IN-PERSON ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

Heritage, migration, and creative placemaking are deeply intertwined in shaping urban and rural futures. This paper examines how the creative class contributes to the cultural revitalization of Qidu, a migrant hometown in Wenzhou, China, within the broader context of international migration and heritage-making. Wenzhou has a long history of global mobility, and Qidu, home to more than 26,000 migrants living across 32 countries, embodies a transnational cultural past that continues to influence its contemporary transformation. Drawing on seven months of ethnographic fieldwork, including participatory observation and semi-structured interviews with creative practitioners, residents, and community organizers, the study explores how return migrants and culturally mobile professionals reinterpret local heritage. These individuals, often shaped by overseas experiences, introduce cosmopolitan aesthetics and practices, such as adaptive reuse of vernacular architecture, cultural workshops, and art-based community initiatives, that reanimate underutilized spaces. Rather than producing large-scale gentrification, these interventions foster a form of “gentle revitalization,” maintaining the rural character while enhancing cultural vitality. The paper argues that migrant hometowns represent significant yet underexplored heritage landscapes where intangible memories, transnational identities, and everyday cultural practices converge. While tensions emerge between newcomers, long-term residents, and local authorities, these interactions generate new forms of community engagement and place-based identity. By situating Qidu within global debates on heritage, mobility, and creative urbanism, this research contributes to socio-cultural studies of heritage and offers insights into sustainable, community-oriented urban futures in the Global South.