Farmers to Urbanites

I have been following this mass population migration in China of rural farmers moving into cities and the governments initiative to make it happen. Here, another report seeking to have 60% of the population living in a city brings more than a number of questions and issues. Food, the people that grew it, the land, the cities and the food it needs. So many opportunities.

When I was living in Chongqing in 2001-2002 I traveled down the Yangze River just prior to the massive relocation. A number of villages were be completely relocated to make way for the raising waters of the Yangze dam. Traditional, ornate, sustainable villages were being uprooted to concrete, high rise cities that may have an updated infrastructure, but lacked a deep sense of place and tradition. One of those being local subsistence patterns and small scale farming.

Enter the creative solutions of people moving from rural to urban. Chickens in the bathroom to farming on the sidewalk...so many lessons to be learned and design opportunities for these new cities housing a population living between two worlds.

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