Manufactured landscape : strategies for peri-urbanism in Dongguan

Abstract

Thirty years of Open Door Policy has brought about a series of urban restructuring of cities in the Pearl River Delta of China. The Peri Urban fabric of the these cities are formed as a result of complex orchestration of urban processes. In particular, rural hinterland are increasing being exploited as a vacuum for industrial expansion. The mono-functional spread of industrial estate has a limited life span, it is vulnerable to economic downturn, and undermine the possibility of small scale farming, an economic practice that is proved still relevant given the fact that rural and urban citizenship still maintain a clear distinction. This thesis proposes a new model of industrial facility that addresses the conflict of rural land resources rapid industrialization. It provides the necessary infrastructure for a constantly changing rural urban economic model. It is invested in creating an urbanity out of this unique economy without necessarily abiding to the conventional zoning model. Architecturally the project transforms the generic conditions of each constituent production program in response to a typological reconfiguration.