Post Disaster Urbanization

Zhou Daming　Zhan Xuzhi

Abstract:The disaster studies resulting from the Wenchuan earthquake involve many disciplines, and while there are many studies on post-disaster reconstruction in the various disciplines of social science, research on the whole community in post-disaster reconstruction is very rare. The primary purpose for writing this article is to explore the socio-cultural change resulting from post-disaster reconstruction. In the post-disaster reconstruction after the Wenchuan earthquake, the phenomenon of urbanization is very obvious. Hence, the study of urbanization in the context of disaster change is an important perspective for the study of post-disaster reconstruction, and is an useful discussion on post-disaster cultural reconstruction after the post-disaster material reconstruction.

Concerning the phenomenon of urbanization in post-disaster reconstruction, we will try to sort this out from two aspects, from the government餾 urbanization and the people餾 urbanization. These two aspects are not only aspects for observing the urbanization, but they also reflect two phases in social change during the process of the post-disaster reconstruction. Basic infrastructure construction and development planning in post-disaster reconstruction depend on the government餾 guidance and implementation. After the rapid completion of the material reconstruction, the disaster area is presented with a new face of “modernity” and “urban design feel”. However, when the locals faced a “sudden” urbanization after the disaster, they were not only joyful about the new changes in their hometown, but they also experienced a long process of adjustment. The urbanization that occurred after the disaster brought them a hometown which was both familiar and strange. Through more than two years fieldwork in the reconstruction areas after the disaster, we try to describe a process during which the government餾 urbanization was transforming into the people餾 urbanization, and we explain how the locals adjusted themselves through their own agency, and participated in the local urbanization process.

The place discussed in this article is Nanba township, which belongs to Pingwu county, Mianyan city of Sichuan province. When the Wenchuan earthquake happened on May 12th, 2008, Nanba was one of the seriously damaged areas. Post-disaster reconstruction of Nanba completely relied on the planning and arrangement of the national government. Pingwu county government invited the scholars from Urban Planning and Designing Institute of Chongqing University to make a reconstruction and development plan for Nanba. The plan showed that the state餾 expectation of the urbanization in Nanba was very clear. It was to construct a new tourist township; and construct a concentrated industrial zone, while at the same time playing to the townships former advantages; and develop a characteristic agriculture which could strengthen the prosperity of the market economy.

After the earthquake, the town seat of Nanba became an urban community with a clear functional zone, and good basic infrastructure. And, with the guidance of industrial planning, commerce, industry and tourism were, on the basis of relatively complete hardware equipment, developed positively. We must say that the rationality of urban design, the degree of perfection of the basic infrastructure and the forward-looking industrial design all reflected the designers and constructors good intentions.Hence, the government餾 urbanization had good start. However, during the process of implementation, the government餾 urbanization did not reach the expectations of the original planning. In this article, we try to reflect on the government餾 urbanization, the expectation in planning and the efficiency in local practice from three aspects, including private space, public activity sphere and industrial planning.

The reform to private space might be the deepest impact on the urban phenomenon for Nanba residents in their daily life. Before the earthquake, Nanba people餾 residential houses were already experiencing a transformation from wooden structure dwellings to storied houses. After the earthquake, as part of the government餾 reconstruction plan, all of the private houses of the Nanba people were designed as three-storied house. The effect of the reform made by the government on private houses was welcomed by the locals. Many local informants expressed that their present houses were definitely more advanced, modern and convenient than their houses in the past. However, not all effects brought by this kind of urbanization were positive; many residents also complained that they could not adapt to these kinds of closed dwellings.

During the process of reconstruction, Nanba residents began to have public spaces that they did not have before. In the plan of the government, Nanba was to have a relatively complete urban infrastructure of a kind which normally belongs to urban social public spheres, such as a commercial zone, parking area, walking streets, and leisure squares. When the state rebuilt this town after the earthquake, it used an urban construction model drawn from this concept. Therefore, the basic infrastructure would doubtlessly be constructed according to urban criteria. Although the local people of Nanba had a feeling of “modernization” and “being advanced” regarding their development which leaped from rural to urban, it does not mean that they can be completely brought into an urban surrounding filled with “strangeness”.

There are many standards with which to evaluate “urbanization”, for example, the reduction of the agricultural population, the change of life style, etc. But actually, the most basic criterion is the change in the mode of production, i.e. the change from an agriculture-oriented mode of production to a more “advanced” and “high efficiency” mode. After the earthquake, within the development plan of Nanba, there were very clear and complete development plans with regard to industry and tourism, and there were corresponding construction plans. It seems that the residents of Nanba under the government餾 plan were full of energy for this industrial transformation, and also were full of ideas for tourism development. However, in reality, the expectation of the government did not become an actuality.

Urbanization by the government is a kind of urbanization of “shape” ,which represents the government餾 expectation for the post reconstruction. Although the government餾 urbanization plan has not yet reached its expectation of efficiency, urbanization has already become an irreversible direction for social development in Nanba. With the guidance of advanced basic infrastructure, spacious public spaces and the transformation to a labor mode of production all demonstrated in the government餾 urbanization, the local people also entered “an urbanization process of the people”. This is reflected in the people餾 proactive adjustment to the post-disaster urbanization, and their shaping urbanization through their own means.

