Urban[sch]isms

2. Peri-urban condition

2.2. Location

2.2.1.Geographical position [Img 01 & 02]

The Project focuses on a peri-urban area, 60 km north from Shenzhen and 15 km East from Guangzhou.

The geographical position contributes substantially to the socio-spatial condition of the area.

Area’s strategic location between the Shenzhen urban basin and agricultural rural hinterland ticks all three boxes for successful industrial production areas:
• good infrastructural connections to Shenzhen and thus Hong Kong,
• cheap land for new industrial developments
and
• abundance of cheap labour workforce from the northern agrarian provinces.

This peri-urban condition consists of unstructured interlocking of low-end housing, industry and agriculture.

Area evolved from villages into industrial production areas.

Agricultural patches are surrounded with industry-village condition.

2.2.2.Villages [Img. 03]

When China started to industrialize, the agricultural land that the farmers were cultivating was taken from them. As compensation they were allowed to build up their villages and make their income by letting out the newly acquired space.

Once rural, villages are now being transformed into so called ‘urban villages’ - areas of low-end housing for workers in the industries.

Intricately connected and interwoven public space of a villages is disappearing bringing inhibition of the so specific communal living pattern characteristic to rural China.

2.2.3. New low-end housing [Img. 04]

New lower class housing grows between industry and villages. The ‘checker’ blocks are usually 4 to 6 storeys high with just a few meters in between.

The new typologies disregard the traditional spatial and social practises, furthermore, because of low economical capability of the population and therefor no interest from the developers to invest, the area has only rudimentary services and badly defined open space.

Most common public space is the street, dominated by trucks and cars.

2.2.4. Industry [Img. 05]

Industrial areas are economically efficient with a complete disregard for design of open – public space.

Everything is engineered for efficient production and transport.

The industrial complexes develop into monofunctional areas that are completely detached from human scale.

2.2.5. Agriculture [Img. 06]

Remaining agricultural land is threatened by the industrialization.

Low economical efficiency of agricultural land can not compete with industry, therefor it is being slowly replaced.

Additional problem presents ever increasing pollution of water from the new industries.