AccScience Publishing / JCAU / Volume 3 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.36922/jcau.v3i1.1027
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Localising the ‘Characteristic Town’: A Socio-Spatial Framework for Understanding the Everyday Rural Urbanisation of China’s Hinterlands

Ava Lynam*
Show Less
1 Center for Cultural Studies on Science and Technology in China, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin 10553, Germany
Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism 2021, 3(1), 1027 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.v3i1.1027
© Invalid date by the Authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

The shift towards an urbanised world is generating profound social, economic, and environmental complexities. Agglomerating regions require new understandings to capture the socio-spatial restructuring of this planetary urbanisation. In China, top-down rural urbanisation policies such as the Characteristic Town, or tese xiaozhen, address urban-rural polarisation through a ‘one-town-one-characteristic-industry’ model aiming to generate localised rural economic development. Characteristic Towns have been criticised as only superficially addressing local challenges, imposing tabula-rasa developments that extend urbanisation into rural areas, excluding vulnerable groups. Within the mega-urban Yangtze River Delta corridor, the Smart Moulding Town in Huangyan-Taizhou’s hinterland is leading regional industrial upgrading processes, epitomising visions of politicians, planners, and developers. The urban-rural interface is undergoing a fragmented transition towards industrialisation while villagers adapt their local economies and everyday practices, generating new socio-spatial typologies for dwelling. This inductive research reveals the role of villagers in shaping, and being shaped by, top-down rural urbanisation programs. The multi-scalar theoretical framework is structured around private, collective, and institutional layers of dwelling, interrogated through Lefebvre’s spatial production theory. Uncovering hybrid urban-rural qualities and actor networks, the empirical findings illustrate that villagers’ micro-scale tactics are deeply embedded in trans-local industrialisation processes, redefining rural identities and defying top-down spatial compartmentalisation by negotiating informality.

Keywords
China
Planetary urbanisation
Urban-rural interface
Characteristic Town
Tese xiaozhen
The production of space
Funding
DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Promos Stipendium and the Urban Rural Assembly project
German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Conflict of interest
The author declared no conflict of interest.
References
[1]

Brenner N, Schmid C. Planetary urbanism. In Brenner N (ed): Implosions/explosions: Towards a study of planetary urbanisation. 2014, jovis Verlag GmbH, Berlin, 160-163.

[2]

Soja E. Regional urbanisation and the end of the metropolis era. In Bridge G and Watson S (eds.): The new Blackwell companion to the city. 2011, Blackwell Publishers, Chichester, 679-689.

[3]

Wu F, Zhang F, Webster C. Informality and the development and demolition of urban villages in the Chinese peri-urban area [J]. Urban Studies, 2013, 50(10): 1919-1934.

[4]

Yang Y. China’s bold new Five-Year Plan, East Asia Forum, 2020. Available at: https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2020/12/13/chinas-bold-new-five-year-plan/ (last accessed 2 January 2021)

[5]

Liao S, Yi S. Research on the construction of characteristic towns in China: Models, problems, countermeasures [J]. International Journal of Sustainable Development Research, Science PG, 2018, 4(2): 17-24.

[6]

Wenfang Y. Research on the development model of characteristic towns [J]. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 2018, 246: 449-451.

[7]

Brenner N. The urban question as a scale question: Reflections on Henri Lefebvre, urban theory and the politics of scale [J]. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2000, 24(2): 361-378.

[8]

Fokdal J, Herrle P. Fewer contestations, more negotiations – A multi-scalar understanding of the ‘Politics of Informal Urbanisation’ in Southern China. In Rocco R, van Ballegooijen J (eds): The Routledge Handbook on Informal Urbanisation. 2019, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 87-96.

[9]

Ruddick S, Peake L, Tanyildiz G, et al. Planetary urbanism: An urban theory for our time? [J] Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 2017, 36(3): 1-24.

[10]

Bertuzzo E. Fragmented perspectives, transiting signs of urbanity - Everyday life’s representations and uses of space in Dhaka Bangladesh [T]. 2008, Fakultät VI - Planen Bauen Umwelt, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin.

