Inclusive Urban Transformation: Embracing the Values of Urban Villages in the PRD Region

The presence of urban villages inside the city is a common phenomenon in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. This chapter investigates the reference cases of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, to provide insights into the issues of inclusiveness in the rapid urbanisation process in this region, in the context of industrial upgrading and migration. This is done by exploring potentials and values of urban villages through mapping analysis, which serves as the basis for inspirational design proposals on alternative redevelopment models for urban villages, in contrast to the ongoing tabula rasa approaches. This chapter introduces a Delft approach of using ‘mapping’ as a tool to build a visual narrative on spatial relations and governance models in urban villages in the PRD region. The results indicate the values of urban villages as arrival cities to migrants, in terms of cultivating micro-economy and strengthening social resilience. To enhance such values, incremental developments that contribute to a more integrated spatial structure, providing space for small businesses and social interactions in urban villages, are considered strategic. In this sense, a more adaptive planning framework that makes room for co-creational urban regeneration processes is needed, in which these incremental developments can be facilitated.