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Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Envisioning rural futures

and practitioners investigating the transformations in di Torino. Finally, the concluding part summarizes the
Chinese rural areas, and corresponded with the teams current trends in Lishui urban development, discusses
involved in the competition. These first-hand data have the issues arising from the competition, and the strategies
been combined with secondary sources, such as planning proposed by the projects examined.
and policy documents, consultancy reports, and statistical
information from official yearbooks. For a more detailed 2. Reshaping rural China
account of the methodology adopted and the activity Over the past two decade, most of Chinese urban policies
undertaken, see the paper by Ramondetti et al. (2023). and projects have progressively shifted their focus from large
The purpose of this paper is to investigate urban urban centers toward what Rozelle & Hell (2020) defined
projects envisioning new ways of inhabiting rural and as the “invisible China:” rural, internal areas impacted only
marginal areas, which are facing great upheaval. The slightly by the development that came after the economic
displacement of the rural population and changes in reform. Addressing the challenges of this part of the Chinese
patterns has provoked what Araghi (1995) and Ghosh and territory, it means to deal with what President Hu Jintao
Meer (2021) termed global depeasantization. This problem and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao already defined in 2006 as
goes side by side with the phenomenon of amenity the “three rural issues:” the fall in agricultural production,
migration (Abrams et al., 2012; Matarrita-Cascante & the widening income gap between urban and rural
Stocks, 2013), entailing the exploitation of the natural and populations, and the lack of infrastructures and services
(Hsing, 2010; Chen et al., 2021). Agricultural production
cultural resources of the countryside, or other areas of as a percentage of total GDP has declined by 30% over the
significant environmental value. This issue has also been
driving an expansion in suburbanization (Keil, 2017; Wu last 20 years, mainly due to the gradual disappearance of
& Keil, 2020), with increasing land consumption and a arable land, which has diminished by about 60,000 sqkm
(National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2022). Not only has
redefinition of the relationships between core cities and this triggered a problem of food security (Hong, 2016) but
hinterland areas. All these phenomena have profoundly it has also sparked a wave of migration toward the large
characterized the development of rural China over the urban centers at a rate of about 16 million people per year
past three decades, raising issues that have been addressed (Miller, 2012). Even though there has been improvement
mainly in terms of socioeconomic policies and governance in rural standards of living, data from the National Bureau
programs (see for instance Zhang et al., 2023). While these of Statistics (2022) showed that the average income in rural
measures play an important role, planners and architects areas was nearly three times lower than that of urban areas;
need to reflect on these issues from a design perspective 7% of the rural population had no access to running water,
(Koolhaas & AMO, 2020), that is, to engage critically with while 2.6% had no access to hospital facilities, and the
alternative spatial configurations that promote novel ways infant mortality rate in rural areas was 10%.
of inhabiting and practicing rural spaces. Since urban
design plays a key role in contemporary China, this is a To address these problems, various initiatives were
privileged realm to observe the most innovative trends and put in place to improve rural living conditions since the
experimental projects. Urban competitions, such as Future 2000s. At first, fiscal measures were employed: price floors
Shan-Shui City, thus offer precious insights into methods for agricultural products, the abolition of most agrarian
and strategies for rural-urban development. taxes, and the introduction of subsidies for farmers (Ye,
2009). In parallel, about 400 billion CNY was invested
The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 briefly by the national government in agriculture, and the fiscal
presents the main policies and initiatives undertaken to expenditure of local administrations in the primary sector
improve the living conditions in rural areas over the past rose by 20% (Su, 2009). This policy led to farmers’ incomes
few decades. Section 3 examines the planning activities growing from 45 to 126 billion CNY (Ye, 2009). Alongside
in Lishui, Zhejiang Province, highlighting the shift from these economic measures, urbanization programs were
large-scale initiatives to boost urbanization, to new also implemented. The most important one was the BNSC
environmentally friendly and site-specific development program, introduced in 2006 and is still ongoing (Ahlers,
strategies. Section 4 presents the competition Future 2014). The program’s main objectives are to improve services
Shan-Shui City instituted by Lishui Municipality in 2020 and standards of living in rural and suburban areas and to
and describes the three awarded projects: Future Super preserve farmland and boost agricultural production in
Shan-Shui Park by the China Academy of Urban Planning response to the growing demand for food. This program,
and Design (CAUPD), A Symbiotic Urban Change by like many others, has been implemented through major
Olivier Greder Architects, and Prosperous Lishui by South infrastructural investments that have led to a radical
China University of Technology (SCUT) and Politecnico reorganization of constructed spaces and productive

Volume 5 Issue 3 (2023) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0957