EPISODE 11, and the first in Series 2, takes us to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province in the South of China and part of the Pearl River Delta Region. In this episode I visit the Zhujiang New Town area of the city and the remnants of the city center’s last remaining urban village – Xian Cun - with architect Hu Jianyu who works as an architect for the Hong Kong office of international architecture firm KPF. We talk about the erasure of history, memory and identity for residents in the city; the relentless drive for progression and discipline; the importance of decay and aging; and the homogenization and eradication of urban informality and imagination.
References:
Lin, Y., Meulder, B. & Wang, S. (2011) ‘Understanding the ‘Village in the City’ in Guangzhou’ in Urban Studies, Volume 48. (Dec 1. 2011).
Murayama, Y., Zacharius, J., Hu, Y., Huang, Q. (2013) ‘Morphology and Spatial Dynamics of Urban Villages in Guangzhou’s CBD’ in Urban Studies Research, Volume 2013. (March 19. 2013).
Wong, S., Tang, B. & Liu, J. (2018) ‘Village Redevelopment and Desegregation as a Strategy for Metropolitan Development: Some Lessons from Guangzhou City’ in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Volume 42, Issue 6 (August 5. 2018).
http://www.thatsmags.com/guangzhou/post/10405/photos-inside-zhujiangs-forgotten-urban-village
https://www.kpf.com/projects/location/asia-pacific
