformation of the Chengbiancun under state regu-
lation would be complicated. To transform Chengbiancun into urban
community, demolition and reconstruction would not be workable,
because this would fail to integrate local villagers into urban soci-
ety. The rising problems of social order and governance are the
costs that have to be paid for rapid urbanization. In order to reduce
these costs, the key is to promote and guide the existing self-
organized grassroots units in the Chengbiancun. The existing
urbanerural transition in China can be depicted as rapid urbani-
zation concurrent with rural ingredients. Rural neighborhoods have
been transformed, where a brand new urbanerural relationship
model expects to be shaped driven by “new style” urbanization.
The traditional clanship that dominated rural society is gener-
ally regarded as a political barrier to restrict their rapid develop-
ment during urbanization process. However, new generation of
local residents and urban residents pay attention on the regener-
ation of modernized rural area, since rural society has transforming
from productive space to living space. The next section attempts to
investigate the relationship among different stakeholders in the
process of urbanerural transition during new urbanization era in
China.
3. Practices in China
Although the capacity of urban and regional development has
general rules, it has particularity, pertinence and typicality due to
resources environment, different stages of social and economic
development, and competitive environment. ‘Rural transformation’
as a starting point since China reform and opening up in 1978, two
typical forefronts designated by central government, Shenzhen and
Xiamen prior launched characteristic urban rural reform. At the
same time, located on the southeastern coast, Shenzhen and Xia-
men are very close to more developed and international cities as
Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. They are urbanizing rapidly and
recognized as the benchmark cities in China. The two cities also
occupy an important position in terms of overall urban socio-
economic size and strength in China. Shenzhen had a population
of 10,770,000 residents by the end of 2014, and its GDP exceeded
1.6 trillion Yuan for the first time, ranking the fourth in China.
Shenzhen received 98.73 million tourists in 2014 with total tourism
income of 96.112 billion Yuan who ranked the first in the Pearl River
Delta.1 Xiamen had a population of 3,810,000 residents by the end
of 2014 whose GDP reached to 327.354 billion Yuan, and annually
received 53,378,600 tourists.2 Thus, the comparative studies of
Chengbiancun in Shenzhen and Xiamen have an important theo-
retical and practical significance to explore the new urbanization
policy because of their unique locations, urban structures and
functions.
1
Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Statistics. (2014). Shenzhen National Economic
and Social Development Statistics Bulletin. Retrieved from http://www.sztj.gov.cn/
xxgk/tjsj/tjgb/201504/t20150424_2862885.htm.
2
Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Statistics. (2014). Xiamen National Economic and
Social Development Statistics Bulletin. Retrieved from http://www.stats-xm.gov.cn/
tjzl/tjgb/ndgb/201503/t20150318_25135.htm.
4 W. Lang et al. / Habitat International xxx (2015) 1e9
3.1. Transition of Yuanqian village in Xiamen
Yuanqian village, located in the southwest Haicang District of
Xiamen (see Fig. 1), is proximately 17.9 km away from the city
center. It covers a land area of 24 ha and has registered population
of 754 and migrant population of 900 in 2010. Yuanqian village is a
traditional village with historical southern Fujian culture, particu-
larly 39 historical buildings that are the valuable fortune and po-
tential resources for future development.
Xiamen municipal government formulated <Beautiful Xiamen
Strategic Planning> in 2013, and proposed a concept of “healthy
built environment by transforming our lives to happy neighbor-
hood”, whose ideas emphasize human settlements-centered. The
efforts of government have been put on the achievement of social,
economic, and spatial transformation by means of environment
enhancement and organization of community activities. In earlier
2014, Yuanqian Rural Committee was led by Haicang Street Office to
enhance basic infrastructure and public service in Yuanqian village,
such as water supply, electric power, sewage treatment, sanitation,
roads, and elder security. And then, non-governmental organiza-
tions (NGOs) were established to facilitate community develop-
ment, such as Peasant Autonomous Council, Respectable Villager
Council, etc.
