Chinese urbanization has been taking place at an unprecedented pace and scale. In the last four decades, the urban landscape in China has been drastically reshaped, with most land being taken, fully developed, or redeveloped. What left are those unoccupied spaces as the exception of state which provide a different scenario, potential and deserve more attention. [...]@en

This study uses the palimpsest analogy to explore the interactions between traditions and modernity in Chinese urban contexts. Chinese megacities including Shenzhen have undergone continually radical and dramatic transformations. The palimpsest notion, a layered, overwritten surface with traces of earlier content, enables us to unravel historical and cultural layers from the past in the present readings. Shenzhen is then conceptualised as a palimpsest, illustrating its uneven stratification process in which urban villages contain deep descriptive layers, encompassing both traditional myths and futuristic modern ideas. The case study of Pingshan village through a close examination of specific locations via ethnographic mapping demonstrates that each particular space is an accumulation of various ways of palimpsest. This gives a glimpse of the traditions that being handed down and how they intersect with modern influences to produce hybrid spaces. These traditions are the forms of practice embedded in the everyday lives of residents, including long-term villagers and arrived migrants. The study concludes by proposing a framework for creating the potential of hybridisation to inform a more inclusive approach to urban planning and design.

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This anonymized Research Note reports qualitative observations and interview evidence to explore the operation of a U-pick lychee orchard located in China’s Pearl River Delta. Observation reveals the ironic juxtaposition of an owner-built cottage on a forested hillside surrounded by an intensively planned, densely populated urban environment featuring high-rise apartment towers. Field data show that informality, social networks, and petty entrepreneurialism are all manifest in urban agriculture, lychee production, labor, and land tenure. This Research Note illustrates the interstitial porosity that exists within the incorporated bounds of an urban area with informal economic activity adjacent to formal occupations and hillside orchards in the shadows of high-rise apartment towers.@en

How was botany as a new science established in modern China? In his book Ordering the Myriad Things: From Traditional Knowledge to Scientific Botany in China, Nicholas K. Menzies unravels the story of the transition from traditional knowledge about plants to the science of botany, particularly during the period from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. In light of various potential epistemological representations of an objective nature, he acknowledges the profound difference between the Chinese traditional way of understanding the world and the Eurocentric scientific approach. Menzies gives his attention to the places that they intersect. @en

Moral knowledge, and its spatial articulation, are being ignored in the rapid urban growth that results from globalisation. The need to learn from tradition and integrate urban heritage values into the wider framework of sustainable development and citizen engagement is urgently recommended by UNESCO. This paper explores the concept of moral knowledge (informed by Confucianism) and its influence on the spatial configuration of the urban village Huaide in Shenzhen, China. Chinese moral and aesthetic knowledge was practised and enforced throughout the imperial period via rituals, writing and painting, agriculture and garden design, and city governance. Although globalisation’s dominant Western paradigms are challenging traditional Chinese practices, such traditional knowledge can serve as cultural forces shaping the distinct characteristics of Chinese cities. Using mapping supplemented by fieldwork photographs, we argue that Huaide Village is a relational space embedding social and ecological values guided by traditional Chinese moral knowledge. Amidst the transitional phase of urban redevelopment, the network of the retained clan houses, temples, courtyards and hierarchic streets harbours moral and cultural traditions. The village acts as a resistance to the homogenised urban spaces for a ‘global’ city. This paper adds to the discourse on urban villages by enriching our understanding of their lived spaces while also providing insights for possible future urban renewal strategies that engender better citizen engagement. @en

Societal Impact Statement: Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is increasingly being used to reduce the impacts of climate change on vulnerable people and landscapes. The international EbA South project implemented EbA interventions across three countries (Mauritania, Nepal, the Seychelles), piloting the restoration of mountain, desert and coastal ecosystems to enhance the climate resilience of local communities. The experiences of the EbA South project across these distinct ecosystems and socio-economic environments provide unique insights into the adaptive management invariably required within EbA initiatives. This analysis also provides lessons on how to share knowledge among different stakeholders and countries to advance South-South cooperation. Summary: Climate change is having an increasingly negative impact on the world's most vulnerable societies. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) uses biodiversity and ecosystem services to help local communities adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. This approach, which has the potential to be implemented across a wide range of ecosystem types and scales, is increasingly being adopted by governments and international donors within climate change adaptation initiatives. The objective of the EbA South project was to enhance the climate resilience of communities in Mauritania, Nepal, and the Seychelles by building institutional capacity, mobilizing knowledge and transferring EbA technologies based on China's experience in successfully implementing restoration. The project implemented EbA interventions in the drylands of Mauritania, Himalayan forests in Nepal, and the coastal zone of the Seychelles. All interventions were carefully monitored by researchers to generate scientific evidence of the impacts of EbA. Here, we provide implementers of EbA with the major lessons learned from the EbA South project, namely: (a) quantifying the full suite of ecosystem goods and services generated through EbA at a landscape scale; (b) budgeting in advance for management of time-consuming complexities related to socioeconomics and ecology such as land-use conflict, ineffective government structures, disagreements regarding intervention options, and challenging environmental conditions; (c) undertaking long-term research for adaptive management and documenting the project's successes; (d) providing platforms for effective communication and collaboration among stakeholders with different first languages; and (e) regularly adjusting exit strategies for maintenance of the EbA landscapes after closure of the project.

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