Page 95 - JCAU-5-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Revitalization through community empowerment

empowerment work in China today, two characteristics local context. Some community leaders are well equipped
can be observed: first, at this stage, the professionals (in this to become experts, and they are an important group that
case, principal planners) channel down to the grassroots will lead the community to sustainable development in the
to carry out community empowerment and place-making future. For more non-leader residents, ideally, they will
work; second, one of the important tasks of community have institutionalized channels to speak for themselves
empowerment and local revitalization is to sort out, link, in the future and continue to participate in shaping their
and gather resources that may be covered. communities through informal voices, such as place-
making. The market-oriented local teams as the experts are
5.1. The professionals channeling to local level the sustainable choice to provide a constant driving force
The channeling down of the professionals provides more for a long-term development of the community.
empirical support and legitimacy to their community-
oriented work. In practice over time, professional planners 5.2. Resource sorting out, linking, and gathering
have often been the party invited to give professional For old communities, many resources are often neglected
advice, just come and then leave, and are not closely for a long time, and the excavation, sorting, linking, and
associated with the community, but have the authority to convergence of such resources can help solve the painful
direct its matters. The principal planner institution, which problems of resource-depleted communities at the root.
places the planner as a professional in the community on a Resource-depleted communities may seem to have lost the
permanent basis, gives him or her enough time and energy advantageous resources of the past, but in fact the historical
to engage more closely with the community to understand spaces produced in the past are still retained locally, and
the strengths and demands of the area, which provides these spatial resources have the possibility to be revitalized,
some justification for the planner as a professional to make thus driving the development of the area. Although not all
professional recommendations to the community. these resources have been effectively utilized for the time
When community residents have not formed a clear being, they are still the resources that make the future of
resident interest group or advocacy group, the arrival of a this area possible of changes. What can be observed is that
professional is helpful in shaping the community building no matter how big the titles of these resources previously
efforts into a more organized, implementation-oriented carried, they are all facing the trend of marketization and
framework and leading the way in various efforts. In the public use in the future. The emergence of marketized
case of Laoshan, the arrival of the principal planner team gyms and steeplechase course near the stadium venues
contributes to the completion of many tasks, such as the on the west side of the Laoshan community supports this
creation of Laoshan IP, the promotion of the Revitalization trend.
Action Plan, and the linking of local resources. This type of Community talents are also community resources,
work is not something that the average individual resident and this type of intangible resource is more difficult to
is equipped to carry out, as they are usually only interested explore and utilize than the tangible spatial resource. In
in resources that are closely related to them, and hardly communities where community empowerment is not yet
ever have comprehensive access to all types of community deeply carried out, there are cases where community talents
resources and the willingness to be a resource aggregator. who want to contribute to community development have
It is important to note that the arrival of the professionals no channel to realize the idea. This kind of contribution
is not a measure worth adopting in the long term, but only to the community may not be a big project, for example,
has clear advantages in the early stages of community the founder of a dog training school wants to start a dog
empowerment. The arrival of the professionals is a starting training workshop. However, they need a platform to gather
point, but the real purpose is to empower residents to carry resources and some opportunities for everyone to realize
out various community building activities and projects. their ideas. The Laoshan Forever Young Revitalization
In fact, residents are inherently capable of community Action Plan is an attempt to create such a platform, and it
building through the choices that they make about the use of is already showing initial progress that connects all parties.
spatial resources. For example, in the Laoshan community, 5.3. Understanding community empowerment
residents have enriched the sporting culture of the area with comprehensively
general fitness activities. When residents are empowered to
a certain extent, the core of people who lead community The channeling down of the professionals and the
building will change from the professionals to the experts. linkage of resources are important tasks in community
While the professionals emphasize the accumulation of empowerment and local revitalization. For resource-
knowledge, the experts emphasize the accumulation of depleted communities: first, it needs to explore local
experience, especially experience that is applicable to the advantageous resources, such as sports resources and

Volume 5 Issue 1 (2023) 10 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0351