[11]

Lefebvre H. The urban revolution. Translated from French by Bononno and R. 2003, The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

[12]

Lefebvre H. The production of space. Translated from French by Nicholson-Smith, D. 1991, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford and Cambridge.

[13]

de Certeau M. The practice of everyday life. Translated from French by Rendall, S. 1984, University of California Press, Berkeley.

[14]

Heidegger M. Building, dwelling, thinking. In Hofsdater A (ed): Poetry, language and thought. 1971, Harper & Row, New York, 143-162.

[15]

Kofman E, Lebas E (eds) Writings on cities: Henri Lefebvre. 1996, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford and Malden.

[16]

Stanek L. Henri Lefebvre on space: Architecture, urban research, and the production of theory. 2011, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

[17]

Norberg-Schulz C. The concept of dwelling: On the way to figurative architecture. 1985, Rizzoli, New York.

[18]

Roy A. Urban informality. Toward an epistemology of planning [J]. Journal of the American Planning Association, 2005, 71(2): 147-158.

[19]

Roy A. Urbanisms, worlding practises and the theory of planning [J]. Planning Theory, 2011, 10(1): 6-15.

[20]

Yin RK. Case study research: Design and methods. 2009, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.

[21]

Giorgi AP, Giorgi BM. The descriptive phenomenological psychological method. In Camic PM, Rhodes JE, Yardley L (eds): Qualitative Research in Psychology: Expanding Perspectives in Methodology and Design. 2003, American Psychological Association, Washington, 243-273.

[22]

Bhattacherjee A. Social science research: Principles, methods, and practices. 2012, Global Text Project, Tampa.

[23]

Boyatzis RE. Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. 1998, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, London and New Delhi.

[24]

Smith JA, Flowers P, Larkin M. Interpretive phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. 2009, Sage Publications, London.

[25]

Moudon A. Getting to know the built landscape: Typomorphology. In Franck K Schneekloth L (eds): Ordering space: Types in architecture and design. 1994, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 289-314.

[26]

Morse J, Field P. Nursing research: The application of qualitative approaches. 1996, Chapman & Hall, London.

[27]

Zhejiang Provincial Urban-Rural Planning Academy (ZPUPA). Conceptual planning and urban design of intelligent mold & features town in Huangyan district of Taizhou City. Translated from Mandarin by Google Translate in 2020. 2015, Berlin. https://wenku.baidu.com/view/488354724a73f242336c1eb91a37f111f0850d09.html?re=view (last accessed 18 December 2020)

[28]

Chen J. Mark of brilliance. 2015: Huangyan Smart Mould Town was selected as the first batch of provincial characteristic town creation list. Translated from Mandarin by Google Translate in 2020 in Berlin. Zhejiang Online, 2019. https://tz.zjol.com.cn/xw18022/ rdjj18023/201909/t20190926_11087254.shtml (last accessed 30 March 2021)

[29]

Li Y, Jia L, Wu W, et al. Urbanisation for rural sustainability - Rethinking China’s urbanisation strategy [J]. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2018, 178: 580-586.

[30]

Bruce J. Land tenure dualism in China: How the dichotomy between state and collective ownership has shaped urbanisation and driven the emergence of wealth inequality. In World Bank Land and Poverty Conference Paper. 2017, Washington DC, March 20-24 2017, 1-19.

[31]

Fokdal J. Embodiment of the urban. Relational space in the context of the megacity of Guangzhou, China [T]. 2014, Fakultät VI - Planen Bauen Umwelt, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin.

[32]

Meyer-Clement E. The great urban leap? On the local political economy of rural urbanisation in China [J]. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 2016, 4(1): 109-139.

[33]

Huang D, Huang Y, Zhao Z, et al. How do differences in land ownership types in China affect land development? A case from Beijing [J]. Sustainability, 2016, 9(123): 1-18.

[34]

Zhao Y, Wen T, Yan J, et al. Land governance in China: Historical context and critical junctures of Agrarian transformation. In Land Governance in the 21st Century: Framing the Debate Series. 2014, International Land Coalition, Rome, 33-64.

