Page 62 - JCAU-7-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Rural–urban village regeneration

Entrepreneurial programs can further enhance the value actual outcomes have affected villagers’ perceptions of the
of cultural products and promote economic sustainability. research team. Initially regarded as collaborative partners,
As the village’s population becomes increasingly diverse, the team’s role was later viewed with mistrust due to the
stakeholders should recognize and embrace the formation flawed administrative mechanisms (Magnus & Rai, 2024).
of a new, hybrid community, fostering collaboration to There are several limitations in this study. First,
regenerate the village’s culture.
the selection of sites for architectural restoration
8. Conclusion and reinterpretation was heavily constrained by the
availability of premises and the enthusiasm of villagers.
This study emphasized the significance of Shui Hau Consequently, no alternative options within the same
village as a case study for investigating the challenges and village were considered. This limitation may introduce
opportunities involved in regenerating its cultural values as bias, as implemented ideas might favor specific villagers.
a coastal farming community. The findings highlight that Second, the study assumed that villagers maintained
the current legal framework is unspecific and inadequate, positive relationships with their neighborhoods and that
failing to effectively support such regeneration. To address the interventions would enhance their sense of belonging
this, the authors presented three novel initiatives: a to the village. However, as the village population becomes
tactical intervention using mobile kiosks, the architectural increasingly hybridized with migrants from urban areas,
restoration of a 100-year-old House No. 49, and the further investigation into the understanding of village
architectural reinterpretation of the grain store. These culture among both new and long-term residents would
initiatives aimed to strengthen the village’s eco-cultural be beneficial. Third, this article focused only on the early
identity and foster a sense of community. stage of a larger community-based action research project.
The main findings revealed challenges encountered Follow-up actions are needed to monitor the ongoing
during the implementation process. First, intricate land impacts on stakeholders and their evolving perceptions of
ownership patterns, a legacy of colonial governance, the research team in the near future.
have significantly restricted villagers’ use of semi-public, To improve future practices, the authors recommend
in-between spaces. This has triggered interpersonal systemic changes at multiple levels. Future studies could
conflicts due to arbitrary and inaccurate land boundaries, explore ways to better address the real needs of stakeholders
ultimately weakening social bonds among neighbors. These by resolving fragmented land ownership issues, developing
findings align with studies on psychological ownership in flexible policies to support innovative initiatives that go
rural land use at the microscale, which demonstrate that beyond prescribed land uses and development, establishing
communal activities or construction projects on private incentives for self-initiated proposals, and reinforcing
plots can provoke adjacent landowners due to perceived
“external factors” and potential infringements on private place identity among new community members, extending
land (Bullock & Lamoureux, 2025). Second, the absence beyond ecology-oriented conservation.
of specific regulations for rural regeneration initiatives Acknowledgments
in Hong Kong has led municipal authorities to assess
restoration works using existing urban regulations and legal None.
frameworks. This misalignment has resulted in inefficient
use of space, such as the allocation of significant floor and Funding
wall areas for additional fire safety installations. To address This research was made possible under the Lantau
these challenges, novel policies should be developed Conservation Fund (MA-2020-02) administered by
(Lang et al., 2024) to support site-specific, multifunctional the Sustainable Lantau Office of the Hong Kong SAR
programs that facilitate the transformation of vernacular Government.
structures (e.g., houses) to maximize public benefit in the
post-productivist era. Conflict of interest
Third, loose governance over village development Thomas W.L. Chung is the Guest Editor of this special
has caused irreversible damage to the visual esthetics issue but was not in any way involved in the editorial and
of the village landscape. To mitigate this, additional peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or
clauses should be incorporated into the SHP to promote indirectly. Separately, other authors declared that they
sustainable development, protect adjacent historic have no known competing financial interests or personal
structures, and preserve the authenticity of the landscape relationships that could have influenced the work reported
(Ma, 2016). Finally, discrepancies between expected and in this paper.

Volume 7 Issue 3 (2025) 13 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.4992