Advice on urban village renovation offered

Writer: Zhang Qian  | Editor: Holly Wang  | From:  | Updated: 2019-05-28

Local political advisers and several scholars were invited to share their opinions and advice on the renovation of the urban villages scattered around Shenzhen at a discussion forum Sunday.

For many newcomers to Shenzhen, urban villages are where they first settle before they officially commence their work and life in the city. In the eyes of Lu Weiping, a political adviser from Yantian International Container Terminals, tearing down the urban villages once and for all is hardly a good move.

“More than 2,000 official staff members from our company and more than 4,000 workers from our contractors are living in different urban villages,” said Lu, who led an investigative research on urban villages in Shenzhen and found that the 437 villages in Shenzhen accommodate around 4.42 million people.

The research also indicates that among all the people dwelling in urban villages, approximately 3.31 million are part of the floating population, and these people are constantly adding vitality to Shenzhen, said Yang Hui, a member of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPPCC and also director of the industry and information bureau in Bao’an District.

However, the largest concern over the rambling buildings in urban villages remains safety issues. Wu Xianhong, one of the political advisers, stressed that the chaotic buildings with messy electrical lines could lead to unintended consequences if a fire were to take place.

Wu said that tearing down the urban villages could help alleviate hidden fire hazards because fire engines can hardly drive down the narrow streets inside the villages.

Unlike Wu, some other political advisers think that urban villages could be partially torn down with renovation projects based on each urban village’s needs. Yang Liyan suggested improving the environment of the villages by removing some dangerous buildings and renovating others after assessing each village.

An American anthropologist, Marry Ann O’Donnell, also presented at the discussion forum as a guest speaker over the weekend. She said that the urban villages in Shenzhen have been renovated into better form in recent years and will become even better with good planning, but the renovations should be carried out with respect to the villages’ unique cultures.

Another key topic discussed Sunday regarded the expense. Some political advisers and guest speakers said that the government should take partial responsibility for the infrastructure, while the property owners of buildings in the urban villages should also be obliged to shoulder part of the expense of renovation as they are the ones who would benefit the most.

However, since many buildings in the villages have problems regarding property rights, it is unrealistic for the owners to pay for the renovations. More flexible and appropriate registration methods should be introduced to clarify each property owner’s responsibilities, suggested some speakers.