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Article

The Healthy City Constructed by Regional Governance and Urban Villages: Exploring the Source of Xiamen’s Resilience and Sustainability

by
Lan-Juan Ding
1,†,
Su-Hsin Lee
2 and
Shu-Chen Tsai
2,*,†
1
College of Arts and Design, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, China
2
Department of Geography, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 10644, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Buildings 2025, 15(14), 2499; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15142499
Submission received: 19 June 2025 / Revised: 8 July 2025 / Accepted: 13 July 2025 / Published: 16 July 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Health, Wellbeing and Urban Design)
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Abstract

China’s rapid urbanization has given rise to the phenomenon of “urban villages”, which are often regarded as chaotic fringe areas in traditional studies. With the rise of the concept of resilient cities, the value of urban villages as potential carriers of sustainable development has been re-examined. This study adopted research methods such as field investigations, in-depth interviews, and conceptual sampling. By analyzing the interlinked governance relationship between Xiamen City and the urban villages in the Bay Area, aspects such as rural housing improvement, environmental governance, residents’ feedback, geographical pattern, and spatial production were evaluated. A field investigation was conducted in six urban villages within the four bays of Xiamen. A total of 45 people in the urban villages were interviewed, and the spatial status of the urban villages was recorded. This research found that following: (1) Different types of urban villages have formed significantly differentiated role positionings under the framework of regional governance. Residential community types XA and WL provide long-term and stable living spaces for migrant workers in Xiamen; tourism development types DS, HX, BZ, and HT allow the undertaking of short-term stay tourists and provide tourism services. (2) These urban villages achieve the construction of their resilience through resisting risks, absorbing policy resources, catering to the expansion of urban needs, and co-construction in coordination with planning. The multi-cultural inclusiveness of urban villages and their transformation led by cultural shifts have become the driving force for their sustainable development. Through the above mechanisms, urban villages have become the source of resilience and sustainability of healthy cities and provide a model reference for high-density urban construction.

1. Introduction

The concept of the urban village has its origins in the work of the sociologist Herbert Gans [1,2]. Although the focus in the beginning was on a Latin American urban village in Boston, today, in China, the fusion of urban and rural characteristics has further developed in various ways [3,4].
Urban villages are defined as “villages engulfed by rapid urbanization” [5]. Urban villages are a unique phenomenon in the process of urbanization in China. They are original rural settlements surrounded by or included in the scope of urban construction land. Due to unbalanced development, this has resulted in a dual urban landscape and spatial structure in which the city surrounds the countryside, and the city and countryside are mixed [6,7]. Because of the increasingly obvious contradiction between urban villages and cities, urban villages have been mostly regarded as the edge of cities in the research of the past half century, with negative connotations, including that they are full of chaos, out of control, disordered, and low class [8]. They have even been referred to as informal settlements [9,10,11].
Therefore, the focus of related academic research has been on how to conduct internal space renewal planning [12]. The purpose of this is to prevent urban villages from becoming isolated islands in urban development and to integrate with the city [13]. In the past half century, most urban villages have been planned to be consistent with the urban style and become modern residential areas of the city. However, a few urban villages have successfully transformed through their enduring culture. In recent years, this has once again become the focus of attention for scholars in many fields, especially in the field of urban and rural planning; for example, Lueder [5] believes that urban villages deploy complex mechanisms that can resist and absorb urban development, which provides a new direction for discussing how cities coexist with urban villages.
As an important object of urban renewal, the efforts of urban villages to improve safety, health, and create public activity space help to narrow the distance between migrants’ life and work, and enhance the social resilience of communities [14]. Essentially, urban villages are key resilience carriers in the complex urban system. They demonstrate the adaptability of space and the resilience of vitality regeneration through the spontaneously growing street-and-alley economy (such as shops and small businesses in the streets and alleys). Low-cost housing provides migrants with an opportunity to adapt to urban life and creates new jobs, demonstrating their openness to social inclusion [12], relying on a powerful community network to form self-organizing mutually assistive resilience in the face of pressure and shock [15]. With their extraordinary urban density and vivid vitality, they have become an incubator for culture and art [16], highlighting the resilience of cultural innovation. At the same time, autonomous mechanisms are established on the basis of collective ownership to support the development of mixed-function communities and the real estate industry, and build the resilience of governance systems [17]. Therefore, as areas that policy cannot fully reach and control, urban villages represent both the uncertainty and possibility of the city. Their inclusiveness, diversity, sustained growth, and vitality all support them in building a more resilient ecosystem and becoming an indispensable node of resilience within the city. Therefore, this study aims to explain how urban villages in China play an important role in building urban health in accordance with the framework of urban regional governance.

