Page 55 - JCAU-5-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Envisioning rural futures

basins to produce hydroelectric energy. Similar initiatives models for Lishui expansion but also from the more general
are proposed for the agricultural plain. Based on the new trends in urbanization that characterized China over the
farmland layout, the number of waterways is reduced, and, last few decades: they are as far from the expressive urban
while the historical canals are restored, the new ones are planning of the 2000s (e.g., the nine new towns around
enlarged for navigation. Together with this, the proposal Shanghai), as from the eco-development of the 2010s (e.g.,
entails the construction of new locks, water basins, and Zhengbian New District in Zhengzhou, Henan; and Sino-
fishponds. Finally, the project promotes the consolidation German Ecopark in Tsingtao, Shandong). By eschewing
and renaturing of the banks of the Ou River in two ways: the morphological approach that characterized the urban
where the riverbed narrows, “hard banks” are planned by design of that first period, and the vague configurations of
reinforcing the existing borders; vice versa, “soft banks” are the projects of the last decade, these new proposals provide a
envisioned where the riverbed widens: wetlands to absorb clear urban organization through forms and quantity, while
the excessive water of the rainy season, which are also preserving a certain degree of flexibility. Furthermore, by
avifaunal oases accessible to visitors thanks to bridges and adopting diverse approaches, they highlight several issues
floodable walkways. that contemporary planning must address, thus opening to
a reflection on themes that transcend the Chinese context.
5. Conclusion The projects presented in this paper are exemplary. In
This article has examined the greater attention of today’s overcoming the traditional distinction between urban and
planning activities to the cohesive development of urban rural spaces, Future Super Shan-Shui Park by the CAUPD
and rural areas. Particularly, the priority has shifted from engages with the environment as the primary resource of the
keeping the city expanding to preserving the land for new city. This approach recalls the recent debate in design
agriculture and protecting the environment. Initially driven theory on the need to abandon a human-centric vision to take
by national policies, this shift is now generating a plethora care of all life forms equally (see Rawes, 2013). Conversely, by
of practical initiatives at a local level. The new urbanization focusing on the inhabitants’ well-being, A Symbiotic Urban
model of Lishui Municipality, including the Future Shan- Change by Olivier Greder Architects proposes mixed-use
Shui City competition, is just one example of this trend. Since morphologies to reconnect the urban fabric to the natural
2020, the One-Tenth Culture & Art Company alone has landscape. This search for the right measures, densities,
promoted six other competitions to envision new ways of and mix of uses is not new to urban planning (see Schenk,
living rural and marginal areas of Zhejiang Province (One- 2022). However, in engaging with both new technologies
Tenth Culture & Art Company, 2018). Similar initiatives and traditional local characteristics, the project contributes
have sprung up everywhere in China: the Xiong’an Smart to the current debate on preservation and renovation.
City close to Beijing has been targeted as a pilot project Finally, Prosperous Lishui by SCUT and Politecnico di
for testing new urban-rural relations under the aegis of the Torino, focused on the spaces for labor, envisions a new
national government (Veglianti et al., 2021); in the Central urban system in the form of a territorial agricultural park
Plains, the construction of numerous agricultural parks where high-tech services and facilities blend into nature
and the flourishing e-commerce businesses are raising reserves and croplands. This strategy addresses the need to
living standards in rural areas (Ramondetti, 2022); finally, increase food production while integrating new specialized
even in arid Lanzhou, new developments are building landscapes within local ecologies and existing urban realms.
water-conservation facilities, high-tech greenhouses for The result is a domestication of the so-called “operational
cultivation, and transport systems for moving produce landscapes” (Brenner & Katsikis, 2020), which, instead of
(Safina et al., 2023). These many projects show the efforts being mere technical sites for resource extraction, become
to envision new economies, and ways of inhabiting the fully fledged parts of the city.
rural and marginal areas of China while moving away from The engagement with such topics, which transcend the
the logic of urban entrepreneurialism (Ramondetti, 2023). specificity of a single place, makes the visions developed in
This break from the past is clear in the projects for the today’s China significant to the wider debate on innovative
Future Shan-Shui City competition: they all share a vision urban-rural relations. Indeed, the themes raised by this
competition, and the strategies to address them, have
of the countryside as a composite landscape to be enriched also been at the core of many international contests and
in ecology, public services, and high-tech production. public programs all over the world in recent years. These
3
These projects hybridize new technologies and traditional
culture, contemporary dwellings and ancestral settings, 3 Consider, for instance, the consultation for Gran Paris in
urban lifestyle, and environmental comfort. Not only does 2007, the Bruxelles-Métropole 2040 in 2010, and the more
this urbanization differ from the previous urban-centric recent consultation for Grand Genève in 2018.

Volume 5 Issue 3 (2023) 12 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0957