Page 93 - JCAU-5-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Revitalization through community empowerment

shaping of Shougang culture for the community residents from the community itself through communication with
but also reflects the continuation of the community culture the residents; second, the principal planner team, as the
by the residents’ independent choice. delegated party in the Jiedao, is able to communicate with
Young people in Laoshan are also building the the government and coordinate with various government
community in their own way. The founder of Laoshan departments to provide resources to help revitalize the area;
Cafe, whose family are Shougang employees, has been in addition, market players see the principal planner team
running a boutique cafe in the Laoshan area since 2013, as a link and are willing to communicate with them about
maintaining long-term interaction with regulars in the projects that have both community value and market value.
6
community, recording customer visits with a wall full of The “Response to Whistles” mechanism is an effective
photos, and building a place full of connection and a sense mechanism for quickly linking street departments, higher-
of belonging for his customers. He is a representative of the level planning and other related departments, community
young people who come from and serve Laoshan, bringing residents, and local units. Unlike the previous mechanism
back freshness from outside the community, and building where the grassroots departments had to communicate
a fresh place to interact. and negotiate separately with different higher-level
departments to solve problems, “Response to Whistles”
4.2. Connecting resources to make a comprehensive brings together inter-departmental and cross-regional
revitalization plan leaders to solve problems at once, enhancing the strength
The Laoshan Forever Young Revitalization Action Plan of the grassroots. In the comprehensive renovation of the
is a comprehensive plan to revitalize the area by tapping old estate in Laoshan, the principal planner team and the
resources and linking multiple parties. The plan is divided Jiedao assisted all departments in understanding the real
into four steps: In the first step, Laoshan Jiedao, as the first demands of the residents, considering the renovation
initiator of the plan, started to link a wide range of local work in an integrated manner, optimizing the relationship
resources through a recruitment process. The Jiedao will between the renovation work and the key work of each
sort out the needs of all parties to find cooperation points, department, and assisting the property rights unit and the
list several activities or projects that can be included in the implementation body in understanding the needs of all
theme of “Laoshan Forever Young,” find the parties actively parties and clarifying the focus of the post-management
involved, and quickly release some activities to increase the and operation services, as shown in Figure 4.
power, thus triggering the participation of more subjects. There is a need for market players to establish
At the same time, the Jiedao recruits co-sponsors, such as connections between subjects, and the Revitalization
enterprises, associations, industry organizations, social Action Plan is designed to address this need. For larger-
organizations, individuals, and so on, to participate in scale area resources, such as the cultural space Langyuan
the program in various forms, such as creative cultural Park and the community’s west-side sports venues, the
activities, events, construction projects, and the like. The Jiedao generally coordinates the establishment of working
second step is to continue to release thematic activities and connections between the resource and the principal planner
further link up regional resources. The activities that can team. Some local resources will borrow the platform of the
be implemented immediately under the theme of Laoshan Revitailization Action Plan to interact with other resources,
Forever Young will be released gradually according to the such as the TUS-Ice and Snow Venue, suggesting that they
time, and each body will be required to introduce further could work with Langyuan Park across the street to develop
customized activities or projects based on the theme of a regional leisure and entertainment center together. For
Laoshan Forever Young. At the same time, the Jiedao will smaller individual resources, such as the Laoshan Café
organize regular communication among participants and and the “Spirit of Dog” dog training school, the principal
discuss multiparty cooperation to increase the influence planner team will explore these resources through
and communication power and form a resource platform community visits. During the communication with the café
and communication matrix. The third step is to gradually manager and the founder of the dog training school, they
accumulate and normalize activities to form the influence both expressed interest in organizing community activities
of Laoshan IP. The fourth step is to jointly promote the related to their own fields. For example, the café manager
development of Laoshan area through resource linkage expressed his desire to use his own venue to provide more
and multiple synergies, and to stimulate the vitality of the diverse services for the community and create a “15-min
area by means of social innovation. living circle,” while the founder of the dog training school
The principal planner team acts as an intermediary in 6 It literally means “all government departments respond to the
this process. First, the principal planner learns directly gathering call of Jiedao.”

Volume 5 Issue 1 (2023) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0351