1.1. Study Background

The urbanization of China has undergone a leapfrog transformation in a short period of 20 years from the time of the long-lagging state to the reform and opening-up periods. Taking Xiamen City as an example, since the strategy of transforming the city from an island city to a bay city was launched in 2002, through the comprehensive improvement projects of bay areas such as Wuyuan Bay, Xinglin Bay, Huandong Sea Area, and Maluan Bay, a model of organic integration of bay and urban development has been created [18,19]. Driven by the combined forces of population growth, economic development, government planning, and the contradiction of land resources, Xiamen City has expanded urban space through sea reclamation to alleviate the crisis of insufficient space [19]. The rapid expansion of Xiamen City implies the pressure to cover the surrounding rural areas. In order to absorb a large number of rural migrant workers fusing to the city, developers are trying to acquire the easiest plots to deal with in the shortest possible time to provide homes. However, when it comes to spaces such as ancestral halls and temples in traditional settlements, they often choose to take detours to avoid complex property rights issues. These traditional villages scattered along the coast of the bay, mainly engaged in fishing, have gradually transformed into urban villages that combine traditional texture with modern features as the development of the Bay Area progresses. Urban villages not only retain the spatial memory of the village society, but also carry the housing needs of industrial workers, forming a spatial bond connecting tradition and modernity.
At present, the research results of urban villages in Xiamen focus on three aspects: the transformation [20] and coordination [21] of social–spatial functions; the transformation of economic functions [22]; the protection [23] and reactivation [24,25] of traditional buildings. The preservation and transformation of urban villages have enabled contemporary urban villages to be subordinate to the cultural tourism industry under the positioning of Xiamen as “a scenic tourism city” [26,27]. Xiamen also plans to transform the medium and long-term reserved urban villages into modern communities [28]. Nowadays, Xiamen has been successfully transformed from an island city to a bay city. From the perspective of spatial expansion, it has achieved sustainable development in the new century. However, the unique role of urban villages in the organic renewal process of Xiamen City has been ignored, and the process of building a healthy and sustainable city together with urban villages has rarely been discussed.

1.2. The Resilience of Cities

From the perspective of urban ecology, this study regards Xiamen City and urban villages as a part of the urban ecosystem, takes the processes of urban growth and the evolution of urban villages as the text of the study, and discusses the role of urban villages and the process of urban reproduction.
Regarding the relationship between urban areas and their surrounding environment, spatial scholars criticize the imbalance caused by urban expansion [29,30,31,32,33], indicating that planning schemes with cities as the main body often lead to crises caused by the indiscriminate expansion of space towards boundaries, such as the disappearance of culture and the uniformity of cities [34]. The concept of resilience has been introduced into spatial disciplines as a design method in recent years, and it is expected that the human settlement environment will have the ability to absorb, adapt, and adjust when facing crises without collapsing due to excessive shocks [35,36,37]. Scholars also highlight that urban villages imply diverse resilience strategies and models [5]. This study understands resilience as a kind of self-adjustment of urban entities in response to shocks. This study focuses on discussing the sources of resilience in urban design and attempting to identify the role functions of each part of urban space and its existing resilience characteristics.

1.3. Study Framework and Hypotheses

This study takes Xiamen City, urban villages, and Bay Area governance as three main categories. This study holds that in order to achieve the goal of a healthy city through the strategy of Bay Area governance in Xiamen, it is necessary to transform the spatial resources of urban villages in the Bay Area into sources of resilience and sustainability. The ways of transformation include the expansion of strategic space, the resistance or absorption of urban space, and the co-construction of city and strategy (Figure 1).

2. Material and Method

2.1. Study Area

This study focuses on the urban villages in Xiamen City, which are distributed in Xinglin Bay, Maluan Bay, Tongan Bay, and Wuyuan Bay, located at 117.50° E to 118.12° E and 24°32′ N to 24°42′ N (Figure 2). The six urban villages within the scope of this study were originally coastal fishing villages (Table 1). During the process of Bay Area governance in Xiamen City, urban villages were formed. The internal characteristics are both modern buildings and traditional forms of residential houses. (Details of the study area are provided in Table S1.)

