Urban Regeneration Through Circularity: Exploring the Potential of Circular Development in the Urban Villages of Chengdu, China
Research on circular development in China’s urban planning remains limited, particularly regarding marginalized groups’ actions. This study addresses the gap by examining circular practices within informal food systems in Chengdu’s urban villages. It highlights residents’ bottom-up initiatives in fo...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-03-01
|
| Series: | Land |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/655 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849341375263277056 |
|---|---|
| author | Xinyu Lin Marcin Dąbrowski Lei Qu Birgit Hausleitner Roberto Rocco |
| author_facet | Xinyu Lin Marcin Dąbrowski Lei Qu Birgit Hausleitner Roberto Rocco |
| author_sort | Xinyu Lin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research on circular development in China’s urban planning remains limited, particularly regarding marginalized groups’ actions. This study addresses the gap by examining circular practices within informal food systems in Chengdu’s urban villages. It highlights residents’ bottom-up initiatives in food production and consumption and their interactions with the broader urban context. Using street interviews and Research through Design, it develops community-based visions to improve these actions and the needed planning tools for implementation. It also explores how circular development could support urban regeneration by recognizing overlooked resources and practices. Semi-structured expert interviews reveal barriers in China’s planning system to accommodate such visions. Findings indicate that local circular actions—driven by local labor and knowledge and efforts to tackle polluted land and idle spaces—offer valuable opportunities for circular development. However, deficiencies in planning tools for spatial planning, waste treatment, land contamination regulation, and vulnerability recognition create barriers to upscaling these initiatives. This study calls for integrating circular development into China’s spatial planning by strengthening top-down tools and fostering grassroots initiatives to promote sustainable resource flows, ecosystem health, and social equity. It also offers broader insights into promoting circular development by recognizing and integrating informal, bottom-up practices in cities undergoing informal settlement regeneration. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-978cbf3f50744af487e65eadbd44be9a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2073-445X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Land |
| spelling | doaj-art-978cbf3f50744af487e65eadbd44be9a2025-08-20T03:43:39ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2025-03-0114365510.3390/land14030655Urban Regeneration Through Circularity: Exploring the Potential of Circular Development in the Urban Villages of Chengdu, ChinaXinyu Lin0Marcin Dąbrowski1Lei Qu2Birgit Hausleitner3Roberto Rocco4Department of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The NetherlandsDepartment of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The NetherlandsDepartment of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The NetherlandsDepartment of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The NetherlandsDepartment of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The NetherlandsResearch on circular development in China’s urban planning remains limited, particularly regarding marginalized groups’ actions. This study addresses the gap by examining circular practices within informal food systems in Chengdu’s urban villages. It highlights residents’ bottom-up initiatives in food production and consumption and their interactions with the broader urban context. Using street interviews and Research through Design, it develops community-based visions to improve these actions and the needed planning tools for implementation. It also explores how circular development could support urban regeneration by recognizing overlooked resources and practices. Semi-structured expert interviews reveal barriers in China’s planning system to accommodate such visions. Findings indicate that local circular actions—driven by local labor and knowledge and efforts to tackle polluted land and idle spaces—offer valuable opportunities for circular development. However, deficiencies in planning tools for spatial planning, waste treatment, land contamination regulation, and vulnerability recognition create barriers to upscaling these initiatives. This study calls for integrating circular development into China’s spatial planning by strengthening top-down tools and fostering grassroots initiatives to promote sustainable resource flows, ecosystem health, and social equity. It also offers broader insights into promoting circular development by recognizing and integrating informal, bottom-up practices in cities undergoing informal settlement regeneration.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/655circular developmentcircular economysocial dimensionplanning toolsurban regenerationmarginalized communities |
| spellingShingle | Xinyu Lin Marcin Dąbrowski Lei Qu Birgit Hausleitner Roberto Rocco Urban Regeneration Through Circularity: Exploring the Potential of Circular Development in the Urban Villages of Chengdu, China Land circular development circular economy social dimension planning tools urban regeneration marginalized communities |
| title | Urban Regeneration Through Circularity: Exploring the Potential of Circular Development in the Urban Villages of Chengdu, China |
| title_full | Urban Regeneration Through Circularity: Exploring the Potential of Circular Development in the Urban Villages of Chengdu, China |
| title_fullStr | Urban Regeneration Through Circularity: Exploring the Potential of Circular Development in the Urban Villages of Chengdu, China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Urban Regeneration Through Circularity: Exploring the Potential of Circular Development in the Urban Villages of Chengdu, China |
| title_short | Urban Regeneration Through Circularity: Exploring the Potential of Circular Development in the Urban Villages of Chengdu, China |
| title_sort | urban regeneration through circularity exploring the potential of circular development in the urban villages of chengdu china |
| topic | circular development circular economy social dimension planning tools urban regeneration marginalized communities |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/655 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xinyulin urbanregenerationthroughcircularityexploringthepotentialofcirculardevelopmentintheurbanvillagesofchengduchina AT marcindabrowski urbanregenerationthroughcircularityexploringthepotentialofcirculardevelopmentintheurbanvillagesofchengduchina AT leiqu urbanregenerationthroughcircularityexploringthepotentialofcirculardevelopmentintheurbanvillagesofchengduchina AT birgithausleitner urbanregenerationthroughcircularityexploringthepotentialofcirculardevelopmentintheurbanvillagesofchengduchina AT robertorocco urbanregenerationthroughcircularityexploringthepotentialofcirculardevelopmentintheurbanvillagesofchengduchina |