Rural Revitalization in Exurban Zone of Metropolitan: A Case Study of Lai Chi Wo, Hong Kong
Abstract：
A tight urban-rural relation in metropolitan area brings both opportunities and challenges to the revitalization of villages in exurban zones. As a representative metropolitan city, Hong Kong is characterized by an intensive urban–rural interface whose experience offers useful insights for other similar area. This paper selects Lai Chi Wo, a village in Hong Kong, as a case study. Drawing on data collected through field researches, interviews, and online literature, this paper examines the village’s revitalization path and characteristics that is based on ecological and cultural value of the village as well as reconnecting rural and urban areas. This paper finds that Lai Chi Wo’s revitalization explores a sustainable development model for Hong Kong’s rural villages, which are mainly achieved through the joint efforts of multiple stakeholders, rebuilding interactions between rural and urban areas; in the meantime, it is found that rural revitalization requires reorganization of the urban-rural relation and to establish dynamics among various stakeholders as well as between human and rural space. Mainland China is also actively exploring multi-actor participation in rural revitalization. Based on the case study, this paper puts forward suggestions to encourage multiple participants, to diversity funding and to prolong the length of revitalization programs with the aim of providing insights for strengthening multi-stakeholders’ participations in rural revitalization within mainland China’s metropolitan areas.