Public Space Reconfiguration

Abstract

Under the background of rapid and enormous urbanisation and transformation in Shenzhen, urban segregation starts to emerge due to the increasing social and spatial disparities. Low-income migrants live in urban villages and degrading work-unit compounds without adequate public facilities, while high-income groups concentrate in commodity enclaves with gardens and private clubs, which cannot be accessed by outsiders. The lack of interaction among different social groups can be seen as a result of multiple barriers---power fragmentation, dual city character, physical boundary and separated life circles. In order to improve the low-quality urban environment, these areas are becoming the focus of urban regeneration area for government. But the current regeneration process results in similar high-end building plots, which are no longer affordable for low-income groups. They have to move further from the city centre searching for other cheap places to live, making the segregation issue even severer. In this project, the main aim is to maintain the current social structure, facilitate interaction between different social groups and balance the interests of all stakeholders through public space reconfiguration. This method involves layer-strategy, spatial transform and interest-balance model, in order to deal with barriers defined in research part.