Xinguang: Fab Village

Current Situation:

Xingguang is a village 1.5 hours north of Shenzhen and 30 minutes east of Donguan, right along the Pearl River Delta. There are many small villages in this area that focused on farming and fishing, but residents are slowly leaving, abandoning these old buildings to find a job elsewhere. Are goal is to improve the quality of life for the community and help stimulate an economy in the area. The river, farm land, and these empty old buildings are resources we can start with to help the village.

Series of Events:

Brainstorming Open Source Village

February 9–12, 2017

David Li and Jason Hilgefort sponsored a brainstorming event with students from different backgrounds who expressed interest in the Open Source Village Project in Xinguang.

Every student got the chance to express each of their views on the village. They later presented to the group their idea and got suggestions from the mentors to help refine their ideas.

After a day of brainstorming and sharing ideas, the students and mentors visited Xinguang for the first time to explore the village’s situation. They were given a tour of the village, visited the farmland and spoke with farmers as well as the mountain to have an overview of the river and reservoir situation.

On the third day, the students and mentors did an analysis of what they saw and learned from exploring the village. The students analyzed the current state of the villages’ water quality through; drinking water, irrigation process of water, and sewage focused on the runoff from the farms containing pesticides and fertilizer.

The farm land in the village are mostly leased to the field contractor and to be given a small part of the land the farmers are charged a fee. Very few farmers actually are able to keep the food they cultivated. Farmers use the forest to mainly plant lychee trees for income. Lychee production reached 100 million jin or 50 million kilos, however there is no market for their production, so they are missing out on an large amount of potential income.

Students also assessed what the community does for entertainment. Children have access to wifi and play games online. Adults play mahjong, jump square dance, and participate in community events like basketball or tug-a-war. The village has a public park with sports equipment, but is not used often.

The students concluded on an idea of establishing a “future village” after visiting and seeing Xinguang for themselves. The village is said to be sustainable, livable, and scientific; focusing on a drainage system, farms, and culture. They also discussed how the development of the new village will be very open to collaboration with engineers, government, and architects. Villagers will also be involved, so they may help with the construction process.

The fourth day, students concentrated on solutions for the three areas they wanted to focus on; water, farming, and culture. They first created an outline of how the future village will look like and the structure of it.

They began talking about using sand and carbon filters for the water, as well as water treatment kits to test for water contamination.

For farming, students talked about vertical farming and using fishponds to grow rice.

Culturally, the students discussed ways on how to help the community as a whole. Educating children, having craftsmen teach locals how to fix things, having people share traditional recipes with each other, and teaching locals planting techniques.

Re-imagining the forgotten buildings of Xinguang Village

March 25, 2017

Shenzhen Open Innovation Lab and Azuko asked for submissions of ideas to re-imagine the forgotten buildings of Xinguang Village. An international call to designers, innovators, social scientists, and students to participate in an ideas and design competition for the village’s old buildings. Participants were asked to consider:

• What these buildings/spaces can be used for in the future?
• How these functions can improve the community’s lives of Xinguang?
• What will increase the desire for people to stay and work in the village?
• What in the village should be protected, repaired, and/or celebrated?
• Sustainable economic growth and opportunities for tourism

The participants were invited to the village where they shared their idea to the community members. The competition engaged with the locals and asked them to vote on which idea they liked the best.

We later got these ideas and brought them back to Shenzhen for a BIG event. We explained our vision to attract more partners to help us with Xinguang Village.

Litchi Festival and Bee-box Workshop

A litchi harvest festival happened to gather the city officials to start brainstorming ideas for the village.

July 1, 2017

A workshop was created for high school students to visit the city to use their young, creative minds and to also help them think critically. They visited the village talking to locals and searched for a strategic place to put a smart beehive in to help farming in the village. They later built their own beehive and placed it in the village a few days later.

July 24, 2017

The vision of Xinguang for the future is a large goal that will take multiple steps. We will constantly be working with the local community, bringing in new architects, tech people, and partners to ensure we take the proper steps to help create a prosperous future for Xinguang.