Recently, teachers Zhang Cuina and Lin Zhanqiao from the School of Engineering, Shantou University, led the "Jiexi Dream Realization" Practice Team composed of 2023 undergraduate architecture students to conduct in-depth field research in Huizhai Town, Jiexi County, Jieyang City. Aiming to "revitalize villages through targeted planning", the team adopted symposiums, on-site surveys and household visits to develop customized spatial optimization and industrial upgrading plans for four administrative villages: Malu Village, Gankeng Village, Laogonglin Village and Houyang Village in Huizhai Town.

The practice team held a special symposium on rural planning with relevant leaders of Huizhai Town Government and village cadres of the four villages. At the meeting, town and village officials introduced the resource characteristics, industrial foundations, current spatial layout and core demands for rural construction of Malu, Gankeng, Laogonglin and Houyang villages based on local realities, and analyzed bottlenecks in their development.

Combining professional knowledge, team members held in-depth discussions with town and village officials on core topics including village spatial optimization, integrated industrial development, infrastructure improvement and local cultural inheritance. In view of the differentiated features of each village, the two sides preliminarily sorted out development ideas, identified research priorities and planning directions, and fully exchanged views on the implementability and feasibility of the planning scheme, laying a foundation for customized planning in the follow-up work.

The practice team went to the fields, roads and alleys of the four villages separately for field investigation. Members carefully verified and recorded the land use boundaries, distribution of ancient buildings, supporting infrastructure and industrial plot layout of each village.

During the research, members communicated face-to-face with villagers, patiently listened to their real demands on public space construction, living facility improvement and industrial income increase, and collected first-hand public opinion materials. From ancient road styles to farmland resources, from residential layout to public services, the team sorted out the natural endowments, cultural characteristics and development pain points of the four villages one by one, accumulating detailed practical evidence for scientific, localized and refined planning schemes.

Adhering to the planning principle of "one village, one strategy, one village, one distinctive product", this research preliminarily outlined the planning framework for spatial optimization and industrial upgrading according to the different resource endowments of the four villages.

Next, the practice team will systematically sort out research data and public opinions, translate professional theories into highly implementable planning schemes, and provide intellectual support for promoting ecological beauty, industrial prosperity and people’s prosperity in the four villages of Huizhai Town.

Rural revitalization begins with planning; university-local cooperation gathers strength for progress. Relying on the "Hundred-Thousand-Thousand Project", the School of Engineering, Shantou University will continue to deepen the university-local cooperation mechanism, guide young students to extend professional classrooms to the frontline of rural revitalization, explore a long-term model for universities to empower county rural revitalization, and contribute STU’s strength to the high-quality development of Guangdong.

Text & Photos: Zeng Zihan