Sustainable and Creative Village Research Network Second Event

At the end of March, academic staff Yun Gao and Adrian Pitts of CUDAS held their second Village Research Network Meeting hosted by Guizhou Minzu University in the provincial capital Guiyang, a city of about 4 million residents in China.

Almost 300 people attended the event including Senior Staff from the University and a mixture of practitioners, academics and students. A peak audience of 470 also watched a live stream of the first day symposium online which included presentations from: the President of the University Professor Tao Wenliang; Vice Principal Professor Xiao Yuanping and Professor Fan Tiegang; together with Kong Weilin, Director Urbanization Division Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Guizhou Province; Wei Haobo, Chief Architect,West Line Studio Design Director, Guiyang Architecture Survey & Design Co., Ltd.; Zhou Zhengxu, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University; Zong Dexin Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University; Liao Hanwen Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Beijing Institute of Technology; Gao Pei, Associate Professor, College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Guizhou University for Nationalities; He  Lin Associate Professor Associate Dean, College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Guizhou University for Nationalities and Nie Zhongxing, Director of Urban and Rural Development Planning Bureau of Guizhou Baili Azalea Management District.

Also launched at the symposium was a student design competition for Rural Planning in SW China. The presentations were chaired by Associate Professor He Lin, Associate Dean of the College of Architecture and Civil Engineering.

As part of the proceedings Professor Pitts gave an overview of issues behind the project and Dr Gao showed material from the UK focusing on explaining natural landscape in Yorkshire and also the former industrial village of Saltaire near Bradford. The event was widely publicised and also later featured on the Guiyang TV News Channel.

The following day a workshop and visit were organised by the hosts including a visit to a rural village in the Baili Dujuan area undergoing transformation where the team met with representatives to discuss how the village was dealing with expansion and development. Almost the whole village joined in the discussions and even the children were enthused to try sketching some ideas (using ADA note-pad and pencils!). The trip was also enhanced by a stopover to view the famous hillsides covered with blossoming trees and azalea blooms found in the spring.

On the final day, visits were made to an urban arts area “The Dream of Stone” developed by local famous artist Song Peilun and also to an Buyi ethnic minority ecological settlement in the village of Zhen Shancun, which was awarded the title “Guizhou Huaxi Buyi Ecological Museum” in 2011.

As part of the trip both Dr Gao and Prof Pitts also visited Chongqing Jiaotong University to give presentations to students. This University had also supported students on the BA Architecture Programme earlier in the year and are aiding with the organisation of the research network overall (thanks are once again to Prof Lili Dong and Dr Wen Qian).

Much gratitude is extended to all those at Guizhou Minzu University who facilitated the successful research network event, and in particular to the Dean Professor He Lin and new project collaborator, Miss Xiong Yuan. Each event seems to draw a larger audience and with increasing impacts. The next Network Meeting is being hosted by Yunnan Arts University (a long time collaborator with Huddersfield and with which we have a MoU); this will take place at the beginning of June 2018.