I still don’t understand what urban village transformation is?

Urban Villages

In a narrow sense, it refers to rural villages that are still living in the original villages after all or most of their cultivated land has been expropriated during the process of urbanization. The residential areas that evolved into them are also called "villages in the city". Broadly speaking, it refers to residential areas that lag behind the pace of development, are outside modern urban management, and have low living standards in the process of rapid urban development.

There are 231 such "villages in the city" in the eight districts of Beijing. "Villages in the city" have become prominent areas with potential safety hazards for public security in Beijing

Last September, The Beijing Municipal Government held the 61st Mayor’s Office Meeting and studied and approved a work plan for renovating “villages in the city”. The meeting decided that Beijing will use the funds saved from the "downsizing" of Olympic venues to speed up the construction of the city's social environment and municipal infrastructure, speed up the transformation of "urban villages", and realize the strategic concept of "New Beijing, New Olympics". Starting from this year, we will spend three years intensively renovating the "urban villages" in the suburbs of Beijing to improve the living environment of citizens, enhance the overall environmental level of the city, accelerate the pace of modernization of the capital, and create clean, beautiful, harmonious and orderly buildings. The urban environment welcomes the 2008 Olympic Games. It has been warmly welcomed by the people and widely concerned by people from all walks of life. Beijing's "urban villages" are mainly distributed in the edge areas of urban built-up areas and urban-rural fringe areas. The urbanization process in these areas is relatively lagging, and the population The density is high, foreigners are relatively concentrated, illegal construction, illegal construction and private construction are serious, municipal infrastructure is lacking, houses are dilapidated, the environment is dirty, social management is chaotic, and there are many hidden dangers to urban public safety. According to statistics, Beijing’s “urban villages” can be roughly divided into two categories: The first category refers to urban corners with dirty environments in built-up areas. There are approximately 231 such "urban villages" in the eight districts of Beijing. The specific distribution areas are 4 in Dongcheng District, 3 in Xicheng District, 7 in Chongwen District, 70 in Haidian District, 57 in Chaoyang District, and 51 in Fengtai. 20 in Shijingshan and 19 in Xuanwu District. The total area is 1,092 hectares, with a construction area of ??2.735 million square meters; the second category of "urban villages" mainly refers to administrative villages within planned urban areas, most of which are located in the urban-rural fringe. There are about 112 of them, covering an area of ??18,000 hectares. The construction area is 72.21 million square meters. At present, these two types of “urban villages” are concentrated in the three districts of Chaoyang, Haidian and Fengtai in Beijing. According to statistics from the Office of the Capital Public Security Comprehensive Management Committee, there are currently 311 "urban villages" in the four districts of Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai, and Shijingshan, including areas outside the planned urban area, with a population of 715,000 and an area of ??95,000. million hectares, 119,000 illegal buildings, a construction area of ??1.936 million square meters, illegal buildings involving 38,000 permanent residents. At present, "urban villages" have become prominent areas with hidden safety risks for urban public security. "Urban Village" is a disharmonious phenomenon that appears in the process of urban development. In a narrow sense, it refers to the residential areas that evolved from rural villages during the urbanization process because all or most of the cultivated land was expropriated and farmers continued to live in the original villages after they became residents. They are also called "villages in the city." Broadly speaking, it refers to residential areas that lag behind the pace of development, are outside modern urban management, and have low living standards in the process of rapid urban development. The problem of "villages in the city" has become a "chronic disease" plaguing Beijing's urbanization process. It is the inevitable result of the lack of overall coordination in Beijing’s urban planning, construction and management. If it is not fundamentally solved, the vicious cycle of "urban villages" will continue. In the future, the task of transforming "urban villages" will become increasingly heavy and the cost will become higher and higher. Therefore, the mayor's office meeting decided that Beijing should be determined to transform "urban villages" as soon as possible. It will take three years to carry out centralized renovation of the 231 "urban villages" built in the urban area. First, the surrounding areas of the Olympic venues and the Fourth Ring Road must be demolished. There are 171 "urban villages" within the road, and the remaining 60 "urban villages" will continue to be completed after 2008. Through the renovation of "urban villages", Beijing will demolish 33,935 households, cancel 85 roadside markets, demolish more than 11 million square meters of illegal construction, add more than 11.97 million square meters of green area, and build 3.95 million square meters of roads. The surrounding environment of 25 cultural relics and historic sites has been improved. As a result, "urban villages", a once-forgotten corner of the city, began to become a hot spot of people's attention. The large-scale renovation of many urban villages occupying prime locations in the city has attracted widespread attention from all walks of life.

"Urban villages" have dual characteristics of rural and urban areas and are a historical product of the urbanization process. In the future, Beijing's urban construction will continue to develop, and more new cities and functional centers will be built in the suburbs, turning more areas into new "urban villages." Therefore, transforming "urban villages" will be a long historical process and a long-term task. , it does not mean that the task has been completely completed once these 231 "urban villages" have been transformed. Therefore, studying how to transform "urban villages" is also a long-term historical task. It must be given high priority.