[35]

Ahlers A, Schubert G. “Building a new socialist countryside” - Only a political slogan? [J] Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 2009, 38(4): 35-62.

[36]

People’s Republic of China. National new-type urbanisation plan (2014–2020). 2014, People’s Publishing House, Beijing. Translated from Mandarin by Google Translate in 2019. Berlin. http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2014-03/16/content_2640075.htm (last accessed 12 August 2019)

[37]

Altrock U, Schoon S. The Pearl River Delta in progressive transformation. In Altrock U, Schoon S (eds): Maturing megacities: The Pearl River Delta in progressive transformation. 2014, Springer Science + Business Media, Dordrecht, 4-10.

[38]

Herrle P, Fokdal J, Ipsen D. Beyond urbanism: Urban(izing) villages and the mega-urban landscape in the Pearl River Delta in China. 2014, Lit Verlag, Zürich and Berlin.

[39]

Zhu J, Tang Xi, Wu S. Review of studies on sustainable development of characteristic towns: Key word frequency analysis method. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, Qingdao, November 23-25, 2018. IOP Publishing Ltd, Bristol, 1-2.

[40]

Wildau G, Jia Y. China industrial policy at work in lingerie themed town. Financial Times, 2018. https://www.ft.com/content/216f11a2-07c5-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5 (last accessed 20 November 2020)

[41]

Zhang C. Huangyan smart mold town creation work in an orderly manner. Electromechanical Online, 2015, Berlin. Translated from Mandarin by Google Translate in 2020. http://news.jdol.com.cn/2015/07/2066474.html (last accessed 29 October 2020)

[42]

Prospective Industrial Research Institute (PIRI). Intelligent manufacturing type township Huangyan intelligent mould town case. 2019, Berlin. Translated from Mandarin by Google Translate in 2020. https://f.qianzhan.com/tesexiaozhen/detail/170913-ec66eee7.html (last accessed 21 December 2020)

[43]

Taizhou Municipal People’s Government (TMPG) From ‘industrial park’ to ‘characteristic town’. ‘China · Taizhou’ portal, 2015, Taizhou. Translated from Mandarin by Google Translate in 2019. http://www.zjtz.gov.cn/art/2015/7/15/art_4666_149851.html (last accessed 20 October 2020)

[44]

Huamu. Taizhou, Zhejiang Huangyan District creates a smart mould town. 2018, Berlin. Translated from Mandarin by Google Translate in 2019. http://www.huamu.cn/news/detail-111169.html (last accessed 22 September 2019)

[45]

Miao J, Phelps N. ‘Featured town’ fever: The anatomy of a concept and its elevation in national policy in China [J]. Habitat International, 2019, 87: 44-53.

[46]

den Hartog H. How feature towns reduce rural life to a gimmick. Sixth Tone, 2017. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1000080/how-feature-towns-reduce-rural-life-to-a-gimmick (last accessed 29 August 2019)

[47]

Yu J. Planning for characteristic towns in China: Addressing the cultural dimension of sustainability in Celadon Town, Zhejiang [T]. 2017, Urban Environmental Management, Land Use Planning, Wageningen University, Wageningen.

[48]

Wang X, Liu S, Sykes O, et al. Characteristic development model: A transformation for the sustainable development of small towns in China [J]. Sustainability, 2019, 11(3753): 11-13.

[49]

Dai M, Wang W. The exploration of high quality development strategy for moulding industry in Taizhou. In The New Taizhou. 2018, 4(280): 38–39. Translated from Mandarin by Gao X in 2019.

[50]

AlSayyad N, Roy A. Prologue/dialogue. Urban informality: crossing borders. In Roy A, AlSayyad N (eds): Urban informality. Transnational perspectives from the Middle East, Latin America, and South Asia. 2004, Lexington Books, Lanham, 1-6.

Share
Back to top
Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, Electronic ISSN: 2717-5626 Published by AccScience Publishing