Page 47 - JCAU-5-4

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Learning from the countryside

A proposed methodology involved subdividing the In Figures 6-8, we present some samples of detailed
territory into “landscape units” corresponding to the projects for the C areas, featuring new activities whose
clusters of Hakka residences sharing common orography morphology and typology are designed according to the
(hills and plains) and a water network (rivers and hilly and historical context of the area.
irrigational canals) within the boundaries of the 12 villages An industrial park, a secondary school, a hospital, and
that make up the Qiuchangcommune. Each of these clusters samples of residential units are designed by incorporating

comprises several residences built by the same family “clan” Hakka architectural types and the logic of grouping
following the rules of Feng Shui. Responding to the request buildings, following the land morphology of Hakka villages.
9
of local administration, we provided a detailed plan for six
landscape units (three in the “A” area and three in the “B” 3.2. Project: “The New Linpan-er” (Pidu, Chengdu
area). In these plans, we outlined criteria for architectural metropolitan area)
10
restoration, the reuse of historical residences, and guidelines The project, “New Linpan-er,” is located in Chengdu,
11
for achieving a balance between new construction and rural where Skinner conducted his rural fieldwork and drew the
activities while preserving functionality within the rural rural marketing theory. It focuses on how to research rural
landscape. In this way, our approach embraced Guldin’s settlements within the urban-rural continuum.
and Davis’s vision of a new kind of settlement, one that
blends elements of both urban and rural living. Despite the Linpan settlements are found in the Chengdu Plain,
age of their publications, their insights were invaluable for the fourth-largest city in China, with a population of
understanding the situation we encountered in Huiyang 15 million people in 2016 (National Bureau of Statistics
over the past decade. Our project was developed in of China, 2022). In addition, Chengdu is a pilot city for
consideration of this situation. Surprisingly, many of the urban-rural integration authorized by the Chinese central
most relevant suggestions we presented in our reports government, which means that many of the city’s villages
10 years ago to the local administration concerning a require transformation.
strategy for conserving an extensive heritage within a
process of urban development have been incorporated into 11 The project, the “New Linpan-er”, is based on Mao Lin’s
the new Huiyang Master Plan 2021 – 2035.
doctoral dissertation (2021), supervisor M. Meriggi. It has
The planning process may be slow, but when comparing been developed by the author in a collaboration agreement
the New Master Plan (Figure 5, right panel) with the since 2016 between Politecnico di Milano and the Faculty
one from 2007 – 2020 (Figure 4), several significant of Architecture of Chengdu Southwest Jiaotong University
changes become evident: “A” area, originally designated in collaboration with Pidu district (Chengdu) Linpan
for offices and housing with a very narrow green strip, Association. The program was coordinated by prof. M.
Meriggi (Politecnico di Milano) and prof. Liu Hongtao
has now been transformed into a large central park that (Chengdu Southwest Jioatong University).
includes historical residences and their agricultural land;
the facilities of the new city, originally located in blocks
alternated with residences and offices, have been relocated
in correspondence with the historical nuclei of villages;
a “parkway” linking different villages and natural areas
(Danshui river and Mountain Park E) is forecasted,
following the path we suggested.

9 Take the case of the clusters in Tie Men Shan and Ling Hu
villages, which were built by the Ye family (Figure 6). See:
Chen Z., 2023, Rural Fenshui in Huiyang Hakka villages in
Tie Men Shan. In: Chen, Meriggi, Tan, 2023: 76-82; Tan, Z.
(2023), Brief History of the Ye family in Huiyang. In: Chen,
Meriggi, Tan, 2023: 189.
10 See: Milan Polytechnic University – School of Civil
Architecture – Department of Architectural Design, 2013b. Figure 6. Proposal for Tie Men Shan and Ling Hu “landscape unit” in the
An extended and more detailed description of the landscape clusters of Hakka residences of the Ye family. Green: green corridors; red:
Hakka weilong houses; brown: villages; white: new buildings, including
units, which includes 10 units and 43 residences in Qiuchang an industrial park (A), a secondary school (B), a hospital (C), and a
commune territory is published in: Tan Z., (2023), Atlas residential compound (D). The road network follows the topography of
of Hakka residences in Qiuchang “commune”. In: Chen, the hilly landscape. Source: Meriggi, 2015, 2017 and Acuto & Meriggi,
Meriggi, Tan, 2023: 179-243. 2023, p. 166–167

Volume 5 Issue 4 (2023) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0981