G. Verdini

Reframing China's heritage conservation discourse. Learning by testing civic engagement tools in a historic rural village

Abstract Urban heritage conservation in China has been subject to severe criticism, although there is now a sense of paradigm shift. Charters, declarations and agendas had the merit of filtering down the international discourse on heritage, while more innovative approaches were arising. The UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape recommendation, offers a new angle from which to observe this process of change. The underlying argument of this article is that HUL can provide a platform to achieve greater sustainability in transforming historic sites in China, particularly in rural areas, overcoming, at the same time, the easy shortcut of the East–West discourse of difference in respect to heritage conservation. This is primarily due to the shifting focus from the materiality of heritage to its role in sustainable development with increasing attention on the role played by local communities. By presenting the proposal for the protection of the historic rural village of Shuang Wan in the Jiangsu Province, this paper aims to reflect on this shift showing its advantages but also some of the risks. These are inherent in a discourse of heritage in danger of legitimising mere pro-growth development approaches, if not accompanied by participatory practices considerate of the specific social reality of China.

The role of geographical proximity in the establishment and development of science parks –evidence from Nanjing, China

The emergence of science parks is a relatively new phenomenon in China. Apart from the widely debated topics of university–industry linkages, collaboration among firms and spontaneous/policy-driven science parks, the development of science parks in China also has several distinguishing characteristics, such as their ambiguous linkage with urban expansion and their hierarchical structuring pattern. This paper attempts to discuss the motivation and efficiency of spatial proximity in science park development and to explore the role of universities in science parks, the function of science parks as a government project and a case study of location choice by on-site firms. The qualitative analysis, based on in-depth interviews with tenant firm managers and district-level government officers in Jiangning, Nanjing, is used as a basis for discussion.

Orizzonte cina: le sfide dell’urbanizzazione al 2020

A meta marzo 2014 il governo cinese ha reso pubblico un documento di indirizzo per le politiche urbane che potrebbe determinare una correzione di rotta nell’attuale processo di rapida urbanizzazione che il paese attraversa ormai da qualche decennio. Si tratta del National New-Type Urbanization Plan – Guojia Xinxing Chengzhenhua Guihua 2014-2020 (SCPRC, 2014), ovvero il primo piano nazionale per un nuovo modello people-centred di urbanizzazione del paese. Compito di questo saggio breve e quello di riflettere sulle sfide future del processo di urbanizzazione cinese che tale documento lascia intravedere, alla luce di una serie di nodi irrisolti del processo non finito di opening-up della societa cinese al modello capitalista occidentale.

Cohousing di pianura. Ripensare l’abitare in chiave solidale e a zero consumo di suolo

Cohousing in the Po Valley. Rethinking dwelling through a social and zero soil consumption grid - The present article discusses new forms of habitat, understood mainly as relational attitudes which, in taking shape, pro168 Territorio duce spaces and give voice to the strong emphasis on creating community that is increasingly widespread in contemporary society. The opportunity to observe from close up the transformation of a Gruppo di Acquisto Solidale (Gas - Social Purchasing Group), set up by some Ferrara residents, into a group of aspiring cohousers, and to follow them through the various phases of collective learning, dialogue with the local institutions and with the various stakeholders who gradually appear on the scene, is set in a much broader research project. The latter has been pursued for some time now by the present writers and involves local government policies for the city and the surrounding area, with a particular focus on relatively marginal context of which the region of the Po Delta can be considered a concrete expression.