2.2. Study Steps and Contents

This study employed methods such as field investigation, in-depth interviews, and purposive sampling to obtain research data. The research time range was April 2024 and from March to July 2025, and the research objects are six urban villages in the Bay Area (Table 1). During the research period, a total of 45 people in the urban villages were interviewed. The types of residents included the original residents and outsiders living in the villages. The selected interviewees all lived in the villages permanently, and their ages ranged from 25 to 80 years old. The contents of the interviews included the basic information of the respondents (age, place of household registration, occupation, duration of residence) (Table 2), motivation for housing selection, living experience, spatial correlation between the current living environment and the place of origin, residents’ social relations, mode of daily communication, and perception of environmental changes. The sample coding in Table 2 is based on the following: Xinan Village—XA; Dashe Village—DS; Weili Community–WL; Bingzhou Village–BZ; Houxi Village–HX; Houtian Village–HT. “Local” refers to the fact that the interviewees have Xiamen household registration and were born in the urban village where the interviewees are located, and they have lived in the village for a long time. “Outsiders” refers to people from other provinces in China.
The interviewees of this study were mainly from XA, which has a large population base, a high proportion of migrant workers, and a small barrier of language communication. Moreover, many long-term residents (living for more than ten years) have a profound perception of environmental changes in the village. Because of the modernization of housing and strong privacy, it is difficult to go into the living area in WL, so the interviews focus on community service personnel and people gathering in public spaces. As a tourism community, DS exhibits significant population mobility and limited in-depth interviews. Therefore, we selected shopkeepers and frequently visiting students as interviewees. The three villages of BZ, HX, and HT are mainly inhabited by indigenous people, each with a sparse population. The interviewees include local residents, outsiders, and artists. All interviewees have some knowledge of the spatial distribution, regional policies, and environmental changes in the involved urban villages.

3. Results

3.1. The Outward Expansion and Connection of Islands: Land Reclamation, Bridges, Port Infrastructure

3.1.1. Land Reclamation

The land reclamation in Xiamen Bay is mainly used for aquaculture and urban land [38]. From 1966 to 1968, large-scale reclamation was conducted in Xinglin Bay. The main purpose at this time was aquaculture [39]. After 1984, the reclamation projects were mainly used for port construction, industry, commerce, trade, and urban construction [38]. In 1994, Xiamen was officially approved as a sub-provincial city [40]. In 1995, Xiamen Island was established as the key to promoting the construction of bay-type cities. During this period, the demand for land reclamation was mainly driven by industrialization and the expansion of ports. Ports and port-related industries needed to expand the port area land, and the space on the island was saturated. New towns and port areas were constructed by reclamation outside the island (Table 3, Figure 3). In 2005, Xiamen City entered the stage of building a bay-type city and proposed the strategy of optimizing the main island and expanding the areas outside the island. In this stage, the construction of various cities in Xiamen developed rapidly [41]. The reclamation demand from 2015 to 2020 was more accurate, and informed the construction of some transportation hubs, the layout of new industries, and ecological compensation [42,43].
Land reclamation promotes the economic growth and urbanization process of coastal cities by expanding land resources and living spaces. It creates multi-functional spaces such as ports, industrial areas, commercial facilities, housing, and entertainment and leisure venues, which provide basic support for urban function expansion [44]. While bringing huge economic benefits, it inevitably leads to the reduction in coastal wetland area, the decline of landscape and biodiversity [45,46], the shortening of natural coastline length [47], and the compression of traditional fishery production space [48]. In particular, reclamation projects have caused continuous damage to the marine environment [49] and led to irreparable ecological imbalances [50].