In May 2014, a local resident, Mr Chen Junxiong, proposed to
create urban farm for transforming this traditional agricultural
village into an educational lab of ecology. His initial experimental
field occupied 3.95 ha (see Fig. 2), and established Jishengyuan
Cooperatives. This action has been drawn attention by a large
number of young indigenous people aged 30 or above having jobs
in downtown back to nature and earth. The concept of urban farm is
to advance more city-dwellers embrace the lifestyle of growing
agriculture in the urban settings. Urban farming provides urban
Fig. 1. Layout of Yuanqian and its location in Haicang District.
Please cite this article in press as: Lang, W., et al., A new style of urbanization in China: Transformation of urban rural communities, Habitat
International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.10.009
citizen, particularly youth and seniors, with how to increase di-
versity of a local community and create an economically and
ecologically sustainable system to enhance communities. Further-
more, transforming farmland to urban farm has created a new and
stable source of income for local villagers. Based on the statistic
report, on average, the income of urban farm increased from
300,000 Yuan/hectare in 2013 to 1,200,000 Yuan/hectare in 2015.
As urban farm incentives the increase of villagers' income, the rent
of urban farm also grows from 7500e120,000 Yuan/hectare in 2013
to 75,000 Yuan/hectare in 2015. Moreover, urban farm prospers
more than 200 urban households in Xiamen for planting after the
introduction of agriculture schemes. Till now, Yuanqian village
hosts over 30,000 curiosity visitors to support the establishment of
gardens and plant some production with their family.
Yuanqian village is regarded as a pilot project for a new devel-
opment pattern for Chengbiancun, because it integrates cultural
creativity and urban farm into agriculture landscape. Wu (2001)
argued that the simple and general understanding of architecture
and urban planning is unable to satisfy the current needs of the
complex and dynamic human settlement, because of the
complexity of economic and social issues emerging with urban
rapid development. During the process of transformation, local
villages and farm owners work on how to develop a local com-
munity and raise public awareness in self-organization and self-
management. For example, public space is an important place for
residents to achieve favorable interaction, daily activities, and
communication, learning the successful cases from Taiwan and
Hong Kong. Most of local villagers have agreed that creating open
space as collective consumption goods is a competent way to
improve the living environment; more importantly, open space
facilitates recreation activities for eco-tourism in light with urban
farm. Thus, they are willing to furnish their land (equivalent to
 W. Lang et al. / Habitat International xxx (2015) 1e9
Fig. 2. Development of urban farm by Jinshengyuan Coop.
2700 m2) for creating more open space through land circulation or
capital compensation. Similarly, from local villagers side, the gov-
ernment's “substitute subsidies with rewards” scheme is applicable
to fishpond area of 1650 m2, vegetation covered of 520 m2, and a
number of original sites for poultry farming. Additionally, in the
surrounding area of Dafudi Ancestral Hall, the villagers devoted
3000 m2 flat land where was collected by those actively performed
indigenous villagers in a self-organized manner. This parcel of land
has been well fostered by collaborative effort, and was developed
into a vegetable supply base for urban farming of Jishengyuan Co-
operatives. All these initiatives are expected to advocate an
increasing awareness of public participation and to enhance re-
sponsibilities for identifying community values.
The crucial elements in ensuring the sustainable development
of community towards a winewin situation with expanding value
of land and increasing income of residents are the strong feeling of
identification. And indigenous villagers also have active engage-
ment in community planning and a feeling of pride of their birth-
place that promotes cultural creativity and collective action. The
transformation of Yuanqian village offers an alternative approach
to revitalize sustainably in terms of social, economic and spatial
aspects and to enhance its role in supporting the growth of city.
3.2. Transformation of Jiaochangwei village in Shenzhen
Jiaochangwei is a coastal village, covering a land area of 54 ha
with a registered population of 360 and the floating population of
nearly 600 in 2014, located on Dapeng peninsula in Shenzhen city
(see Fig. 3), as it is evident from the mash-up of various generations
of those who have been following Shenzhen's growth. It is
Please cite this article in press as: Lang, W., et al., A new style of urbanization in China: Transformation of urban rural communities, Habitat
International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.10.009
5
generally 56.4 km away from the city center. The Dapeng Cooper-
ation Company established in 2004, and industrial building lease
was the main resource of profits during the last decade. In 2011, the
Shenzhen Municipal Government designated Dapeng as a new
district. Since then, there have been the sorts of investment on the
development of its coastal tourist economy in Dapeng. In 2014, the
local government invested 400 million Yuan on the improvement
of basic infrastructure, like water supply, electric power, and
sewage treatment in Jiaochangwei area.
