Housing in Beijing: Innovative Approaches for the Future

THIS REPORT DESCRIBES two innovative housing schemes, one in central Beijing and one in Daxing county, a rural area to the south of Beijing. It begins with an outline of the economy and policy climate of China and the physical structure of Beijing, and the history of Chinese housing policy and city planning and housing construction in Beijing. The first scheme described is the Ju’er Hutong Courtyard Housing Project, undertaken by the Institute of Architectural and Urban Studies. This project aims to preserve traditional low-rise housing forms in the conservation area of central Beijing whilst at the same time overcoming problems of overcrowding. The report describes the project and the changes in the site before and after the project which have culminated in a high density area of renovated and new housing retaining traditional housing forms, with a quiet, green environment and a structure supportive of social cohesion. The innovative housing design has been accompanied by housing finance reform based on costsharing between residents and local government, and a new model for collaboration between the different actors involved in the project’s design and implementation. The report includes the results of a monitoring survey undertaken which considers the residents’ views and evaluates the success of the project. The second project, described more briefly, is the Liu-min-ying Ecological Village, one of the first ecological villages established in China, which combines pollution-free light industry with organic farming and achieves high incomes for rural China, as well as advances in environmental sustainability. Both the project reports and the background are illustrated extensively with statistical and descriptive information and colour photographs.