3.1.2. Bridges and Port Infrastructure

The development of island cities needs to rely on transportation, and is limited by island resources, so the transportation trunk line becomes the lifeline of the economic development of island cities and the skeleton of its urban space development [51]. According to the development plan of Xiamen as a bay-type city, the focus of urban construction is shifted from inside the island to the Bay Area outside the island. In order to meet the requirements of urban space expansion, it is necessary to increase the overall planning of Xiamen urban traffic [40]. Before the construction of Xiamen Bridge, it was difficult for Gaoji Seawall, as the only land–island passage, to meet the surging traffic demand of the special zone construction. Xiamen Bridge connects Xiamen Island and Jimei Peninsula, which greatly improved the traffic conditions and investment environment of Xiamen [52]. Since then, important bridges such as Haicang Bridge (1996–1999) [53], Jimei Bridge (2006–2008), Xinglin Bridge (2006–2008) [54], and Tong An Bridge (2005–2007) [42] have been built successively. Xinglin Bay Bridge and Xinzhou Bridge are important hubs for internal communication within Jimei New Town [55,56]. It has fully opened up the transportation inside and outside Xiamen Island, connecting Xiamen Island with various inland plates, marking the crossing of Xiamen from an “island city” to a “bay city” (Table 4, Figure 4).
Through the construction of cross-sea bridges, Xiamen broke through the geographical gap between islands and closely connected the island with the Bay Area, so as to support the pattern of multi-center development, promote the transfer of the population and industry to the area around the bay, and accelerate the integration process inside and outside the island. The construction of bridges successively gave Xiamen its present status of “embracing the development of the bay”. The construction of the port area, on the one hand, relies on the international logistics and trade hub to drive external development, and on the other hand, it promotes local services such as coastal tourism [57] and cross-strait exchanges through the port-city integration mode. A Bay Area development system coordinated by transportation, industry, and city has been formed [58]. The construction of bridges and ports solves Xiamen’s development dilemma under the constraint of geographical resources, drives the transformation of the city from an island type to a bay-type city, and shapes the competitiveness of the region in space expansion, economic interaction and ecological balance.

3.2. Xiamen-Centered Regional Governance: The Urban Village in the Bay Area

3.2.1. The Process of Transforming Traditional Villages into Urban Villages

The structural framework of Xiamen Bay urban space is based on the island, and the Bay Area has become the focus of urban space expansion and construction in Xiamen [59]. Before 1980, the spatial scale and structure of urban villages in the Xiamen Bay Area were in the state of original villages, and villagers relied on fishing, breeding, and farming to maintain their livelihood [60]. Since 1980, when the construction of the Xiamen Special Economic Zone started, the island’s urbanization has developed rapidly.
At that time, it was generally adopted to expropriate agricultural land and avoid rural housing land. With the gradual saturation of construction space in the island, by the 1990s, the cultivated land of Xiamen Island had been mostly requisitioned for building land, forming a large number of urban villages [61]. After 2000, the Xiamen government put forward a strategy of promoting integrated development inside and outside the island, and the urban development shifted to the Bay Area. It also adopted the practice of land requisition and retaining villages, and the urban construction land in the Bay Area gradually exceeded that in the island [62]. In 2007, China’s economy developed rapidly. Xiamen initiated the whole-village demolition and renovation work of urban villages. However, with the continuous rise in housing prices, the demolition compensation could not meet the economic interests of locals. With the expansion of urban space demands, the rapid and disordered spread of urban villages in the Bay Area has transformed small settlements based on traditional agriculture and fishing into communities serving modern industries [63].
Since 2013, Xiamen has adopted a long-term retention policy for urban villages, such as the implementation of the “Beautiful Xiamen Strategy”. Some villages with regional culture have gradually developed into a number of characteristic urban villages through their own strength and under the action of the market. For example, Zengcun Village has changed from a coastal fishing village to an urban village, and now it is the “most artistic fishing village in China” [64]. In 2017, Xiamen conducted the village development path and spatial control mechanism, performed a comprehensive evaluation of the city’s village development, and clarified the classification and control mode of village development [65]. In 2023, Xiamen launched its three-year action plan for the modernization of urban villages, which aimed to implement the comprehensive, thorough, and scientific transformation of 108 urban villages in the city. It adopted a “one village one policy” approach [66], and implemented the planning strategy of sustainable development according to the current situation of urban villages.

3.2.2. The Spatial Characteristics of Urban Villages in the Region Were Studied

Most of the urban villages in the study area retain temples, ancestral halls, theatrical stages, and traditional buildings, leaving traces of traditional settlements. Among them, WL (Figure 5c) on the island is an exception. Almost all WL buildings are modern structures with more than six floors whose exterior is square and whose interior structure is simple. The open space is mainly used for parking and residents’ activities, and the only traditional buildings are built as public spaces for community residents. XN (Figure 5a) is the largest urban village outside Xiamen Island, and it has a high density of modern buildings mostly with six to nine floors. There are still many unfinished buildings in the village, and traditional buildings are centrally distributed, some of which are rented, and some of which the indigenous people use for themselves to live in. Most of the open space is used as a parking lot, except for the pocket park and public square at the entrance, and XA seriously lacks space for residents to engage in activities. In DS (Figure 5b), BZ (Figure 5d), HX (Figure 5e), and HT (Figure 5f), the resident population is mainly indigenous, and the temples, ancestral halls, and stage are all completely preserved. Except for DS, the other three urban villages have modern buildings below three floors. In terms of the utilization of traditional buildings, DS and HX have undergone modernization for commercial development, while BZ and HT are in a state of conservation and repair. The distribution of open space in these four villages is relatively scattered, and most of the functions are for residents’ leisure activities.