In 2012, the beautiful sea view and causal life have been
attracted a growing number of young Chinese professionals giving
up high income jobs to pursue their dream and quality of life, which
is opening a homestay along the coast. The innovative homestay
resources have become the inspiration for changing costal fishing
village into tourism destination. In this regard, Jiaochangwei has
not been taken over by property developers and protected by local
government. The collective in Jiaochangwei insists on the leisure
lifestyle and affordable rents, and therefore, this fishing village is
conductive to a paradise for diverse young architects and artists to
create modern artwork. By 2014, more than 100 farmer houses
have converted to homestay. The tourism boom in coastal area of
Shenzhen becomes new incentive for Jiaochangwei adopting this
unconventional model. The number of visitors to Jiaochangwei
reached to 0.8 million in 2014 reported by the press of Jiaochang-
wei's website.3 The development of tourism in this area has
reshaped the traditional economic structure and has created new
3
The report is available to access in http://www.dpjcw.cn/add/v.php?aid¼11975,
2015/6/11.
6 W. Lang et al. / Habitat International xxx (2015) 1e9
Fig. 3. Layout of JCW and its location in Longgang District.
requirement for rural transformation to satisfy new demand.
Still, the accelerating tourism development has strained the
current situation of Jiaochangwei. The original water supply, elec-
tric power and sewage treatment plant was designed for a small
fishing village rather than a tourist destination. Additionally, it
lacks development control for homestay development, which leads
to the decay of quality and the shortage of local personality.
Consequently, the village commissioned Aube Conception SARL
d'Architecture Ltd. (Shenzhen) to formulate <Shenzhen Jiao-
changwei Comprehensive Improvement Planning in Dapeng New
District of Shenzhen> in September 2013 (AUBE, 2014). During the
period from November 2013 to January 2014, Shenzhen Urban
Design Promotion Center was appointed by Shenzhen Urban
Planning and Land Resources Committee to take the leading role of
formation of an Architects Advisory Board in Jiaochangwei, who are
responsible to professionally guide the interested owners of
homestay to design their buildings with the own unique design,
instead of a one-size-for-all solution. The enthusiastic architects
have integrated the modern architectural design into old building
not only to provide a dwelling place but also to assist owners in
expressing their stories and dreams to guests.
Spatial and economic transformation also accompany with
management transformation in Jiaochangwei as well. A critical
element in the management of Jiachangwei area was the intro-
duction of well-published Jianchangwei Management Regulations
in 2013, which was related to homestay management issues con-
cerning surveillance of house decoration, fire safety, and property
management. The Architects Advisory Board and homestay owners
play an essential part in community capacity building and assisting
the community for identifying land values and potential develop-
ment in Jiaochangwei. In the meantime, local government still has a
significant role to play in providing guidance, financial support and
surveillance. On the basis of many management activities and
Please cite this article in press as: Lang, W., et al., A new style of urbanization in China: Transformation of urban rural communities, Habitat
International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.10.009
conservation schemes about village houses, tourism, and commu-
nity engagement in Jianchangwei, new rural landscape design fa-
cilitates greater cultural interaction and urban rural transition
within the entire region.
4. Driving forces of new urbanization in China
4.1. Diversified actors and involvement
To fully understand the changes of Chengbiancun, the focus not
only on its physical form, but also understanding its integration into
urban society from the various aspects of social relations, organi-
zation, and management should be paid. The initiatives that facil-
itate the urbanization process include enhancing physical
environment, upgrading industrial structure, restructuring human
activities and social relations, and organizing institutional building.
