Some Reflections About the Field Trip - She is in Urban Village

What can be accomplished in nine days? A trip, an article, an analysis chart?

 

For a study that involves people, city, architecture, environment, etc., nine days may be not enough to carry out a field trip. But I've spent the last nine days walking around, trying to push my limits, trying to figure out what I can achieve in nine days. Apparently I've gained something in the last nine days. I have obtained some skills and skills about field trip researches,  investigated different development situations of urban villages, met migrant women in several villages and felt their living status. Finally, I understood the researches on the environmental architecture not only can fall on the drawings and models, but also can be reflected in all sorts of media.

 

First the group I focus on is immigrant women living in urban villages. In fact, people are different with each other, even if the same immigrant women. Their age, personality, occupation and other conditions determine that they have their own unique story. The three interviewees on this field trip actually represent two generations of immigrants' migration journey: new arrival - settling down - seeking the sense of belonging. Tang is a new immigrant woman who has the strongest yearning and expectation for the city. Chen is a woman who has been living in the city for more than 10 years. After years of hard work, she has gradually settled down in the city. And after obtaining a relatively stable life, she begins to shift the focus of life to the family. As the second generation of immigrants growing up in the urban village, Yang still retains the traditionality and conservatism of his parents even though she has lived a carefree life. The sense of belonging that her parents' generation lacked as immigrants is better shown on her. She may reflect the future of Tang and Chen's son to some extent. In addition, as immigrant women, they all have something in common: the pursuit of hukou, household and a happy family. This is not only the influence of patriarchy, but also the result of Chinese society, culture, system and popular thinking mode. For most rural to urban migrants, personal household seems to be a necessary condition to realize their family dignity, and urban hukou seems to be a necessary prerequisite to realize their social dignity.

 

Besides, the environment of urban villages in Guangzhou is beyond my imagination for an outsider, even if I have done all kinds of research and prepared mentally. In particular, a variety of building in urban villages like wild weeds like left a deep impression. The village in the city is more like a relatively independent "small society" in the city, where self-sufficiency can be achieved to a large extent, both in terms of interpersonal network and material exchange. It's complex, and residents may never know what the tenants in the same building do for a living. The faces coming and going in the streets were strange and familiar. Because of the large number of immigrants, residents feel less frightened and unfamiliar about this space than urban space. On the contrary, they are more likely to find a sense of belonging. People who live here probably have mixed feelings about it: the landlord has a steady stream of rent collection, hoping that one day the demolition will succeed and he or she will suddenly become much richer. In contrast, the tenants have to tolerate the dark, damp, noisy and crowded environment, but they should be glad that the existence of urban villages allows them to rent a one-bedroom at a reasonable price, so they don't have to leave Guangzhou due to expensive rent, and they don't have to worry about living under the same roof with other tenants. Young couples scrimp, work hard, and expect to save enough money for a down payment to leave this place. The stories left behind in the village in the city are too numerous to count. 

 

During a few days of observation, my view and attitude towards this "small society" has changed in many ways: novelty - surprise - disgust - pity - familiarity - respect. In the end of the fieldwork, I don't think I can judge whether these buildings, landscapes and spaces are good or bad from an academic high point. What I hope to explore is the reason more than comment. Under the background of Chinese society and times, how does this region, which is gradually falling behind in the urbanization tide, evolve from a rural area into the current contradictory space? Even if life in an urban village seems difficult, why do people in an urban village still live seriously and gradually find their own unique way of life?

 

My Field trip makes me more convinced that architecture and environment should not exist in isolation, but permeate each other in various situations. The network of relations constitutes the environment, and the environment constitutes the building. I begin to be more and more neutral towards the environment, architecture and terroir of different regions. All the spatial interactions presented have certain reasons, including social environment, psychological cognition, cultural customs and so on. In addition, people with different background (gender, age, occupation, education level, etc.), as different identities (residents and foreigners), have totally different cognition and feelings towards space and environment. It broadened my perspective and standpoint to observe and represent the environment and architecture. Can the study and expression of the environment and architecture be separated from overly rational calculations and drawings with no temperature? As Bakrishna said: Life begins to celebrate when lifestyle and architecture become one. There is still a long way to go to study the environmental building from human.