Trames du delta du Yangzi : recompositions métropolitaines et aménagement des périphéries agricoles de Shanghai, Chine

Abstract

Human settlement in Yangzi delta area in China has early relied on hydraulic management, instituting the land pattern that has governed the rural life in the delta for centuries. In the process of urban extension of Shanghai megapolis, modernization of water network and building of road network have taken an important place. In this article we analyze the evolution of these various spatial frames to investigate how their planning in Shanghai are nowadays ruling the development of the remote rural peripheries, under the main influence of metropolitan design. We find that, as modernized water and road networks reorganize deltaic space, they constitute a major tool for economical development in the rural peripheries. Furthermore, the metropolis strategic planning has also instituted a new ecological framework, as a “green belt”, to ensure the protection of water resources. We then study the way these different frames combine in local farming areas to promote a specific model of development, e.g. the metropolitan rural multifonctionnality. These observations allow us to distinguish three different levels of frames-driven development planning: environment-adaptative, space-integrative, agrarian structure-transformative. They all enter the logic of metropolization process. Behind these evidences rely the project of the transformation of the inherited agrarian structure. It raises important questions upon the sociopolitical process engaged and the evolving status of prior peasant settlement.

Keywords

• metropolization process
• periurban farming areas
• Shanghai municipality
• spatial frames
• spatial recomposition
• Yangzi Delta region