In addition, the main stakeholders of community development
include residents, the Cooperation Company, and governments, but
full privileges have been retained to the local residents. The
changing course of governance with empowerment of local
stakeholders encourages not only indigenous residents but also
individuals who devoted themselves to participate in reconstruc-
tion of community social relations and transformation to a happy
neighborhood through community planning in a vigorous manner.
The two case studies of two Chengbiancun in large Chinese cities
confirm the above research assumptions. In contrast with two
Chengbiancun in peri-urban areas, Jiaochangwei is an informal
economy development oriented regeneration model, while Yuan-
qian is an industrial upgrading oriented regeneration model (see
Fig. 4).
The development of Yuanqian focuses on farmland, especially
land value, as endogenous impetus of growth. Regarding this
issue, there is a contradiction towards rural transformation
 W. Lang et al. / Habitat International xxx (2015) 1e9
Fig. 4. Jiaochangwei and Yuanqian regeneration model.
between old generations and young generations. The old genera-
tions argue that farming is their main mode of production;
nevertheless, a growing number of ambitious young individuals
are keen on urban farming due to the effect of cultural creativity.
Likewise, historical buildings were perceived as dispensable old
house by elderly people, while the younger generations bear his-
torical houses in mind as a kind of precious resources for historical
protection. The local residents utilize rural landscape and histor-
ical buildings with the combination of modernized culture to
facilitate rural transformation and tourism development. The
origin of culture and market force are a result of the changes of
Chengbiancun; the forces of Homestay Organization in Yuanqian
village have driven industry upgrading oriented regeneration
planning in which the villagers energetically discuss how to ach-
ieve “common prosperity” and “jointly discussing future devel-
opment”. This transition process presents the gradual change of
villagers' attitude from arbitrary development to economic coop-
eration, consultation, and finally to active participation in planning
process during new urbanization period. The scope and content of
public participation is more extensive.
The Jiaochangwei regeneration model is an exogenesis driven
approach with a clear goals of improvement of physical environ-
ment and boost of tourist development through architects (or
artists) and government intervention. The villagers and owners of
homestay began to involvement of redevelopment to a certain
level. Due to the proximity of Dapeng Ancient Town, the govern-
ment stepped in to regulate historical conservation policy and give
a clear direction of future development through planning. On the
basis of investments and dreams, the recognized stakeholders in
Jiaochangwei, including the local villagers, the homestay owners,
the renters, and the governments, group together to form a party
for actively participating community affairs, and jointly making
decision on the future development of the village and compen-
sation issues. However, public participation seemingly plays little
role on the comprehensive environment enhancement planning.
In despite of the bottom-up approach, the government has enac-
ted more powerful intervention at the preliminary stage. The
homestay owners are the direct beneficiaries and participants in
the process of homestay community planning, while the villagers
are more interested in the improvement of their living
environment.
Please cite this article in press as: Lang, W., et al., A new style of urbanization in China: Transformation of urban rural communities, Habitat
International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.10.009
7
4.2. Cultural creativity as a rationale in the designation of
Chengbiancun
The involvement of new human resources utilizing distinctive
community resources is examined to show the positive role of
traditional culture merging with modernized culture in urban edge
area being pushed by external forces for urban rural transition in
China. The Cooperatives in Yuanqian and the Cooperation Company
in Jiaochangwei utilized community resources with the combina-
tion of creativity to cultivate local villagers to participate in place
making and decision-making.
The disclosure of local characteristics is the starting point to
integrate with the local indigenous peoples for creating a fusion of
culture and technology distinctive from other regions. Every com-
munity has a specific identification for those who have a sense of
belonging or emotional attachment to a particular area, building
block, or neighborhood, other than a standardized or popularity
product. Therefore, natural and cultural diversity of local villages
provide abundant resources and potentials to become more unique.
As is shown in the above cases, Yuanqian village develops urban
farm and turns historical buildings into agricultural lab for
providing lectures to the interest groups, while young professionals
contribute their wisdom and strength to Jiaochangwei village for
tourist development.
Culture would produce long lasting impacts on residents.
