Speaker
Description
The Rural Revitalization Strategy has significantly enhanced the scale, livability, and productivity of rural areas in China. This transformation has led to substantial changes in living spaces, production areas, and social relationships, resulting in the reshaping of rural fields. However, it also faces the dual challenges of ecological environmental issues and the imbalance between urban-rural development.This study centers on the critical issue of how to effectively translate urban-oriented human settlement theory into a theoretical framework that is applicable to the study of rural human settlement, and how to shift traditional rural planning from a "technical-material" spatial orientation to a "spatial-relational" systemic planning approach, thereby supporting more effective implementation of the Rural Revitalization Strategy.Building on this foundation, this paper integrates sociological field theory with the classical theory of human settlements in planning to develop a dual-core theoretical model of "relationship iteration-space reconstruction." It critically examines the core concepts, divergences, and potential pathways for the deep integration of systems theory-driven engineering thought and relationship-oriented sociological theory. The paper aims to explore and establish a theoretical framework for rural human settlement that supports rural revitalization. It defines the rural human settlement as the spatial representation formed through the interactions, negotiations, regulation, and distribution among different actors in the rural field, based on their respective resources and energy.The study begins by tracing the evolution and core concepts of two major theories, and, based on the unique natural, social, and cultural context of rural areas, as well as the complex social relationships, proposes a spatial characteristics analysis framework for the three key elements of "human-settlement-environment." It then deconstructs the dialectical relationship between these spatial elements from two dimensions: "capital (social, cultural, economic, policy) - habitus (the tendency of human activities)," exploring how social forces and capital flows influence the iteration and reshaping of rural fields. Finally, the theoretical framework is applied to practical cases for validation. The results indicate that existing rural revitalization practices follow two modes of field reconstruction: local and external. While residents' living and production standards have significantly improved, this progress has been accompanied by a range of unstable field conditions, such as conflicts between urban and rural cultural habits, fractures in social relationships, and capital monopolies, which urgently require repair and improvement. The study further demonstrates that the "capital conversion-habitus penetration" mechanism within field theory offers a sociological explanatory framework for the "regional suitability" principle in human settlement theory, thus forming a rural revitalization path of "capital circulation-space reconstruction-habitus penetration."The dual-core theoretical framework for rural human settlement developed in this study goes beyond the scope of physical space design, shifting the focus from the traditional surface-level concepts of economic development and infrastructure construction to a more comprehensive intervention in the deeper layers of rural fields, such as power dynamics, cultural meanings, and resource allocation. This theoretical approach is better equipped to address challenges faced in rural revitalization, including resource scarcity, inequitable distribution, social fractures, and environmental degradation. It provides fresh perspectives for both the theoretical development and practical application of rural human settlement, while offering crucial support for the more effective implementation of rural revitalization strategies.
References
[1]Du, Y., Liang, Z. and Zhao, Q. (2022) 'Ontology and mechanism: The construction, evolution, and application of field theory', International Journal of Urban Planning, 37(3), pp. 59-66.
[2]Wu, D. and Geng, H. (2023) 'Analysis of the intrinsic logic of rural spatial reconstruction in southwestern Yunnan from the perspective of field theory', Urban Planning Journal, 2023(4), pp. 41-49.
[3]Wacquant, L. (2024) Bourdieu in the city. Translated by L. Lu, Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House.
| Keywords | Human Settlement Theory;Field Theory;Rural Human Settlement;Capital and Habitus;Rural Revitalization; |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
