The dynamics of peri-urbanization in the Pearl River Delta: Emerging land use patterns, urban villages and their linkages to global mechanisms

本项目旨在分析珠江三角洲周边地区发生的非正式和正式动态之间的相互作用。城市周边地区既不是城市地区，也不是典型的农村地区。它们需要通过类型学而不是基于离城市中心的距离的简单地理模型来定义。通常，城市周边地区表现出许多对特大城市的出现和内部分化具有重要意义的功能，包括生态平衡、土地资源、城市经济腹地、食品生产和加工以及娱乐。具体地说，它旨在探索城中村作为珠江三角洲新兴特大城市地区重要参与者的角色和意义。尽管它们的影响范围主要是本地的，但这些非正式结构与全球经济机制交织在一起，整个珠江三角洲地区也是如此。假设正式/非正式互动的模式决定了灵活性的程度以及由此产生的社会、经济和空间模式的质量。该项目旨在通过研究城市化进程的模式、结果和内在矛盾，探讨各种行为者在城市化进程中的相互作用。基本的总体目标是回答城市景观中的区位因素和生活条件是否能够通过正式和非正式制度和行为者的相互作用而长期维持的问题。因此，该项目将有助于为特大城市、其变化和差异化的内部模式及其与全球动态的联系建立一个一般理论框架。

This project aims at analyzing the interaction of informal and formal dynamics occurring in peri-urban areas of the Pearl River Delta. Peri-urban areas constitute areas that are neither urban nor typically rural. They need to be defined by typological rather than simple geographical models based on distance from urban centers. Typically, peri-urban areas show a number of functions that are of high significance for the emergence and internal differentiation of mega cities including ecological balance, land resource, hinterland for urban economies, food production and processing, and recreation. Specifically, it is intended to explore the role and significance of urban villages as an important actor in the emerging mega-urban region of the Pearl River Delta. While their scope of influence is largely local, these informal structures are intertwined with mechanisms of the global economy as is the entire region of the Pearl River Delta. It is assumed that the modes of the formal/informal interaction define the degree of flexibility as well as the quality of the resulting social, economic and spatial patterns. The project aims at exploring the interplay of various actors in the peri-urbanization processes by studying its modalities, results and inherent contradictions. The underlying general goal is to answer the question as to whether the locational factors and living conditions in the urban landscape can be sustained in the long term through the interplay of formal and informal systems and actors. Thereby the project will contribute towards building a general theoretical framework for mega-cities, their internal patterns of change and differentiation and their linkages to global dynamics.