Page 89 - JCAU-5-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Revitalization through community empowerment

New Village Movement (Saemaul Undong) and established decline, environmental degradation, and social drain. In a
related institutions from the central government to the local broader sense, depleted resources do not only need to refer
government. The Saemaul promotional councils, the role of specifically to production materials such as minerals, but
women, and the Saemaul education system all promoted also to the loss of human resources (i.e., young population)
resident participation in rural communities (Kim, 2012). and social capital. In addition, not only the massive
Participatory rural community empowerment remained development of raw material resources may lead to the
government-led during and long after the Park Chung-hee depletion of local resources but also external factors such
regime, and it was only in the late 1990s that policy shifted as policies may lead to the suspension of local industrial
to resident-led integrated community development (Park development, resulting in the depletion of resources. It is
et al., 2008). Some Korean community empowerment under this definition that the concept of resource-depleted
projects had a strong government overtone and do not really communities is proposed, which refers to the supporting
rely on residents, while failing to create sustainable rural residential communities in resource-depleted areas.
modernization (Yang, 2018). The concept of community There have been many studies on the transformation
empowerment in Taiwan first originated in the U.S. and of resource-depleted regions, and most of them take
later grafted on the Japanese concept of machizukuri. In macroeconomic transformation as the entry point (He et al.,
the 1960s, Dr. Zhang Hongjun and U.S. consultants from 2017; Hu & Yang, 2019). Gao (2016) and Gong et al. (2012)
the United Nations brought the concept of community studied the economic and policy factors that influence the
empowerment to Taiwan, but participatory community transformation of old industrial bases from theoretical
planning did not develop much under the oppressive aspects, including institutional and structural factors, that
political environment until the 1990s, when the Council is, economic management, market environment, industrial
for Cultural Affairs began to promote comprehensive
community building (Chen & Ku, 2017; Lin, 2015). structure, and so on. Zhao (2000), Yuan (2015), and
Yang (2006) summarized the successful transformation
Research on community empowerment in Japan, experiences of industrial diversification and the use of
South Korea, and Taiwan reveals the importance of civil- gradual transformation strategies by studying international
society-state relations in community empowerment in East cases of Ruhr region (Germany), Pittsburgh and Detroit
Asia, and therefore, it is still relevant to study bottom-up (USA), and Kyushu (Japan), respectively. Li et al. (2016) also
community empowerment in China under an authoritarian summarized the experiences and models of transformation
system (Heberer, 2009; Hsu et al., 2017). Research on and development of old industrial bases in China.
community empowerment in China is still in ascendence.
Western scholarship has paid early attention to the term of Meanwhile, research on urban sociology in resource-
community construction, but they have taken a pessimistic depleted areas is relatively limited: Wang (2006) suggests
stance on state-led community renewal programs (Bray, that China’s industrial urban communities have undergone
2009; Shieh & Friedmann, 2008; Yan & Gao, 2007). “de-unitization” in the process of resource depletion, and
Friedmann (2007) has long paid attention to placemaking community building requires the organic unification of
in Chinese microspaces, and he analyzed the impossibility physical capital, human capital, and social capital based
of state reconfiguration of the territorial order of small on a weak sense of community. Liu (2006) discusses the
spaces from the perspective of civil resistance. However, social basis of economic development in resource-depleted
these studies have not discussed the public participation areas and its reconstruction from the perspective of human
that has flourished in China in recent years, especially the resources, community organization, and social security
joint participation of professionals and people (Li et al., system. Guo & Pan (2013) took a community of Wuhan
2020; Zhang & Liao, 2022). Based on the above-mentioned Iron and Steel Group as a case study, studying it from
explorations of community empowerment in various the perspective of the aged people, and argue that such
regions of the world as well as in China, this study will add resource-depleted communities have the foundation to and
the phenomenon and impact of community empowerment need to be transformed into “age-friendly communities.”
that has flourished in China in recent years to the existing Existing studies have provided some guidance on the
studies, summarize lessons from experiences, and provide economic and social revitalization of resource-depleted
a more diverse reference for practitioners. areas, and this has some implications for the regeneration
of resource-depleted communities at the micro level
2.4. Resource-depleted area and resource-depleted in cities. In this study, we explored the regeneration of
community resource-depleted communities from the perspective of
Resource-depleted areas are generally defined as areas where community empowerment as a complement to the existing
resource-led industrial development has led to economic research on resource-depleted areas.

Volume 5 Issue 1 (2023) 4 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0351