Shanxi Key Laboratory of Watershed Built Environment with Locality

The Shanxi Key Laboratory of Watershed Built Environment with Locality was established with the approval of the Department of Science and Technology of Shanxi Province. Shanxi University serves as the lead institution, collaborating with Peking University and PowerChina Northwest Engineering Corporation Limited as co-construction units. The Laboratory Director is Professor Gao Xingxi, with Professor Wang Fang and Professorate Senior Engineer Yu Junyao serving as Co-Directors.

The "Local Urban and Rural Built Environment" encompasses the landscapes formed by human activities interacting with the natural environment in specific spatial contexts. It is an element of the human-nature "community of life" and a key carrier of urban-rural human settlement development. Herein, "Locality" denotes the objective characteristics of a place, encompassing both its natural attributes and cultural distinctiveness. It plays a key role in the urban and rural built environment in fostering and sustaining people's self-identity and sense of place. Among various urban and rural settlements, watershed settlements are the cradle of regional civilizations. Through a long history of human-water and human-land interactions, they have developed distinct historical and cultural characteristics, shaping unique local urban and rural landscapes.

Since the reform and opening up, China's urbanization has undergone a uniquely rapid process globally. Development approaches dominated by functionality and efficiency, characterized by the rapid expansion of non-local environments, have not only led to ecological crises but also diminished residents' diverse experiences and sense of identity. Currently, China has entered a new phase characterized by new urbanization, integrated urban-rural development, and high-quality development. Guided by the national strategy for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, Shanxi Province faces new opportunities and challenges in its urban and rural development. Confronted with practical issues such as strained human-water relationships and the erosion of local characteristics in Shanxi's section of the Yellow River Basin, there is an urgent need to rethink the synergy between humans and the land, protect and develop local elements within urban and rural landscapes, and formulate scientific pathways for urban and rural development.

Based on the context and opportunities facing urban and rural development in Shanxi and China at large, and to promote integrated urban-rural development, contributing to the construction of a Beautiful Shanxi and Beautiful China through rural revitalization, Shanxi University, Peking University, and PowerChina Northwest Engineering Corporation Limited have engaged in collaboration. Together with other partners, we have formed an interdisciplinary, integrated, and diversified team capable of handling the entire workflow from research and planning to design and construction. This "industry-university-research" cooperation has established several practice bases, including sample sites in Qikou Ancient Town, Sanjiao Town in Liulin County, Hougou Ancient Village in Yuci District, and the Yellow River Wetland in Yuanqu County. The team has also completed rural town practice projects in several prefecture-level cities in Shanxi. Collaborative achievements have been recognized with awards such as the First Prize of the Shanxi Province Scientific and Technological Progress Award in 2021. To further consolidate the team's collaborative strength, sustain the production of high-level outcomes benefiting the scientific development of Shanxi's villages and towns, and provide scientific guidance and engineering technical support for territorial spatial planning under the requirements of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, the Shanxi Key Laboratory of Watershed Built Environment with Locality was formally established.

The laboratory aims to foster human-land coordination and integrated urban-rural development, supporting national strategies such as Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development in the Yellow River Basin and Rural Revitalization. Through continuous monitoring of typical areas and focusing on integrated urban-rural development, rural ecological protection, and cultural heritage utilization, the Lab will identify deep-seated local issues arising from rapid urbanization, such as homogenization, fragmentation, and degradation. It will summarize theoretical and technical insights from key aspects of locality—"typology, structure, evolution"—and apply three types of techniques—"continuation, reconstruction, darning"—of locality to updating villages/towns, relocation communities, and concentrated contiguous demonstration areas in Shanxi. This work will coordinate urban-rural relations and the allocation of various resources, remediate and restore the ecological environment of urban settlements, enhance the local characteristics of rural architecture and environments, and support industrial adjustment. Guided by the goal of integrated urban-rural development, the Laboratory aims to achieve integrated key technologies for the modern construction of local human settlements and establish a scientific evaluation system for the built environment, aiming to break through current bottlenecks in urban and rural planning theoretically, technically, and practically.