Redesigning Urban Neighbourhood Space Under the Open Community Policy in Mainland China

In China's urban development, the gated community model has proliferated. This model's popularity has contributed to the loss of Chinese neighbourhood vitality, along with various community problems. In 2016, China's Communist Party Central Committee and its State Council issued, ‘Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Further Strengthening the Management of Urban Planning and Construction’. One opinion stated that existing residential districts and courtyards should be opened to allow the publicization of internal roads, solve traffic network problems, and promote land conservation. Later that year, the Council issued ‘Healthy China 2030’, identifying indicators for healthy construction, including health levels, healthy lives, health service guarantees, a healthy environment, and a healthy industry. The development of a new community model is one way to realise a healthy China. This chapter investigates the above phenomenon, offering redesign strategies for existing neighbourhoods under the ‘open community’ mandate. Three urban neighbourhood models are summarised and their issues analysed. Subsequently, an existing residential community, Xiamen Bing Lang, is used to apply new concepts, such as an ‘open community’ and ‘functional mixing’, to explore ways to re-vitalise neighbourhood spaces. This chapter suggests new options for future communities.