VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages

Abstract

China’s Floating Population refers to the 375 million migrant workers that live and work within urban areas but who do not have access to the same rights and amenities available to urban residents because technically they reside in the countryside. This population — one that is larger than the entirety of the United States — live and work under a permanent state of temporary residency. The goal of this research project is to peer into the lives of these migrant communities to better understand the intrinsic spatial, social, and economic ties that construct and negotiate the continuum of labor that exists between the contemporary city and the ancient village in contemporary China. It is becoming increasingly likely that the future of China’s Floating Population might very well be living in urban areas — either in cities or in rural-urban towns. While much research has been done on the revamping of rural village infrastructure in recent years, few projects speculate on the relocation of potentially millions of migrant families into urban and suburban areas, a strategy that is actively being pursued by the Chinese government. Thus, the second part of the research will focus on the development of experimental housing prototypes for migrant communities which takes into account the socio-spatial habitus latent to traditional rural life in China. The question is: how can architecture adequately give form to rural communities by reframing its social, cultural and political institutions through new configurations of workers housing rooted in the countryside.