Morphology of Urban Villages in China: A Case Study of Dayuan Village in Guangzhou

Abstract

Urban villages play an important role in providing affordable housing to urban migrants in Chinese cities. They are considered as supplementary to the dual rural-urban system in China. Of central importance to studying urban villages is how the morphology of these informal settlements affects urban life. It is essential for urban planners and designers to examine the morphology of urban villages. This paper, therefore, investigates the morphology of urban villages using the case study of Dayuan Village in Guangzhou, China. The morphology of this urban village is tested against four main elements of urban morphology: urban density, accessibility, functional mix, and urban interface. Our results revealed that the type of street within the urban village has considerable influence on accessibility, functional mix, and urban interface. Regarding urban density, our results show that buildings’ height is not influenced by the centrality of buildings nor land value; however, it is likely that it is affected by planning agreements between the village committee and the local government. Land coverage does not comply with the planning regulation for residential districts. Regarding accessibility analysis, the number of entrances to streets is influenced by the type of street under analysis. The distribution of different types of functional mix is also affected by the type of street within the urban village. The buildings with a mix of ‘live/visit’ are concentrated along the formal streets and primary inner streets. The mono-functional use of ‘live’ and the bi-functional mix of ‘live/work’ are mostly located in the secondary inner streets. Regarding urban interface, our results demonstrate that the formal streets have an interface with considerable porosity, and that this can contribute to the livelihood of the immediate area.

Progressing towards Environmental Health Targets in China: An Integrative Review of Achievements in Air and Water Pollution under the “Ecological Civilisation and the Beautiful China” Dream

“…Figure 7 does not only confirm this phenomenon, but also confirms the existing notion that water pollution appears to be a bigger problem than it seems in other parts of the country. According to Gao et al [64], there is no issue that underscores the challenges of environmental crisis in China than the gradual appreciation of the fact that residents of certain villages are exposed to exceeding levels of pollution even though they cannot be classified as "cancer villages" as suggested by some international media. These are entire towns that have been completely written off as so polluted that simply living there is synonymous with high rate of cancer risk.…”

Level of engagement of recreational physical activity of urban villagers in Luohu, Shenzhen, China

“…Based on the results of this study, more tailed intervention is needed for Chinese adults not living in urban villages. Even though urban villagers are more likely to be in poor health due to poor housing situation [ 36 , 37 ], they are more likely to engage in recreational physical activity than non-urban villagers. While the two groups have large number of participants reporting lack of time to engage in recreational physical activity, different interventions should be developed for the two groups.…”

Post planning-decision process: Ensuring the delivery of high-quality developments in Cardiff

“…Therefore, their delivery results in an impact that extends much beyond the physical environment (Carmona et al 2003). It is considered that delivering better design is a responsibility that rests with the private sector; however, design standards and the density of new developments will be influenced through public policy (Gallent and Jones, 2007;Gao et al 2020). McGlynn (1993 contends that developers have the power to shape the built environment due to their ability to fund development, whereas due to their regulatory powers, the state has influence over some aspects of design.…”