CHENG ZHONG CUN, “VILLAGE IN THE CITY’”, IN GUANGZHOU. BETWEEN EXPANSION AND TRADITION: THE CONTRIBUTION OF “VILLAGE IN THE CITY” OF THE CITY TO URBAN GROWTH. CONSIDERATIONS FROM PIECES OF CITIES IN CONSTANT TRANSFORMATION.

The reforms undertook by Chinese Popular Republic since the end of ‘70s caused, especially in coastal regions, a process of strong urbanization. On the one hand, it contributed to a general improvement of life conditions for a great part of the population; on the other hand, it led in Chinese society to urban poverty and social inequality phenomena, typical of market societies. The delicate balance between urban and rural areas is upset: new forms of farming and specialization of cultivations modify the countryside order and the farmers’ working structures. Farmers are forced to seek an “urban” employment, giving life to the phenomenon of floating population, liudong renkou, continuously moving between the big urban areas and the countryside, now urbanized. The complex administrative structure is capable of answers in a moment of such a territorial change, and it upholds, on a local level, a clear division in the urban and rural land management, creating hostile situations in the administration of land-use right. “Villages in the city”, cheng zhong cun, are a special phenomenon of Chinese urban geography. It was born in this phase of territorial and social great changes, but is deeply rooted in past rural system, and brings local level contradictions and answers to the new development model. In spite of episodes of urban and social decline, the 139 villages in Guangzhou show a defence of traditional culture and a marked adaptation ability of economic activities but, because of the building pressure, they risk disappearing from the urban scene. This piece of research aims to rebuild a connection among the different phases of the Guangzhou growth and the transformation of villages in the city, and to identify their contribution to the city growing process, in socio-economic and tradition “preservation” terms.