Adaptive Reuse of Peri-Urban Villages: Rural Revitalization in Xiananshan Village, Zhejiang
Similarly to Japan, an awful lot of villages in China are facing severe problems of depopulation and decline. To tackle this problem, national and local governments, third-party organizations, and villagers started to work as leading forces and sponsors to conduct rural revitalization (which is defined as rural construction by many Chinese scholars and practitioners) (Wu, 2016).
The first step of this process of rural revitalization started with the improvement of the village environment. Afterward, governments and sponsors began to reform the industrial structure and revive local economies. More recently, in 2017, centering on the so-called ‘Three Rural Issues [1],’ a new rural revitalization strategy was released to reform policies and the institutional framework. In particular, the new strategy claims for better integration between the urban and the rural. However, for a village close to the city or already besieged by it, the revitalization project should be more carefully examined.
The adaptive reuse of Xiananshan village can be used as a representative case to explore this approach. Located on the mountain in Lishui city, southern Zhejiang, Xiananshan village has a history of about 400 years. The tranquil beauty of the mountain scenery, the picturesque-irregular layout, vernacular architecture made of mud walls built on pebbles and pillar-supported wooden structures, and a convenient connection with the city center are the main features that make Xiananshan village attractive.
In spite of the picturesque beauty of Xiananshan, about twenty years ago villagers started to move out to earn a better living, and houses were progressively abandoned. To protect and regenerate the village, the local government appointed Lianzhong industry group as the sponsor to help in the revitalization of Xiananshan village. In order to protect the historic layout of the village, the first initiative of Lianzhong Group was to rent all the houses from villagers, including those already dilapidated. After, the group restored and renovated the village by applying local materials and tectonic techniques. At the same time, the local government invested in infrastructures and improved utility services. As a result, the vigor of the historic village gradually returned.
Similarly to what happened in other villages in China, also Xiananshan has been reorganized as a result of the revitalization. Now, villagers live in a new section of the village characterized by checkboard residential areas. On the contrary, the older area has been adapted to attract visitors and tourists. There is a boutique hotel, two cafés, a library, an exhibition hall, a store selling agricultural products from local farmers, two restaurants, a meeting hall in the village, and visitors can access all public areas freely.
Apart from the physical renovation, during the revitalization of Xiananshan village Lianzhong Group also introduced a new cooperative model called ‘historic village plus crowd innovation.’ It means that the village is a sharing platform for entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals to start their business both online and offline. As for the original villagers, they can work for these enterprises in the slack farming season, and their income comprises rent, salary, and bonus from Lianzhong Group. Moreover, the platform provides opportunities for designers to renovate old houses. A competition was held for two houses in the historic village in 2017. Until now, five houses at the highest terrace of the village remain to be revived. Being personally involved in a rural revitalization project also in Zhejiang, I am inspired by these positive changes in Xiananshan.
[1] Three Rural Issues refer to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, that are crucial problems in rural development in China. The Three Rural Issues became a primary concern of the national government in 2003.
References
Wu, Z. & Guan, L. (2016, September). Urban implantation in rural China: Three exemplary works on vernacular construction in ancient villages, Zhejiang. Paper presented at the ISAIA 2016, Resilience and diversity: rethinking Asian architecture from the next generation, Sendai, Japan.