Progress vs. Preservation:
China's "Handshake Buildings"
In China, a new trend is the rapid expansion of farm villages close enough to a city to provide easy access to its labor market.
The farmers who own structures in these villages are not subject to the building codes and land use regulations that local governments enforce on urban land. They are free to adjust housing prices to meet the demand coming from low-income migrants. For many new arrivals to China’s cities, urban villages have become an important source of affordable rental housing.
Because structures in the villages are often built close enough together for neighbors to reach out and greet one another, residents refer to them as woshoulou, or "handshake buildings."
The farmers who own structures in these villages are not subject to the building codes and land use regulations that local governments enforce on urban land. They are free to adjust housing prices to meet the demand coming from low-income migrants. For many new arrivals to China’s cities, urban villages have become an important source of affordable rental housing.
Because structures in the villages are often built close enough together for neighbors to reach out and greet one another, residents refer to them as woshoulou, or "handshake buildings."
http://www.thatsmags.com/china/post/19140/the-fall-of-urban-villages-migrants-last-refuge
Images and text summary from "The Fall of Guangdong's Urban Villages, Migrants' Last Refuge" By Bailey Hu, May 29, 2017 |
What design, architecture, engineering, safety, and business decisions did stakeholders have to make?
How would YOU like to live in a neighborhood like this?
What are the Yellow Hat (Positives), Black Hat (Negatives), or Green Hat (Creative Challenges) to consider if you lived in a "handshake building?"
How would YOU like to live in a neighborhood like this?
What are the Yellow Hat (Positives), Black Hat (Negatives), or Green Hat (Creative Challenges) to consider if you lived in a "handshake building?"