Abstract
In order to provide the first elements of a participatory process initiated and led by Chinese authorities, this paper will look at the citizen’s involvement in an urban planning project in China and discuss possible avenues to sustain the process in a specific local context over the long-term. Since the end of the 1980s, most community participation projects in China have been implemented in rural environments. This participatory process was carried out in Shanghai’s historically and culturally symbolic Caoyang Workers’ Village, without the external influence of international bodies. Even if some constraints have emerged in the participation of citizens during the pre-project phase, this participatory process seems to have fostered local governance to make significant breakthroughs. It was also the opportunity to reflect upon the minimum conditions to ensure the sustainability of this type of practice in Chinese urban planning projects by adopting the vision of an adapted participatory process.
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Notes
- 1.
The term consultation is often used in politics to designate the process by which stakeholders confront each other and finally agree to act together, but it has also commonly acquired the meaning of consulting interested parties prior to any decision, which does not hold the same significance as when one makes the assumption that a decision will be made collectively (Van den Hove 2001).
- 2.
For instance, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) supported the Centre for Integrated Agricultural Development (CIAD) in Beijing, which had started to introduce new concepts such as citizen participation and to embed them in their teaching and in their field studies (Plummer and Taylor 2012).
- 3.
“Persist in people‐orientation and reconstruction according to law. The resolution of the masses’ housing difficulties and improvement in their housing conditions shall be taken as an important goal of old town reconstruction. In respect of the determination of land plots to be reconstructed and the formulation of compensation and resettlement schemes, it is imperative to fully respect the people’s will in strict compliance with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations, so that the masses’ legitimate rights and interests might be maintained, and their real benefit be guaranteed” (Shanghai Municipal Government 2010).
- 4.
“Encourage all parties involved to participate. In the process of old town reconstruction and house demolition and relocation administrative department shall establish a system of the third-party participation, invite representatives of the people’s congress, members of the CPPCC, professional lawyers, personnel of public trust, representatives of residents, the department of civil affairs, petition letters and calls, discipline supervision and investigation, and auditing, and sub-district offices to jointly participate in and supervise the work of house demolition and relocation for old town reconstruction, and stop resolutely, investigate and handle the acts which damage the masses’ legitimate rights and interests” (Shanghai Municipal Government 2010).
- 5.
- 6.
Knowing that the average minimum wage in Shanghai is 1,080 RMB per month, approximately 135 € (Matthey 2011).
- 7.
From the name of a Shanghainese area which was entirely renovated and transformed into a pedestrianized area with shops and restaurants: "even though the project involved the demolition of the old neighborhood and the relocalization of all its inhabitants, it is now a genuine model of commercial development for numerous Chinese cities " (Leroux et al. 2010).
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Kern, AL., Bolay, JC. (2014). Participatory Processes in Urban Planning Projects in China: The Example of Caoyang Village, Shanghai. In: Bolay, JC., Hostettler, S., Hazboun, E. (eds) Technologies for Sustainable Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00639-0_18
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