Heritage and sustainability in Shunde (China)

Abstract

In the narrative of the urbanization and globalization of China, much attention is paid to major cities and large-scale infrastructure projects; yet the effects of rapid urban development and the remaking of the physical landscape also can be seen in rural regions and smaller cities, raising questions about the transformation of landscape and building patterns as they are tied to traditional cultures. This case study examines several recent planning and preservation projects in the city of Shunde in the Pearl River Delta that illustrate the tenuous balance between urban growth and heritage, landscape, and preservation, particularly as they are manifested through the discourse of sustainability. It details how people's sense of loss of the traditional water-based landscape of the region informs both the form and style of contemporary developments and stimulates increasing interest in ecological and heritage tourism directed at local and national audiences. It looks at the dynamic at play between the preservation of traditional buildings and environments and the promotion of the city for future economic development, arguing that heritage and ecology can easily become tropes in the narrative of sustainable growth.