Seen from the construction of the material base, the urbanization process of the post-reconstructed Nanba was suddenly accelerated. The above description has already made a brief discussion regarding the efficiency of the expectation of the government餾 urbanization to the local people from three aspects. Speaking from the perspective of the people, it seems that the urbanization created by the government accorded with the people餾 image of their daily life. However, they needed a long time to adjust to this in their daily lives. Time is needed for the local people to adapt to the gap between the government餾 urbanization and people餾 urbanization. In the following discussion, we will take three aspects, including adjustment to the private space, the use of public space and the change of household livelihood, in order to understand the process of people餾 urbanization in Nanba.

From the above description, we can notice that the characteristics of private houses reconstructed after the earthquake include qualities of “unified”, “neatness”, “closed”, and lack of courtyards. All the functions needed in daily life are played out in the house. However, this kind of living space, which is familiar to urban people餾 needs, required that Nanba people spend some time to adjust. A similar phenomenon includes the change in concept of pension, education etc. Due to the limitation of the space, we will not provide a detailed description here, but what is necessary to say is that the people餾 urbanization is developing actively in the people餾 daily lives.

The use of public space is an extension of the urbanization of individual lifestyle, and also a mark of urbanization餾 extension from the individual to a group. In the case of Nanba, urbanization guided by the government after the earthquake provided good activity space in the public sphere, but it did not provide guidance on how to form the feeling of public spirit within the mind. Nonetheless, after reconstruction, the locals began to use public infrastructure consciously to enrich their leisure time.They even began to organize an association of senior citizens in their community. Although the development of public organization is still in a basic stage, and the use of basic infrastructure in the public space still has not reached the most optimized level, it cannot be denied that with the guidance of the government consciously or unconsciously, the public sphere is undergoing an urbanization process.

For Nanba people, the change of their livelihoods after the earthquake and the post-disaster reconstruction are closely related with the government餾 planning. Although as mentioned before, the industrial adjustment by the government was not as efficient as expected, the livelihood model, compared with the status before the earthquake, still has undergone some changes. Compared with before the earthquake, the ratio of agricultural income in the family to non-agricultural income in post-earthquake Nanba has reduced. Few families income depends on the land.

Compared with the government餾 urbanization, the people餾 urbanization is complex, and multilayered.Meanwhile, it is a slow and long process. It is obvious that the government餾 urbanization is influencing the local people餾 life, and that the local people are actively adjusting and changing themselves so as to respond to the government餾 urbanization.

In Nanba, what we saw is a well-planned and rationally designed town. It has obvious urban characteristics, and a developed basic infrastructure. From the ruins from an earthquake, the new look of Nanba astonished us for both its reconstruction speed and quality after the disaster. The reconstruction expectation of the government clearly brought Nanba along a rapid path of urbanization. Nanba, which experienced a break in social change, has become a city that appears as though dropped from the air.

The urbanization implemented by the government discussed in this article describes the basic infrastructure in the sense of hardware, the industrial planning in the sense of software, as well as the efficiency of these plans when the government reconstructed Nanba. Obviously, the government餾 urbanization efficiency had some deviation with local practice and with the government餾 original expectations. A series of sudden changes made all production and living conditions of the local people change. When the people faced these changes, some accepted it positively while some could not adapt. As the role and position of the local people in the daily life after the reconstruction become more important, the government餾 intervention into the disaster area should be reduced or be retired to backstage. The people餾 urbanization process then comes into the sight of the researchers at this point. All the phenomenon, no matter whether it is the reform of private houses, the change of shopping habits, or the appearance of public life in the sense of urban life, all indicate the local people餾 response to the government餾 urbanization. And the change of their livelihood model is not only an expression of urbanization, but also a deep, driving factor for the development of Nanba餾 urbanization. Finally, people餾 urbanization and government餾 urbanization will shape local urbanization in the process of mutual adaption and fusion.

Since we started to do our research in Nanba in the summer of 2012, we have gone to Nanba to do field work for many times. Those years in Nanba were just the period during which the local people餾 life came back to a normal status after going through big changes, including disaster and reconstruction. We noticed that people felt joy from the modernization of their residential houses and living surroundings. However, we also noticed that the local people could not adapt to their new life which suddenly arrived, and noticed as well that the local people had to make efforts on their work and life, and, finally noticed that the lives of the Nanba people were being vigorously revived.

At the same time, we noticed that more and more people have left Nanba to find jobs. The commercial zone of the town, which was still very busy in 2012, is declining year by year. The numbers of “l(fā)eft-behind elderly” and children are on the rise. The government餾 industrial plans have met a lot of difficulties in the later period, and the development is not very satisfactory. One informant of Nanba said that “an earthquake pushed our development forward at least 50 years”,while another informant said that the post disaster reconstruction, which should have taken 10 years, was completed in two, and this resulted in an earlier surplus of local laborer. It also seems from the case of Nanba that the social issue of “creating a village with no heart” still cannot be avoided during the process of urbanization after the disaster. And, finally, where should these cities, which appear as though dropping out of the air, go in 5 years, 10 years and 15 years?

Key Words: change after the disaster; reconstruction; urbanization

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