The acceleration of the urbanization process has caused some villages at the urban-rural fringe to integrate into urban areas and become areas with "villages in the city, cities in the villages, modernization outside the villages, and dirty and messy villages", which seriously hinders It affects the popularization and development of urban spiritual civilization construction; it is not conducive to the overall planning and construction of the city.

In the process of transforming from rural to urban areas, "villages in the city" have not been fully integrated into the unified planning, construction and management of the city because land, household registration, population and other aspects belong to the urban-rural dual management system. Therefore, their development has great spontaneity and Blindness still retains strong characteristics of farmers in production methods, lifestyles, landscape construction and other aspects, thus affecting the layout of urban infrastructure and even the implementation of overall urban planning. The long-term existence of "urban villages" has become a problem faced by the development of many cities in our country. A large number of "urban villages" exist in cities, which have a great negative impact on urban construction and management. However, it is extremely difficult to transform "urban villages". How to transform "urban villages" is an issue that almost all cities in the country are working on. major issues faced. Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Nanchang, Tianjin, Qingdao, Taiyuan, Xi'an and many other cities have encountered many problems and accumulated many experiences and lessons in the process of transforming "urban villages". So, how should Beijing transform its “urban villages”? At present, due to the adjustment of national demolition and land policies and the improvement of residents' and farmers' awareness of property rights and rights protection, demolition and land acquisition are very difficult. Most of the "urban villages" have high building density and a large migrant population. Many villagers have no jobs, and many still make a living by renting out illegal buildings. The property rights of houses and land in different "urban villages" are confusing. There are both urban property rights and farmer property rights for land and homesteads. Many "urban villages" still retain the administrative structure of townships and villages, and there are also many farmers' collective enterprise properties, which are the basis of survival for local farmers. Dealing with these properties and solving the problem of finding employment for farmers are even more difficult problems. These have added many difficulties to the transformation of "urban villages". Therefore, the transformation of "villages in the city" must be adapted to local conditions, and the approach of "one district, one policy, one village, one case" must be adhered to. Under the premise of unified policy formulation, different situations should be distinguished, different transformation methods should be determined, and the principle of safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of villagers should be adhered to. Maintaining the collective economy and the legitimate rights and interests of villagers and improving the quality of life of villagers are the key to the success of the transformation of "villages in the city". In this "urban village" rectification work, the municipal government decided that the city should adopt relevant policies based on different situations: for "urban villages" formed by land acquisition and undeveloped land, if the land has been idle for less than two years, the land users will be required to start construction within a time limit. If the construction is not completed within the time limit, the land use rights will be recovered; if the land has been idle for two years, the original approving authority will revoke the project construction land planning license in accordance with the law, take back the land for free, and enter the municipal government's land reserve. For "villages in the city" formed due to the rejection of development projects, developers must solve them within a time limit. The government that is in real difficulty can provide certain subsidies. For "villages in the city" that have become ownerless, the municipal and district governments will fund the demolition. The "urban villages" formed by dilapidated buildings left over from urban construction and without dangerous renovation or development projects will be jointly resolved by the municipal and district governments. Adhere to planning first, include the transformation of "villages in the city" into the scope of planning revisions, formulate different solutions and scientific transformation plans according to priorities, and speed up overall planning, development and construction. In terms of specific practices, the current forms of "urban villages" are as follows, and different transformation methods should be adopted according to different forms of "urban villages":

The first type is located in urban built-up areas. There are no longer farmers’ household registration and agricultural land. They have been transformed into urban management by street offices and neighborhood committees, and the administrative system of townships and villages has been abolished. There are no areas where farmers’ collective property and homestead property rights have ceased. This type of area is actually equivalent to the urban dilapidated housing renovation area, and the management methods for the demolition of urban houses, land, and residents are applicable. Policies can be adopted to renovate areas of dilapidated houses. However, the migrant workers and migrants should be properly resettled and should not be expelled without compensation. Because these areas are concentrated residential areas for migrant populations and are among the few areas where low-income people can afford to live, and these low-income migrant workers have made significant contributions to Beijing’s economic development, they cannot be discriminated against and displaced. The process of urbanization means that a large number of farmers enter the city and can survive for generations, completely transforming into urban residents and enjoying modern urban life. But the premise is that farmers can find jobs and live in cities and have a living foundation. Mr. Wen Guanzhong, a Chinese scholar studying in the United States, once wrote an article ""Urbanization" Cannot Avoid "Slums"" and pointed out that it is precisely because of the existence of slums that cities are particularly dynamic. The existence of slums makes urban expansion extremely low-cost and highly inclusive. The rent in the slums is low, and the neighbors who are also destitute people from Tianya are very friendly to the newcomers and have an extra layer of sympathy and care, making it easier for the new immigrants to find a place to settle down. Most new immigrants living in slums integrate into mainstream society after one or two generations. This not only happens in New York and Chicago in the United States, but also in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai in China. Beijing's Zhejiang Village was once a mess. After more than ten years of capital accumulation and transformation, it has now become a vibrant group of commercial buildings. Mayors in the United States are very shrewd and know that the development of cities cannot be separated from the continuous influx of new immigrants. Therefore, they not only allow slums to exist, but also start fighting among themselves for population. China's mayors regard slums as scars on the city that will affect their image and political performance, and do everything possible to evict and forcibly demolish them. It is true that the slums are unsightly and have poor public security, but poverty is not the fault of the farmers themselves. It is the fault of government officials who cannot make them rich and live in high-rise buildings.