Community as the product of accumulated culture is a crucial
element in putting forward the concept of cultural creativity as the
basis for conserving the value of a village. The organization of local
festival activities could be regarded as a performance to arouse the
public memory. The merger of creativity into local historical and
cultural features in Yuanqian village offers an opportunity to pre-
serve indigenous Minnan Culture, to excavate an identity of com-
munity symbol, and finally to maintain the original social network
between young and old generations. Integrating the unique local
elements into cultural creativity is an applicable way to sustainable
community evolution of Chengbiancun in China.
5. Discussions and conclusion
In less than three decades, Chengbiancun have experienced
emergence, evolution and demolition, as Chengbiancun is
8 W. Lang et al. / Habitat International xxx (2015) 1e9
increasingly marginalized in policy making and planning. Since
2005, many Chinese cities have tried to prepare the new country-
side planning, such as ‘Livable Village Planning’, ‘Mountainous
Support Planning’, ‘Beautiful Countryside Planning’, etc. Yet, the
implementation of those planning failed to put them in the ground.
The main reason is that the characteristics of the village as a col-
lective social existence have been neglected, while the recon-
struction of physical environment merely reflects the image of the
rural society.
This paper examined the changes and scenarios of trans-
formation of Chengbiancun in the new agenda of urbanization
through two cases in China. It is found that new urban rural land-
scape emerges after transformation. Urban farm and artists as ur-
ban landscape merge into agricultural landscape in a friendly
manner. The transformation from post-productivism to new ur-
banization bears many typical characteristics on landscape changes
on the economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects. Firstly,
with rise of exogenous urban expansion and the appearance of
surplus value, the need for rural development is unable to satisfy
increasingly. The changes of Chengbiancun contributes to stable
urban grow boundaries and assemblage space of rural landscape,
gradually integrating into urban society.
Second, the exceptional performance and new landscape of
Chengbiancun has transformed from exporting land and labor to
exporting new rural landscape and tourism. The increasing con-
cerns on quality of life and sense of belonging have been given by
many young generations who are willing to return to their origin of
places to rebuild their settlements through tourism and industrial
upgrading. In this regard, the shift of Chengbiancun promotes a new
function of land resource because of streaming technological
innovation, cultural creativity and environmental regulation. The
diversification of economic activities (e.g. tourism, recreation, ur-
ban farm) and the consumption of places play an important role of
transformation.
Third, despite the underlying social structures and institutional
building may take much longer to change, a good progress of
diversified participation in place making and community devel-
opment are taking shape. The self-organizations and enthusiastic
artists become a basis for sustainable development and a carrier for
urban rural transition. Empirical evidence from Yuanqian and
Jiaochangwei strongly informs the vigorous role of urban rural
transition in facilitating a new style of urbanization in China. Eco-
nomic, social, environmental, and cultural transformation of
Chengbiancun facilitate to reconstruct social relations by means of
cultural creativity, and then to form a new urbanerural
relationship.
The Chengbiancun defined in this study is an attempt to examine
the influences of urban transition towards the new style urbani-
zation and to explore a new community planning approach for
Chengbiancun in China. In the above two cases, it is worthy to notify
that the cultural interaction of rural development in the process of
economic and cultural transformation is of substantial importance
to deeply understand how to achieve coordinated urban rural
development. In this bottom-up approach, great attention of local
authorities and villagers, particularly young generations, has been
paid to support local communities, who have been enabled to be
responsible for their community development. The findings pro-
vide a scientific basis for understanding the further development
trend of Chengbiancun in China and propose a diversified corre-
sponding developmental strategy.
Acknowledgment
This paper was presented at the Symposium ‘Urban and Rural
Transition of China in the 21st century’ funded by Projects in the
Please cite this article in press as: Lang, W., et al., A new style of urbanization in China: Transformation of urban rural communities, Habitat
International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.10.009
National Science & Technology Pillar Program during the Twelfth
Five-year Plan Period’’ (Project number: 2012BAJ22B03) in April
2015, Shanghai.
The authors appreciate the invitation from editors in house. We
own thanks to the organizing party for the conference in Tong Ji
University. We are also grateful for the planning professionals,
planning authorities and city government in Xia Men and Shen
Zhen for their valuable assistance. The findings and conclusions
presented in this paper are the sole responsibilities of the authors
and do not represent views of the individuals or organizations
mentioned above.