3.3. The Role Positioning of Urban Villages

Urban villages are the first foothold for a large number of migrant workers to settle down in cities, especially near urban industrial agglomerations. In order to obtain economic benefits, local residents will build additional houses on the sites of the original houses, courtyards, and even farmland for rent, so as to maximize the development of space in the villages. The urban villages far away from the industrial areas, though also surrounded by the city, retain more spatial attributes as indigenous homes. Due to the differences in location conditions, traffic conditions, resource endowments, cultural customs, and population structure, urban villages in different regions have formed their own unique development orientation and irreplaceable existence value under the framework of regional governance.

3.3.1. Residential Community Type

XA is adjacent to the Xinyang Industrial Zone and Maluan Bay New City Construction Area (Figure 6a), is mainly based on housing rental, and has gathered a large number of workers with complex structures. Its current renewal focuses on improving human settlements, infrastructure, risk mitigation, and security, with the goal of creating safe communities for locals and migrants to live and work in. Similarly, WL (Figure 6b), which is also mainly based on leasing, is located near the large upgrading area in the island, and the modernization process started earlier. Now it is mostly modern rental housing, and the tenant group is younger. As a talent apartment community in Xiamen, it is committed to creating a young community that is both modern and full of life. For example, the creative market developed by using idle land is also a consumption space for young trends.

3.3.2. Tourism Consumption Type

DS is located in the Jimei School Village Tourist Area (Figure 6c), adjacent to scenic spots such as Jiageng Park and Dragon Boat Pool. Relying on the cultural heritage of Jiageng [67,68], with the intervention of the government and artist-entrepreneurs, the traditional architectural space has been transformed into a complex integrating cultural display, creative offices, and commercial consumption. While continuing their original functions such as sacrificial ceremonies and festivals, ancestral halls and temples have also become distinctive landscapes with regional characteristics, attracting a large number of tourists and serving as successful examples of cultural display and diverse business forms. In the same Jimei District, HX (Figure 6d), despite its profound culture, lacked an industrial population and tourist flow in the early days. In recent years, the cultural experience spaces created by the government and village collectives have mostly been left idle, and the introduced entrepreneurial projects of Taiwanese youth have also failed to significantly drive development. Nowadays, HX relies on its unique culture and the opportunity of being close to the third phase of the Software Park, waiting for development opportunities.
HT and BZ are located along the coastal romantic line of Tongan District (Figure 6e). The coastal romantic line is the main position for Tongan District to build a cultural and tourism consumption cluster and scatter the spillover tourists in Xiamen Island. These two villages are designed to accommodate the tourists of the coastal romantic line and extend their stay practice, while preserving the characteristic architecture and seafood food in southern Fujian, filling the vacancy of the romantic line in regional culture and catering. HT focuses on building art tribes and catering brands, while BZ focuses on building coastal landscapes and “punch points” by virtue of the advantages of being surrounded by the sea.

3.4. The Integration of Old and New in the Environment of Urban Villages

Changes in population structures are an important reason for the large-scale construction of modern housing in the early stage of urban villages. In some urban villages (e.g., XA, WL, DS), the surge of migrant populations far exceeded the local natural growth, resulting in a large-scale disordered expansion of space, forming a landscape significantly different from the original villages.
“This place used to be a rural area, later, many people from other places came here, locals built many houses for rent”
(XA9)
However, increased housing construction in other villages (such as BZ, HZ, HT) is caused by the natural growth of the population in Xiamen and the insufficiency of the original housing space. Therefore, the construction of modern housing in those villages is relatively orderly.
“The village is growing generation by generation, the house is not enough to live in, they began to build buildings, here are most of the villagers themselves in living”
(BZ30)
Around 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 had a great impact on China’s economy, and even accelerated the structural changes in the labor market and employment patterns. An impact of the epidemic has been an acceleration in the transformation process of industrial automation and data intelligence, having a job substitution or employment crowding-out effect on low-skilled labor [69]. For example, the urban villages represented by XA are dominated by the housing rental industry. During the construction and urban development of the Xiamen Special Zone, a large number of immigrants entered the city, and indigenous people built large houses on the foundations of their original houses and farmland. The evidence can be intuitively seen from the changes in traditional buildings and farmland from 2005 to 2020 (Figure 7). However, after 2020, the development of buildings and farmland slowed down and tended to stagnate, and almost no traditional buildings were demolished and reconstructed. At this stage, the supply of housing exceeded the demand, and the continuous construction of modern buildings was no longer in line with the actual situation of current urban development. The remaining farmland is used to build infrastructure and public spaces in the village, and the farmland in the village has all disappeared.
“Before the COVID-19 epidemic, the population of XA reached nearly 200,000, but now it is nearly half of that. After the epidemic, employment is not good, the rent has also increased several times, and the salary has not risen much, many people have left. In recent years, no one has built a house”
(XA7)