If you really want to accelerate urbanization, you should face up to the existence of slums and even allow them to expand for a period of time to greatly reduce the cost of urbanization, thereby greatly accelerating China's urbanization process and allowing China to maximize the benefits of urbanization. benefit from the effect. Therefore, in the process of transforming "urban villages", it is an important issue to properly resettle the migrant population so that they can continue to live and work in low-rent housing.

The second type: there is no farmland in the village. The land in the original natural village except for the homestead has been expropriated and turned into urban construction land, and there is no collective property of farmers in the village. Although some villages have changed rural village committees into urban residents' committees, and farmers have converted from farming to non-agriculture and become urban residents, farmers' homesteads have not yet been expropriated as state-owned, and the property rights of homesteads and houses are still farmers' property rights. Adequate compensation should still be given to these farmers' homesteads and houses according to the requisition of farmers' land. The demolition of houses can be combined with the policy of demolishing urban private houses and farmers' houses to distinguish different situations, formulate relevant compensation policies, and properly resettle farmers. In particular, a corresponding social security system must be established for those who are unemployed and have no source of livelihood.

The third type: the existing land property rights of "urban villages" are still owned by rural collectives, and villagers mainly rely on non-agricultural income. All or most of the land has been expropriated by the state. Although all farmers in the village have transferred to urban household registration, the farmers' homesteads have not been expropriated as state-owned, and the nature of the land has not changed. This part of the "village" is still a "village" to this day. "Village establishment system" implements village management methods. There are even many farmers' collective properties and village-run enterprise economic entities. Good location conditions and low construction costs make "urban villages" have a very high rental housing ratio. House rentals plus the village's dividend income can enable villagers to live a fairly wealthy material life. The average living standard of some villagers has even reached a far higher level. Far more than urban residents, many farmers also have their own businesses, mainly engaged in primary catering and entertainment, transportation, construction, agricultural and sideline products and vegetable retail industries, or renting houses as their main income-earning occupation. These areas are the most difficult to transform. The market economy has made it impossible for the government to solve the employment problem of farmers as it did in the past, and it is difficult for farmers to be satisfied with monetary resettlement. Therefore, it is not appropriate to forcibly expropriate village land into urban state-owned land in these places. The original collective enterprise property of farmers can still be owned by farmers, and can be reorganized into collectively owned trading companies. The population will be digested locally, employment will be solved locally, and the nature of land property rights will remain unchanged. , remains collectively owned. For the land that needs to be occupied, the land can also be invested or leased to generate income every year to ensure the source of livelihood of the land-expropriated residents.

The fourth type: there is still some cultivated land, which is still organized by the township government and village committee. There are also many people with farmers' registered residence. Villages where agriculture, animal husbandry and planting still account for a certain proportion. When such an area is renovated, farmers will be transferred to urban registered residence, the township government will be reorganized into a street office, and the village committee will be reorganized into a neighborhood committee, but the land property rights and economic organization form will remain unchanged. The property and land owned by the original village collective can be reorganized into a joint-stock company of agriculture, industry and trade, and the employment of personnel will be solved by the joint-stock company of agriculture, industry and trade on the spot and they will become company employees. We can use the method of developing urban agriculture to develop modern agriculture and breeding industry. Such as: factory soilless cultivation of high-end vegetables and flowers; tourism agriculture; planting orchards and medicinal herbs; carrying out the breeding of ostriches, peacocks, golden pheasants, elk and other rare animals; developing deep processing of agricultural and animal husbandry products and other agricultural industries that do not affect the urban landscape and environment trade industry, so that farmers can make use of original land resources and integrate familiar work skills into urban life. Using urban agriculture to transform "villages in the city" is the cheapest and most effective transformation method.

The 231 "urban villages" to be renovated this time are mainly of the first and second types, and will shift to the third and fourth types in the future. We must be fully mentally prepared to adopt different transformation methods for different "urban villages", adapt measures to local conditions, and "one village, one case" to transform each "urban village" according to different situations. It not only changes the appearance of the city, but also benefits the local residents and provides them with proper resettlement.

However, no matter which transformation method is used, the transformation of "urban villages" must be unifiedly organized and planned by the government. The government is unified responsible for primary land development, land acquisition, demolition and municipal supporting project construction. In addition to the original approved Except for the developer's land, it basically tries not to adopt the form of commercial development to avoid causing many sequelae and legacy problems. We should mobilize the enthusiasm of local residents and try to use the method of government planning and design, completing municipal pipelines and roads, providing appropriate subsidies, and residents organizing housing cooperatives to build their own houses for renovation. The property rights of the completed houses belong to the residents themselves, and the remaining houses can be rented and sold to reduce conflicts and difficulty in renovation. In short, the transformation of "urban villages" is a good thing, but also a difficult task.

It is necessary to pool our wisdom and efforts to mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties and properly solve all aspects of the problem