References
Almstedt, Å. (2013). Chapter 1. Post-productivism in rural areas: a contested
concept. In L. Lundmark, & C. Sandstro € m (Eds.), Natural resources and regional
development theory. Umeå: Institutionen fo €r geografi och ekonomisk historia,
Umeå universitet (pp. 8e22).
Argent, N. (2002). From pillar to post? In search of the post-productivist country-
side in Australia. Australian Geographer, 33(1), 97e114.
AUBE. (2014). News report on Jiaochangwei urban regeneration project. http://www.
aube-archi.com/news/201408/content_684.html.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity (Vol. 17). London: Sage.
Bryant, R. L., & Wilson, G. A. (1998). Rethinking environmental management.
Progress in Human Geography, 22(3), 321e343.
Burton, R. J., & Wilson, G. A. (2006). Injecting social psychology theory into con-
ceptualisations of agricultural agency: towards a post-productivist farmer self-
identity? Journal of Rural Studies, 22(1), 95e115.
Chan, R. C., Yao, Y. M., & Zhao, S. X. (2003). Self-help housing strategy for temporary
population in Guangzhou, China. Habitat International, 27(1), 19e35.
Cloke, P. J., & Little, J. (1997). Contested countryside cultures: Otherness, margin-
alisation, and rurality. Psychology Press.
Costanza, R., d'Arge, R., De Groot, R., Farber, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., et al. (1998).
The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Ecological
Economics, 1(25), 3e15.
Dean, M. (1999). Governmentality: Power and rule in modern society. London: Sage.
Duda, M., & Li, B. (2008). Housing inequality in Chinese cities: how important is
hukou? Land Lines, 20(1), 14e19.
Evans, G. (2003). Hard-branding the cultural city e from Prado to Prada. Interna-
tional Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 27(2), 417e440.
Evans, N., Morris, C., & Winter, M. (2002). Conceptualizing agriculture: a critique of
post-productivism as the new orthodoxy. Progress in Human Geography, 26(3),
313e332.
Fan, C. C. (2002). The elite, the natives, and the outsiders: migration and labor
market segmentation in urban China. Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, 92(1), 103e124.
Fan, C. C. (2003). Rural-urban migration and gender division of labor in transitional
China. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 27(1), 24e47.
Goodwin, M. (1998). The governance of rural areas: some emerging research issues
and agendas. Journal of Rural Studies, 14(1), 5e12.
Goodwin, M., Cloke, P., & Milbourne, P. (1995). Regulation theory and rural research:
theorising contemporary rural change. Environment and Planning A, 27(8),
1245e1260.
Gutman, P. (2007). Ecosystem services: foundations for a new ruraleurban
compact. Ecological Economics, 62(3), 383e387.
Habermas, J. (1981). New social movements. Telos, 1981(49), 33e37.
Hao, P., Sliuzas, R., & Geertman, S. (2011). The development and redevelopment of
urban villages in Shenzhen. Habitat International, 35(2), 214e224.
Heilig, G. K., Zhang, M., Long, H. L., Li, X., & Wu, X. (2006). Poverty alleviation in
China: a lesson for the developing world. Geographische Rundschau (Interna-
tional Edition), 2(2), 4e13.
Hobsbawm, E. J. (1990). Nations and nationalism since 1780: Programme, myth, re-
ality. Cambridge University Press.
Hoggart, K., & Paniagua, A. (2001). The restructuring of rural Spain? Journal of Rural
Studies, 17(1), 63e80.
Holmes, J. (2002). Diversity and change in Australia's rangelands: a post-
productivist transition with a difference? Transactions of the Institute of British
Geographers, 362e384.
Jack, L. (2007). Accounting, post-productivism and corporate power in UK food and
agriculture. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 18(8), 905e931.
Jessop, B. (2002). Liberalism, Neo-Liberalism and urban governance: a state theo-
retical perspective. Antipode, 34(3), 452e472.