3.5. The Healthy Appearance of Urban Development

The post-COVID-19 era has seen economic transformation, the gradual saturation of urbanization, and a shift in the mode of urban development from incremental expansion to stock optimization. In 2023, the three-year action plan for urban villages focuses on environmental and appearance improvement, industrial upgrading, and historical and cultural exploration, aiming to achieve long-term governance and continue the city’s cultural heritage [70]. According to the interview text and field investigation, it was found that the integration of the old and new environment in the six urban villages investigated in this study shows different levels of healthy urban development.

3.5.1. Harmonious Development of Old and New Environment

The unfinished buildings in XA, which were suspended due to housing saturation and policy reasons, were spontaneously transformed into parking lots or catering spaces by residents. This process alters the original singularity of the building’s function. By installing doors and guardrails and dividing parking space units, it alleviates the parking inconvenience caused by road issues. At the same time, it forms its own advantage with a rental price lower than that of public parking lots, achieving the partial recovery of capital costs.
“The construction of unfinished buildings in the village was almost suspended for five or six years. During that time, the height of the buildings was limited by the policy. The part of the unfinished buildings that exceeded the height was demolished, and the construction has not continued since the suspension”
(XA1)
“Many of these unfinished buildings are changed into parking spaces for rent, a month CNY200–300, meet and negotiate with each other, otherwise this house empty’s loss is too big”
(XA1, XA2, XA9)
The traditional architecture preserved in XA carries multiple functions. Traditional residential buildings, with their wide spatial layout, become a place for migrant populations to communicate with each other, and the social activities that occur in them effectively promote the formation of stable social relations. Meanwhile, the public square transformed by the government around the temple also provides a space for residents to establish connections. These old buildings are no longer limited to a single historical function, but are endowed with new social value and use significance through the independent creativity of residents or the renovation and renewal of the government.
“We fellow townspeople often gather in this courtyard to have meals and play the games of our hometown. We get along very well”
(XA1)
“We also play cards with the landlord and share the vegetables I grow in the yard”
(XA15)
“The empty space in front of Zhengshun Palace has been renovated by the government, and there are many people here every day. Many people take their children, chat and play cards”
(XA6)
The basketball court transformed by WL around the stage provides a space for public activities for residents in the village, and at the same time transforms some idle land outside the community into a space for entertainment and leisure consumption. The “Xiamen College Student Talent Apartment” built by WL also provides preferential accommodation for students who come to Xiamen to study or have just graduated:
“In the past two years, the government’s renovation has improved the environment of the whole community, and there are more places for leisure”
(WL28)
“WL’s talent apartments have a great environment and are very cheap”
(WL29)

