| Abstrakt: |
Over the past four decades, China's urbanisation under a socialist market economy can be described as a process of 'creative destruction.' The continual expansion of the urban environment profoundly transformed society, economy and lives of its inhabitants. This process of urbanisation was associated with the loss of balance between people, nature and the built environment. In an attempt to address these unbalanced circumstances, a state-led campaign of top-down interventions for urban repair and ecological restoration (chengshi shuangxiu) was promoted and implemented in 2017, aiming to create a better environment for better life. Aided by central governmental support, various local authorities, design institutes and construction companies were involved in the process, committed to restoring ecologically damaged landscapes, treating polluted water bodies, building pocket parks, constructing pleasant waterfront spaces and preserving historic built heritage, among other things. This article reviews the origin, strategies and implications of this urban repair movement, focusing specifically on the issue of spatial justice. It uses the Laoximen urban regeneration project in the city of Changde, Hunan Province as a case study, because it demonstrates a deep commitment to skilfully integrating new buildings, historic fabrics and material culture into dynamic urban complex with strong humane concern. The Laoximen project was not a spontaneous, grass-roots community construction in the conventional sense, but a remarkable state-invested urban regeneration with positive contributions from various stakeholders. This article contends that the emphasis on spatial justice in the Laoximen project, a project that facilitated ordinary people access to urban space, helped forge a sustainable community with social, cultural and environmental vitality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
