Tracing the Grotesque: Finding Value in the Urban Villages of Shenzhen

Abstract

Commercial housing communities are rapidly developed in the city of Shenzhen since the 1979 economic reform. In contrast, the still remaining village houses are excluded from the urban planning strategy and they are described as the “dirty, unorganized, bad” Urban Villages. The formally constructed Shenzhen metropolis, which was intended to greatly improve life in Shenzhen through modernization, somehow fails to provide full sense of rootedness to the residents, while the residents who live within urban villages are having surprisingly positive connections with these low-end neighborhoods. This article has the ambition to promote inclusion and support the maintenance of the Urban Village type. It also aims to discuss how the design of public space contributes to mental wellbeing of residents; how access to public space allows for social inclusion; and also, do Urban Villages deserve to be mostly preserved and how can these communities co-exist with the whole city.