@phdthesis{Ma2006,
  author    = {Ma, Hang},
  title     = {"Villages" in Shenzhen- Persistence and Transformation of an Old Social System in an Emerging Megacity},
  doi       = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.771},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20060806-8094},
  school      = {Bauhaus-Universit{\"a}t Weimar},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {In the history of 'villages' in Shenzhen, rich traditional cultural resources that are directly related to the folk life in urban corporate community still exist today, synchronously agricultural economy of urban corporate community is transformed into joint-stock economy, and natural villages are transformed into 'heterogeneous' space of city. The most significant fact in the modern social transition is that modern societies have surpassed traditional societies, and cities have surpassed the country. Weber, Durkheim, T{\"o}nnies, Simmel and others devoted themselves to cultivating the essence of social transition. The most influential theory to observe and analyze it is the two-tiered approach of ideal type. T{\"o}nnies made distinction between 'Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft', Durkheim distinguished 'mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity', and Redfield analyzed 'folk society and urban society'. In those classical theories, the former transit to the later is considered to be a general rule of transition from traditional society to modern society, and from traditional community to modern community. However, ever since Redfield used the dependent relationship and interactive framework of 'great tradition' and 'little tradition' to explain various complicated phenomena in the transition from tradition to modern in 1950s, he suggested that a folk-urban continuum can be formed in the transition from folk society to urban society. 'Both terms, 'city' and 'country', are not and have never been limited or restricted to their obvious denotations: 'city' is not and has never been only urban. As a category it always encompasses (includes, embodies, embraces) itself and its opposite, the country' (Hassenpflug 2002, 46). Generally, social groups and culture characterized by weak 'potential' will take their own 'little tradition' as 'bridge' and agency, in order to enter or melt themselves into a 'great tradition' that embodies great 'potential' to seek for space to live and develop. There are many different types of transitions that villagers enter and get melt into 'great tradition' through their individual 'little tradition'. There are exploration and development of traditional resources in 'segmentation', such as the frequent relation between a great flow of peasants to cities and the network of kinship, and of earthbound relations; alternatively, there are assistances and utilization of resources of a whole corporate network, such as the traditional corporate community's organization of local resources during the process of non-agriculturization of villages; and 'villages' in Shenzhen is of the latter situation. The following conclusion can be made based on the above analyses: urban corporate community formed in the process of non-agricultural development and urbanization is an organizing dependency on which villagers melt into city and adapt to urban life. The unique inner-structure and function determine that comparing with other organizations, it has a better performance, efficiency and more humanity care. Firstly, corporate community which is re-organized in the non-agricultural process currently is the only and the most effective organizational resources that can be utilized and has significant meanings in protecting villagers' interest and benefit; secondly, in the short term, other approaches do not have the advantage and the effect as urban corporate community has on the focusing degree of public affairs in the comprehensive urbanization process; thirdly, the 'new' key connotation of urban corporate community, including its community management functions, is the main reason for which such community has the rationality of being; fourthly, urban corporate community will inevitably face many problems in the urbanization due to its inner fixed characteristics (lack of external support), but to a certain degree it has the ability to self-repair and problem solving under the precondition that, the government and society have a fair, impersonal view of 'villages', and base on this view providing multi-supports, especially providing rational system arrangement and policy supports. Consequently, in order to preserve and protect social system and cultural heritage within the 'villages', and gradually make the coordinative development of 'great tradition' represented by cities and of 'little tradition' represented by 'villages', 'soft reconstruction' rather than 'hard reconstruction' should be adopted by the government, during the recent reconstruction of 'villages' in Shenzhen.},
  subject      = {China},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Liu2006,
  author    = {Liu, Chong},
  title     = {The Contemporary Development of Qingdao's Urban Space - The Perspective of Civil Society's Participation in Chinese Urban Planning},
  doi       = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.855},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20070818-9159},
  school      = {Bauhaus-Universit{\"a}t Weimar},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {The main hypothesis of this research is that civil society's participation is able to improve the planning results in the Chinese city of Qingdao in the contemporary age. Qingdao is a young city developed from a German colony in eastern China. Apart from the powers of the government and the market, the 'third power', including mainly the power of volunteer citizens and the citizens' organisations, also positively promoted the spatial development in Qingdao's history. Since 1978's reform, Qingdao's great progress in urban housing, historic preservation, public space and urban traffic results mainly from the increasing strength of both the government and the market, while the government has always been the dominant promoter for urban construction. The actual planning mechanism - the government formulates 'what to do' itself and decides 'how to do it' with the market - has much limit in reacting to the rapidly changing situation, serving diversified social interests, and raising sufficient funds for the city's urgent demands in Qingdao. Searching for new development strategies based on the understanding of civil society in the Chinese context can provide a promising perspective on the urban studies of Qingdao. Chinese civil society can be understood as the intermediate sphere of individuals, families, citizen's organisations, social movements, public communication, and of the non-governmental body's non-for-profit involvement for the provision of public services between the state and the market. China has its own cultural tradition of civil society, and the modern civil society in China is showing its great potential in improving social integration and urban life. The Chinese government has started to advocate for civil society's participation in urban construction, and encouraging the 'bottom-up' mechanism in the planning-related issues through political statements and legislative approaches since the last two decades. The existing planning practice in China is able to demonstrate that civil society's participation helps improve the quality of Chinese urban planning realistically under present conditions, and that moderation of planning experts and the push of the authority are the key factors for successfully integrating the strength of civil society in planning. However, the power of civil society is not yet sufficiently discovered in Qingdao's planning. For better planning results, the city of Qingdao needs more initiatives to mobilize civil society in the planning practice, as well as more support to enrich the related studies. This thesis recommends that Qingdao establishes the 'Foundation for Collaborative Urban Solutions' through the joint efforts of the authority and civil initiatives, which aims at moderating and facilitating the strength of civil society. The suggested pilot projects include: a. The Community-based Housing Workshop for regenerating the living environment of the run-down communities, where the residents are willing to collaborate with the foundation with own efforts. b. The Heritage Preservation Workshop for suggesting an efficient supervision mechanism involving civil society which protects the historic heritage from being destroyed in the urban construction. c. The Public Space Forum for improving accessibility, quantity and ecologic function in the development of Qingdao's urban public space with the knowledge and creativity of both the government and the citizens. d. The Mass Transport Forum for a realistic strategy for funding the rail-based traffic system in Qingdao through enabling the civil society - especially the individual citizens and their households to invest. The 'Foundation of Collaborative Urban Solutions' is able to improve Qingdao's planning to cope with the urban problems the city are facing in its contemporary development, as well as to provide valuable reference for the further research of civil society's participation in Chinese urban planning.},
  subject      = {Stadtplanung},
  language  = {en}
}