3.5.2. Traditional Architecture Helps Transform Urban Villages

Against the background of an emphasis on cultural inheritance and protection in urban renewal in recent years, some urban villages in Xiamen that retain traditional architectural culture, especially those far from the industrial core areas and facing population loss and decline of traditional rental industry, are actively exploring cultural industries to drive economic transformation and upgrading [71]. Relying on villages’ appearance and the environmental foundation laid by the “Beautiful Xiamen Strategy” in 2013, the urban villages in the coastal bays outside Xiamen Island, under the orientation of cultural tourism development, have shown good revenue-generating potential in their traditional architecture. Take DS as an example. With the Jiageng architectural complex as its feature, under the planning guidance of Xiamen City, it has successfully transformed into a cultural and creative historical district, thus activating the tourism industry and becoming a tourist destination in Xiamen. The commercial activities within the village are increasingly prosperous. Its success indicates that such urban villages with cultural characteristics can rely on their own resources to create unique IP (intellectual property) and explore characteristic development paths. These urban villages have abandoned the “spatial expansion” model and turned to “functional upgrading”. They are expected to become new fulcrums for Xiamen’s all-round tourism and urban cultural map.
“DS used to be a small village. I didn’t even know it existed when I went to school nearby. Now it has developed, with a growing number of tourists and shops”
(DS24)
“I come here to open my shop because I feel the cultural atmosphere is very good and the house is also very characteristic. In these two years, I feel that more and more people travel”
(DS22)
“Nowadays, more and more people come to DS for tourism. Many houses in the village have been rented out for opening stores. Recently, several new restaurants have been opened.”
(DS25, DS26)
HT transforms the ancient houses in the village through artists’ residence, holds cultural experience activities, and attracts groups interested in art experiences and garnering fame. HT’s art tribe building plan, at present, is only to renovate and upgrade some ancient houses, and the rest are to renovate and protect. Residents and village collectives are aware that the traditional buildings retained in the village are an important support for the future development of HT.
“There are many ancient houses in the village, and some of them have been changed into experience centers. At present, not many people in the village know about them, but these buildings are left. In case there are more people in the future and the government increases investment, HT can really develop tourism.”
(HT37)
BZ aims to build a coastal leisure resort and is currently focused on the coastal landscape zone. The traditional building area in the village is also planned as a cultural block. HX has transformed the traditional building into an experience hall of marriage custom, wine culture and tea culture due to its link to the City God’s Temple culture (Table 5).
“The government has renovated these houses in the hope that someone will come and set up shop in the future, in case tourism really develops”
(HX33)
“Look at the temple fair held today. A lot of people have come. Maybe it will really become a famous scenic area like Gulangyu Island (a famous tourist attraction in Xiamen) under the government’s planning”
(HX35)
“The vacant land over there is now under construction for hotels and other projects to prepare for the future development of tourism”
(BZ27)
At present, the construction and planning strategies of these urban villages help to develop their own cultural and geographical characteristics from traditional buildings, and develop high value-added businesses such as cultural creativity, artistic experiences, characteristic catering, and tourism. These practices show that through cultural empowerment and industrial innovation, traditional buildings in urban villages can activate the existing space, explore diversified and sustainable development paths, and realize the transformation from traditional residential areas to livable and dynamic cultural communities with characteristics.

4. Discussion

4.1. Sources of Resilience in Healthy Cities

In this section, we want to discuss why the urban village does not disappear under the influence of urbanization, in what kind of way it exists, the kinds of spatial forms the urban village takes, and how these spaces support the healthy development of Xiamen city.

4.1.1. Resistance and Absorption: Development Anchor Point with High Recognition

This study holds that resistance refers to the fact that urban villages form a foundation for resisting demolition, relying on their unique and irreplaceable value in regional development (carrying a large number of people or possessing profound cultural deposits). Then, sustainable development can be achieved by effectively absorbing the resources provided by urban policies. This process presents a clear path of “resisting risks first, and then absorbing resources to realize transformation”. In this case, XA, with its powerful spatial carrying capacity, has become an indispensable labor reservoir for the operation of industrial parks and the construction of new towns in the region. This key value has forced the government to carefully consider when making decisions. Eventually, with policy support, it was upgraded from the original “problem” village to the current “livable community”. DS shows another mode, whereby its profound cultural heritage and clan power constitute a solid foundation for resistance, and it faces challenges in balancing tradition preservation with modernization demands. When seeking transformation, DS takes advantage of the opportunity of the country vigorously promoting cultural tourism and rural tourism. The village collective and the government cooperate, take their own culture as the core advantage, and actively incubate innovative formats. Thus, it will immerse itself in the experimental field of innovative urban village development.
This kind of urban village does not passively wait to be discovered, but actively constructs value symbols that can be recognized by power or the market, which indicates that the visibility of an urban village affect its renewal process [72]. The maintenance of the survival bottom line and the acquisition of development capabilities are essentially the construction of social resilience. By shaping highly recognizable spaces to become the anchor points for the development of urban villages, it can prevent the gradual homogenization of urban spaces caused by excessive gentrification [73], and ensure that the city can still guarantee the low-cost survival rights of the lower classes and the inheritance and development of cultural genes in the face of industrial fluctuations. Let policies catch a glimpse of another perspective of planning, not just demolition and reconstruction, but a more inclusive and sustainable development (Figure 8).

