Home Grown Hangzhou

Photos, Text by Neville Mars
摄影-文/何新城

土生土长的城郊

Home Grown Hangzhou

户口制度已在中国的城郊催生了大范围、自觉的城市化。就在城市的边界以外（边界的认定因人而异），自觉的农村开发蔓延成片，深入乡村腹地。通常情况下，这些原生态的城市化与那些驱逐它们的政府倡导项目顽强地竞争着。亦有例外。当规划者们还在为最时髦的“都市农业”概念议论纷纷时，像杭州这样的城市已经催生了令人耳目一新的“土生土长”的城郊。在当地政府的基本支持下，城市与农村的交战凝固成了令人瞩目的农业与别墅的混合体。其产生的结果是多样化不亚于任何其它中国都市边缘的中间地带，它没有近年来中国主流郊区化悬殊的贫富差距。主要的建筑体征是童话般颜色鲜亮的五六层别墅，它们的后院都有菜地，有的还在车库搭有迷你作坊。我们的访问结果显示，它们大多数是本地人修建并居住的；是农户在规模农业太局促、地价却不断攀升地带的投资。

它们在运河及灌溉渠岸上紧密排开，是中国式的务实催生了这非中国式的城市布局。被污染得漆黑的运河让这里同样具有城市的明显体征。而此地除了开创混合使用、都市农业及社会－政治的细分市场以外，还为城市规划之要旨提供了强有力的例证——规划不过是为开发商（或个人）提供最基本的城市格局，好让他们实现各自想要的建筑项目。这半独立、相对密集、且以公交联系的土生土长的郊区栖息在城市的核心区域外，而拥有城乡之间“绿色边界”的一切烙印。

Around China’s cities the urban registration system has spawned extensive in situ urbanization. Outside the administrative border, where you’d expect the edge of the city, informal rural developments often continue far into the countryside. Generally this is primitive urbanization staunchly competing with the official projects of the city that chases them, but not always. At a time when among planners urban farming is all the rage, the periphery of cities such as Hangzhou have produced an entirely new kind of ‘home grown’ suburbia. With basic support from the local authorities, here the struggle between city and countryside has consolidated into a compelling hybrid of agriculture and private villas. The result is an in-between zone as diverse as any Chinese metropolitan periphery but without the staggering spatial and social contrasts that have dominated suburbanization in recent years. The main typology is a 5 or 6 story villa designed like a colorful fantasy palace with a vegetable garden as a backyard and sometimes a workshop in the garage. Our survey shows they are built and mostly occupied by locals; an investment for rural families in an area whit little room for large-scale farming but with increasing land-values. Tightly aligned shoulder to shoulder along canals and aggregation systems Chinese pragmatism has produced an entirely un-Chinese layout. Though still pitch black with pollution these canals make this a truly unique urban system. Beyond the mixed use, the urban farming, and the socio-political niche that is fills, it’s an powerful example of what urban planning should be about; providing developers and individuals only with the basic framework to realize their architectural projects. Nestled against the urban core, semi-autonomous, relatively dense, and served by public transport the homegrown suburb has all the qualities of a Green Edge* wedged between city and countryside.