Thesis Topic:
Resilient Village as a Rural Response to the Urbanizing Megacity of Greater Bay Area in China
Abstract:
The exponential growth of economy has put the world into a booming
construction site for everything, one of which is the witnessable urbanization.
Megacities are rising one after another. This research situated in the newly
rising megacity of the greater bay area in China. The magnitude of its
expansion, both speed and scale, has been shaping the Pearl River Delta area
drastically. The promising urbanizing future indulges this relentless
development. How can we measure this glorious madness? Besides those prosperous
propaganda numbers, the change of the other side, the rural lands, is a
significant bottom-up lens to observe this transformation. Inevitably, the
urban impacts would confront the rural villages, requiring a response to
survive. No response equals demolishment. Counter reaction leads to resilience.
Proposing resilient village is a path of identifying the impacts from megacity
urbanization, and measuring the village responsive conditions in both
sociological and spatial transformation. In terms of scopes, it is the degree
of scales (the big picture, village morphology, and streetscape) that are
practically performing the resilient condition. In terms of depth, it is the
performing degree of resilience (none, weak, medium and strong) that
effectively shapes the development of villages. The theory of resilience
provides a systematic assessment view towards a type living environment- rural
villages. Field research and multi-degree of village mapping would be conducted
as collection of evidential observation. The villages could be dissected
sociologically and spatially to constitute the structure and proposition of
resilient village.