Kristensen, L. (2001). Agricultural change in Denmark between 1982 and 1989: the
appearance of post-productivism in farming? Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Jour-
nal of Geography, 101(1), 77e86.
Kristensen, L. S., Thenail, C., & Kristensen, S. P. (2004). Landscape changes in
agrarian landscapes in the 1990s: the interaction between farmers and the
farmed landscape. A case study from Jutland, Denmark. Journal of Environmental
Management, 71(3), 231e244.
Landman, K. (2003). Sustainable “urban village” concept: Mandate, matrix or myth.
 W. Lang et al. / Habitat International xxx (2015) 1e9
Paper at the Conference on Management for Sustainable Building, Pretoria.
Li, P. L. (2004). The termination of villages [Cunluo de zhongjie]. Beijing: The Com-
mercial Press.
Li, Z. G. (2008). Human capital externalities and ruraleurban migration: evidence
from rural China. China Economic Review, 19(3), 521e535.
Li, S. M., Cheng, H. H., & Wang, J. (2014). Making a cultural cluster in China: a study
of dafen oil painting village, Shenzhen. Habitat International, 41, 156e164.
Li, L. H., & Li, X. (2011). Redevelopment of urban villages in shenzhen, china e an
analysis of power relations and urban coalitions. Habitat International, 35(3),
426e434.
Li, X., Xu, X. Q., & Li, Z. G. (2010). Land property rights and urbanization in China. The
China Review, 10(1), 11e38.
Lin, C. Y., & Hsing, W. C. (2009). Culture-led urban regeneration and community
mobilisation: the case of the Taipei Bao-an temple area, Taiwan. Urban Studies,
46(7), 1317e1342.
Little, J. (2001). New rural governance? Progress in Human Geography, 25(1),
97e102.
Liu, Y., He, S., Wu, F., & Webster, C. (2010). Urban villages under China's rapid ur-
banization: unregulated assets and transitional neighbourhoods. Habitat Inter-
national, 34(2), 135e144.
Liu, Y., Wang, L., & Long, H. (2008). Spatio-temporal analysis of land-use conversion
in the eastern coastal China during 1996e2005. Journal of Geographical Sciences,
18(3), 274e282.
Liu, Y., & Wu, F. (2006). Urban poverty neighbourhoods: typology and spatial
concentration under China's market transition, a case study of Nanjing. Geo-
forum, 37(4), 610e626.
Long, H., Heilig, G. K., Li, X., & Zhang, M. (2007). Socio-economic development and
land-use change: analysis of rural housing land transition in the Transect of the
Yangtse River, China. Land Use Policy, 24(1), 141e153.
Ma, Z. (1999). Temporary migration and regional development in China. Environ-
ment & Planning A, 31(5), 783e802.
Marsden, T. (1999). Beyond agriculture? Toward sustainable modernisation. In
M. Redclift, J. N. Lekakis, & G. P. Zanias (Eds.), Agriculture and world trade lib-
eralisation: socio-environmental perspectives on the Common Agricultural Policy
(pp. 238e259). Wallingford: CAB International.
Mather, A. S., Hill, G., & Nijnik, M. (2006). Post-productivism and rural land use: cul
de sac or challenge for theorization? Journal of Rural Studies, 22(4), 441e455.
McCarthy, J. (2005). Rural geography: multifunctional rural geographies-
reactionary or radical? Progress in Human Geography, 29(6), 773e782.
Mohapatra, S., Rozelle, S., & Goodhue, R. (2007). The rise of self-employment in
rural China: development or distress? World Development, 35(1), 163e181.
Morley, D., & Chen, K. H. (1996). Stuart Hall: Critical dialogues in cultural studies.
London and New York: Routledge.
Murray, C. (2004). Rethinking neighbourhoods: from urban villages to cultural
hubs. In D. Bell, & M. Jayne (Eds.), City of quarters: Urban villages in the
contemporary city. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
Oakes, T. (2006). Cultural strategies of development: implications for village
governance in China. The Pacific Review, 19(1), 13e37.
Peck, J. (2005). Struggling with the creative class. International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research, 29(4), 740e770.
