Grown In China – Abstract:

One in forty people worldwide migrates from an inland farming area in China to a Chinese coastal province, in order to find work.  Demand for low cost, unskilled labour in China’s coastal provinces is created by Special Economic Zones, which manifest high concentrations of factories producing goods primarily for the export market.  The economic success of the SEZ has led to further growth and urbanisation, engulfing the surrounding rural villages and leading to a conflict in political interest; ultimately resulting in the demolition of a housing typology that has become known as the ‘Village in the City’ (ViC).

However it is in the affordable rented accommodation of the ViC that the migrant worker finds refuge in the city.  Indeed in the case of Shenzen (SEZ), 192 ViCs occupy only 5% of the city’s land mass, but house close to half of the city’s population.i The response of the ViC to the huge demand for temporary accommodation has also been rapid urbanisation via extrusion of existing housing mass.  By-products of this extreme and unregulated population density growth are: poor sanitation, fire hazards and the potential for hidden unlawful activity.ii

‘In the view of the poor city image that the existence of a ViC represents to local government, the current tendency is to press for the ViC to be abolished.  In the meantime, developers wait and see, because their destruction is so legally complex.’iii

The ViC houses which have refused demolition have been dubbed ‘nail houses’ and have attracted unfavorable world wide media attention.  Regardless of the legal complexities of demolishing ViCs, the now established cycle is from that of a free standing village, to engulfment by the city, to demolition.  This has resulted in loss of services, employment opportunity and severe depletion of affordable housing solutions for migrant and lower income communities in the city.

In the wider context of the current global recession and increased awareness of sustainability issues with the recent G8 summit; a renewed interest in locally produced goods has emerged with the interests to reduce ‘carbon miles’ produced in the transportation of commodity.  Of particular interest is the transport of fresh food produce from rural areas (home and abroad), to urban locations where they are consumed.  The food the city dweller consumes on an everyday basis is linked to a broader global network of production and distribution that has a variety of cultural, social, economic and environmental consequences.  The migrant worker is uniquely positioned with a skilled horticultural background to be able to offer services for urban and peri-urban food production, thus reconfiguring this dynamic.  Taking inspiration from Edward Akroyd and Octavia Hill, it is within the context of food production that an entirely new market of high value regional economies can be generated for migrant workers, creating funding opportunities for the construction of high quality housing and new social ecologies in urbanized China.

i Uehara, Yushi (2008), Unknown Urbanity – Towards the Village in the City, Architectural Design New Urban China – John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
i i i Yan, Meng (2008), Urban Villages, Architectural Design New Urban China – John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
i i i  Op Cit.