Rural moves – The Songyan story

The Theme

Rethinking strategies for rural development is a critical global issue today. Dynamic urbanization processes shape large areas of the world, while the revitalization of rural regions has been neglected for a long time. This has consequently given rise to pressing socio-economic and political challenges all over the world. To stimulate an international discussion, Aedes Architecture Forum Berlin presented the exhibition Rural Moves – The Songyang Story this year, which led to the initiation of this conference. The focus will be on the duality and interrelations between the urban and the rural, seeking to explore what culture and architecture can contribute to rural renewal in interplay with economy, spatial planning, infrastructure, and ecology. The goal of this international knowledge exchange of holistic strategies and best practice examples is to discuss new concepts, which might ultimately establish a new rural confidence and identity as well as economic progress and reliability as major incentives to make people stay in or even return to the “hinterland”.

The conference

The conference invites policymakers, architects, planners, researchers, economists, curators and related professionals to the successful case study area of Songyang to share and archive experiences, strategies and new ideas for the development of the ‘global rural region‘ of the future. This region in the southwest of Shanghai became a pioneer in the sensitive redevelopment of rural areas by implementing carefully balanced “architectural acupunctures”.

Against this backdrop, the conference is structured around three main sessions complemented by excursions into the region to illustrate the topic and to offer opportunities for exchange: (i) a cluster of ten impulse statements to boost the conference with a wide range of positions by stakeholders from the various fields of practice and research in the rural context, panel discussions on (ii) “Culture + Architecture” and (iii) “Ecology and Economy + Architecture”.

The contributions and results of the conference will be compiled in a publication and in the Aedes online archive to deepen and expand the international discussion on the redevelopment of rural regions and to make the content accessible for those not able to follow the event in person.