Peng, J., Wu, J. S., Yin, H., Li, Z. G., Chang, Q., & Mu, T. L. (2008). Rural land use change
during 1986e2002 in Lijiang, China, based on remote sensing and GIS data.
Sensors, 8(12), 8201e8223.
Rozelle, S., Li, G., Shen, M., Hughart, A., & Giles, J. (1999). Leaving china's farms:
Please cite this article in press as: Lang, W., et al., A new style of urbanization in China: Transformation of urban rural communities, Habitat
International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.10.009
9
survey results of new paths and remaining hurdles to rural migration. The China
Quarterly, 158, 367e393.
Shen, J. F. (2002). A study of the temporary population in Chinese cities. Habitat
International, 26(3), 363e377.
Shen, X. P., & Ma, L. J. C. (2005). Privatization of rural industry and de facto ur-
banization from below in southern Jiangsu, China. Geoforum, 36(6), 761e777.
Shostak, L. (1997). Making places: A guide to good practice in undertaking mixed
development schemes. London: Urban Villages Forum and English Partnerships.
Smart, A. (1985). The squatter property market in Hong Kong informal regulation
and the state. Critique of Anthropology, 5(3), 23e40.
Tao, R., Lin, J. Y., Liu, M., & Zhang, Q. (2004). Rural taxation and government regu-
lation in China. Agricultural Economics, 31(2-3), 161e168.
Tian, L. (2008). The chengzhongcun land market in China: boon or bane? A
perspective on property rights. International Journal of Urban and Regional
Research, 32(2), 282e304.
Unger, J. (2002). The transformation of rural China. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe.
Unger, J. (2008). Chinese associations, civil society, and state corporatism: disputed
terrain. In J. Unger (Ed.), Associations and the Chinese state: Contested spaces (pp.
1e13). Armonk: M.E. Sharpe.
Unger, J., & Chan, A. (1999). Inheritors of the boom: private enterprise and the role
of local government in a rural south China township. The China Journal, 42,
45e74.
United Nations. (2004). World urbanization prospects: The 2003 revision. New York:
Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United
Nations.
Wang, Y. P. (2000). Housing reform and its impacts on the urban poor in China.
Housing Studies, 15(6), 845e864.
Wang, J. (2001). The state question in Chinese popular cultural studies. Inter-Asia
Cultural Studies, 2(1), 35e52.
Wang, J. (2009). ‘Art in capital’: shaping distinctiveness in a culture-led urban
regeneration project in Red Town, Shanghai. Cities, 26(6), 318e330.
Wang, Y. P., Wang, Y., & Wu, J. (2009). Urbanization and informal development in
China: urban village in Shenzhen. International Journal of Urban and Regional
Research, 33(4), 957e973.
Williamson, O. E. (1996). The mechanisms of governance. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Wilson, G. A. (2002). Post-Produktivismus in der europa €ischen Landwirtschaft:
Mythos oder Realit€ at. Geographica Helvetica, 57(2), 109e126.
Wilson, G. A. (2004). The Australian Landcare movement: towards ‘post-
productivist’ rural governance? Journal of Rural Studies, 20, 461e484.
Wilson, G. A., & Rigg, J. (2003). ‘Post-productivist’ agricultural regimes and the
South: discordant concepts? Progress in Human Geography, 27(6), 681e707.
Wong, D. F. K., Li, C. Y., & Song, H. X. (2007). Rural migrant workers in urban China:
living a marginalised life. International Journal of Social Welfare, 16(1), 32e40.
Woods, M. (2011). Rural. London, UK: Routledge.
Wu, L. Y. (2001). Introduction to science of human settlements. Beijing: China Ar-
chitecture & Building Press (in Chinese).
Wu, W. P. (2002). Migrant housing in urban China-choices and constraints. Urban
Affairs Review, 38(1), 90e119.
Zhang, L. (2001). Strangers in the city: Reconfigurations of space, power, and social
networks within China's floating population. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Zhang, L. X., Brauw, A. D., & Rozelle, S. (2004). China's rural labor market devel-
opment and its gender implications. China Economic Review, 15, 230e247.