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Building an image of Villages‐in‐the‐City: A Clarification of China's Distinct Urban Spaces

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  • HIM CHUNG

Abstract

Villages‐in‐the‐city (chengzhongcun) as distinct urban spaces in Chinese cities have attracted a lot of scholarly attention, and the term has been variously interpreted. The term ‘urban village’ was initially borrowed and applied to describe this urban phenomenon. While the term in a Western context refers to a planned neighbourhood that features good urban planning and design, the question posed in this essay is: are villages‐in‐the‐city the Chinese equivalent of urban villages? Furthermore, within China, villages‐in‐the‐city are always regarded as migrant enclaves, no different from Zhejiang village or Xinjiang village in Beijing. Are they the same kind of settlement? A primary aim of this essay is to reassert the differences between villages‐in‐the‐city and urban villages that have developed in the United Kingdom. A secondary objective is to explore the variations between villages‐in‐the‐city and Zhejiang village. Through investigating the variations between these urban morphologies, this study attempts to fill gaps in the current literature and hence clarify the misconceptions and confusion about Chinese villages‐in‐the‐city. Résumé De nombreuses études ont été consacrées aux ‘villages dans la ville’ (chengzhongcun) en tant qu'espaces urbains différenciés au sein des grandes villes chinoises, et le terme a été interprété de manière variée. À l'origine, on a emprunté et appliqué l'expression ‘village urbain’ pour décrire ce phénomène; dans un contexte occidental, celle‐ci décrit un quartier aménagé, caractérisé par un urbanisme et une conception de bon niveau. Ce texte pose donc la question suivante: les villages dans la ville sont‐ils les équivalents chinois des villages urbains? De plus, en Chine, les villages dans la ville sont toujours considérés comme des enclaves pour migrants, tels les ‘villages’ de Zhejiang et de Xinjiang à Beijing. S'agit‐il du même type d'implantation? La première finalité de ce travail est de rétablir les différences entre les villages dans la ville et les villages urbains qui se sont développés au Royaume‐Uni. Un second objectif sera d'examiner les divergences entre les villages dans la ville et le village de Zhejiang. En analysant les divergences entre ces morphologies urbaines, l'étude s'efforce de compléter la littérature actuelle et, ce faisant, de clarifier les idées fausses et les confusions à propos des ‘villages dans la ville’ en Chine.

Suggested Citation

  • Him Chung, 2010. "Building an image of Villages‐in‐the‐City: A Clarification of China's Distinct Urban Spaces," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 421-437, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:34:y:2010:i:2:p:421-437
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00979.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Yuan, Dinghuan & Yau, Yung & Bao, Haijun & Lin, Wenyi, 2020. "A Framework for Understanding the Institutional Arrangements of Urban Village Redevelopment Projects in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    2. Karita Kan, 2019. "Accumulation without Dispossession? Land Commodification and Rent Extraction in Peri‐urban China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 633-648, July.
    3. Shenjing He, 2015. "Consuming urban living in ‘villages in the city’: Studentification in Guangzhou, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(15), pages 2849-2873, November.
    4. Dror Kochan, 2015. "Placing the Urban Village: A Spatial Perspective on the Development Process of Urban Villages in Contemporary China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 927-947, September.
    5. Yang Zhan, 2018. "The urbanisation of rural migrants and the making of urban villages in contemporary China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(7), pages 1525-1540, May.
    6. Yu Wang & David Shaw & Ke Yuan, 2018. "Gated Neighborhoods, Privatized Amenities and Fragmented Society: Evidence from Residential Experience and Implications for Urban Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-20, November.
    7. Siu Wai Wong & Bo-sin Tang & Jinlong Liu & Ming Liang & Winky K.O. Ho, 2021. "From “decentralization of governance†to “governance of decentralization†: Reassessing income inequality in periurban China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(6), pages 1473-1489, September.

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