Morphology and Spatial Dynamics of Urban Villages in Guangzhou’s CBD

Studies on the urban village (chengzhongcun) over the past ten years have focussed on legalistic and structural aspects, as well as the social outcomes of village-led redevelopment. Studies on the morphology of villages, their spatial and economic linkage with the city, and their internal spatial dynamics are, in comparison, limited in number and scope. This study of village space in the new central area of Guangzhou focusses on the spatial relationships between village space and the surrounding city—the exchange of people and goods, the movement system in relation to commercial activity, and the relationship between the pattern of building and movement networks—as a primer for new approaches to physical renewal. Primary field data, interviews, and archival research support the analysis of Shipai village, in particular. It was found that Shipai plays a significant role in transport and economy at the district and central city level. The internal movement system functions to connect surrounding areas while supporting a commercial and services system of local and district-level significance. The built form of the village is also self-generated by location and internal rule making. The physical and activity patterns of the self-rebuilt village exhibit the characteristics of emergent spontaneous order. 1. Introduction The regeneration of urban village space by the villagers themselves from the mid-1990s until today within south Chinese cities especially has attracted attention by academics, policy makers, and the media. The rapid build-up accompanied a substantial population increase, a transformed local economy, and the extreme densification of inhabited village space. The new residents were and remain with rural resident status, as is the case for most of the city’s immigrant population in the case of Guangzhou. Build-up of the traditional, inhabited space that accompanied this population increase then produced a geographical and social divide in the city, with the great majority of village populations possessing rural status, while the majority of the surrounding population officially urban residents. The relationship between the village organizations and the government, particularly in the context of the continued regeneration of urban space in southern cities, has also attracted much attention. The legalistic framework has in particular been the object of study, although little has changed formally. There is a small number of documented cases of government-led redevelopment, but no postoccupancy studies seem to be available. There is the literature on