This dissertation, "Zhou Wo: Towards a New Ruralism" by Lewei, Xia, 夏乐伟, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. DOI: 10.5353/th_b5070545 Subjects: Land use, Rural - China - Dongguan Shi

In an urbanising world, the city is considered the ultimate model and the measure of all things. The attention of architects and planners has been almost entirely focused on the city for many years, while rural spaces are all too often associated with visions of economic decline, stagnation and resignation. However, rural spaces are transforming almost as radically as cities. Furthermore, rural spaces play a decisive role in the sustainable development of our living environment - inextricably interlinked with the city as a resource or reservoir. The formerly segregated countryside is now traversed by global and regional flows of people, goods, waste, energy, and information, linking it to urban systems and enabling them to function in the first place. Ruralism is dedicated to the significance of rural spaces as a starting point for transformation: what notions of rural life currently exist? What is the connection between urban and rural concepts? Can these connections provide new impulses for shaping (urban) space? International experts illuminate rural spaces from an architectural, cultural, gender-oriented, ecological, and political perspective and ask how a (new) vision of the rural can be formulated. SELLING POINT: * Examination of the place that rural locations hold within the context of urban development, and how they themselves are transforming 150 colour images

Grouping a selection of papers from the 12th International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability, this book refers to all aspects of urban environment and provides solutions that lead towards sustainability. The series maintains its strong reputation and a substantial number of contributions have been made from a diverse range of transnational delegates, resulting in a variety of topics and experiences. Urban areas face a number of challenges related to reducing pollution, improving main transportation and infrastructure systems and these challenges can contribute to the development of social and economic imbalances and require the development of new solutions. The challenge is to manage human activities, pursuing welfare and prosperity in the urban environment, whilst considering the relationships between the parts and their connections with the living world. The dynamics of its networks (flows of energy matter, people, goods, information and other resources) are fundamental for an understanding of the evolving nature of today’s cities. Large cities represent a productive ground for architects, engineers, city planners, social and political scientists able to conceive new ideas and time them according to technological advances and human requirements. The multidisciplinary components of urban planning, the challenges presented by the increasing size of cities, the amount of resources required and the complexity of modern society are all addressed. The published papers cover the following fields: Urban strategies; Planning, development and management; The community and the city; Infrastructure and society; Eco-town planning; Spatial conflicts in the city; Urban transportation and planning; Conservation and regeneration; Architectural issues; Sustainable energy and the city; Environmental management; Flood risk; Waste management; Urban air pollution; Health issues; Water resources; Landscape planning and design; Intelligent environment; Planning for risk and natural hazards; Waterfront development; Case studies.

Rural areas are often viewed as isolated and stagnating areas and urban areas as their opposites. Against such a backdrop, this book seeks to unveil a set of dynamics that view rural areas as ‘translocal’ in the sense that they are ‘changing’ and ‘interconnected’. Social transformations take place in rural areas as the result of intense exchanges between different people, settings and geographies. Accordingly, rural-urban but also rural-rural interrelations on international and national scales are strongly contributing to rural change. Translocal ruralism is exemplified through the analysis of local and global migratory flows, the activities of rural firms in national and global arenas, the spread of different forms of transportation and dislocation, and the growing information society, which enables rural spaces to be connected to the world and improves new ways of interconnection and sociability practices. The book is structured into two parts, which intertwine the dynamics of rural spaces. The first part, ‘Linking nodes: people and networks connecting places’, is concerned with mobilities such as migration and commuting, and the establishment of national and global networks. The second part, ‘International mobilities: a tension between scales’, analyses the dynamics of international migration and mobilities in rural areas.