Page 94 - JCAU-5-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Revitalization through community empowerment

Figure 4. The principal planner team connecting with different departments (e.g., planning department, landscape department, and property management
department). Source: Author.

expressed her desire to organize an event about scientific
dog raising to help build a polite community environment.
From this, it is concluded that many local resources are
interested in community building and have practical ideas,
but it was difficult to realize or implement the imagined
activities and projects due to asymmetric information and Figure 5. Public participation with resident representatives and the
other factors. design team. Source: Author.
4.3. Public participation to build neighborhood
living space
Public participation is an important part of community
empowerment. In Laoshan community, its organization
is mainly done by the Shequ Residential Committee and
social work groups. The Residential committee is quite
familiar with residents because they have many interactions
in daily lives. Using modern communication methods
such as WeChat (a social contact application on mobile
phone) and traditional methods such as bulletin board,
the Residential Committee connected with residents and
invited them to participate in the renovation plan show
and related voting activities. In addition, social workers
were responsible to organize the communication process
between residents and the design team. The goal of social
workers was to facilitate the process so that everyone could Figure 6. Comparison of before and after the renovation of the community
speak for themselves. park. Source: Author.
In the Laoshan community, public participation the Laoshan Dongli North Small Microspace Renovation
has reached some effects, but overall, it is still being Project completed in 2021, where the residents went
explored. In the comprehensive renovation project of the through multiple rounds of design proposal consultation
old estate in Laoshan, the responsible planner team and process. This experience was new for many Laoshan
design team have conducted several rounds of point- residents, who were able to express their views on public
to-point communication with residents, in addition affairs and be seen to do so. In the subsequent all-age
to widely soliciting opinions through the distribution friendly park project on the south side of the Laoshan
of questionnaires, as shown in Figure 5. However, the community, which was completed in 2022, as shown in
opinions obtained from such public participation are Figure 6, residents’ interest in the park’s construction has
highly individual, and although beneficial to individuals, increased significantly. The results show that the park in
it was not efficient enough, nor established a normalized 2022 is more popular and better utilized by residents than
public participation mechanism. the small microspace in 2021.

It can be observed that the awareness of public
participation among the residents of Laoshan community 5. Discussion
has increased after certain community empowerment Taking the community empowerment work in Laoshan
activities. Public participation activities were conducted in community as a representative example of community

Volume 5 Issue 1 (2023) 9 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0351