4.1.2. Expand: Efficiency Space to Improve System Effectiveness

“Expand” is a limited urbanization process in which the village in the city retains its social structure and economic function through upgrading the material environment and service function. In the spatial form, it is gradually surrounded and absorbed by the modern city. Driven by rapid urbanization, most of the urban villages located in the core area of the city, such as the traditional buildings in WL, almost all disappeared in the process of urbanization. Based on the principle of maximizing the value of space exchange, the evolution from village to community is realized through modernization. Space in this mode is essentially an extension of the urban interface, which significantly improves the efficiency of community system operation despite sacrificing cultural diversity. Its contribution to urban resilience construction is to accelerate spatial reproduction and strengthen urban operation efficiency through large-scale and standardized supply. The essence of the expansion mode is an adaptive evolution of the urban village in the face of the urbanization wave. The value is not in the complete elimination of so-called informality, but in the realization of a certain degree of gentrification [74] (Figure 9).

4.1.3. Co-Construction: Reserve Elastic Space for Transformation

Co-construction refers to the government-led assessment of the intrinsic value and development advantages of urban villages and the formulation of policy-oriented development plans. The villages in the city under this mode are usually in the edge zone of urban modernization construction, and have not yet fully integrated into the urban infrastructure, industrial system and spatial form, showing an incomplete state of urban villages. The development of BZ, HX, and HT discussed in this case study is restricted by multiple factors, such as the lack of a large floating population to support the rental economy, and the lack of opportunities to develop tourism or other niche industries. At present, the main residents are local residents, so to a large extent, the original social structure and authenticity of the villages have been retained. When these kinds of urban villages are included in the urban planning framework, their space forms a transitional area with the characteristics of transformation. The material and intangible cultural heritage they retain, as well as the unique ecological base, provide a valuable “strategic blank” for future development. The essence of this kind of coordinated development lies in accumulating the capital and conditions needed for transformation by delaying large-scale development, and reserving room for trial and error in the adjustment of the city’s future industrial and spatial patterns. In the current stage, urban planning adopts a gradual renewal strategy (renovation of ancient houses, environmental governance, and organization of cultural activities), which improves the living environment and enriches the daily life of residents, and also provides a buffer period for the community to adapt to future development. The core value of co-construction is to construct a “time–space delay mechanism”, which preserves the key cultural foundation and land reserve for the city to cope with long-term development uncertainty (Figure 10).

4.2. Sustainability of Healthy Urban Development

4.2.1. The Inclusiveness of Multiculturalism

In the past urban development process, people lacked a sense of identity for the original cultural connotation of the city, and the demand for cultural connotation and cultural spirit was not high. In the face of increasing cultural demand, urban villages are not only the carriers of historical culture, a component of urban cultural diversity, but also the reservoir of the labor force, supporting the stable employment demand of the urban expansion period. Meanwhile, in cities dominated by commercialized spaces, urban villages also exist as a form of resistance to the comprehensive commercialization of space. The urban villages in this case study retain distinctive cultural memories such as Minnan culture, overseas Chinese culture, fishing and business culture, and red culture. These cultural memories have not vanished with the passage of time and the development of the city with Xiamen’s Bay Area development. Just as in urban villages like DS, HX, and HT, creative stores, cultural exhibition halls, artist studios, and other places that are different from traditional business models have emerged in the urban village spaces. The villager collectives also organize activities by making use of the remaining space, demonstrating the villagers’ adaptability to space utilization and their pursuit of every opportunity for growth.

4.2.2. Cultural Turn to Promote Sustainable Development

The value of cultural heritage and its transmission lies in building inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and human settlements. Cultural heritage supports the building of damaged communities that can prevent, respond to and recover from disturbances. In a resilient development vision where communities do not return to their initial state but evolve, culture and cultural heritage can be key to civic engagement and social, environmental, economic, and governance innovations to further envision resilient sustainable cities. We need to protect cultural heritage activation, and historic context needs a renaissance [71]. In the process of renting, transforming, and conducting commercial activities in traditional buildings, as spontaneously performed by local residents, the roads, characteristic textures, and daily living spaces formed by the long-term development of fishing villages are preserved to a certain extent. These spatial elements are the containers of local residents’ social life and the components of local culture in urban villages. These folk houses, ancestral halls, and temples, which reflect the villagers’ lifestyle and daily scenes, reflect the authenticity of the culture, and this authenticity may become the engine of future development [75]. With the decline of traditional social structure and the acceleration of land and housing reform, the originally exclusive ritual space have gradually become secularized, the single living space has become commercialized, and their functions have begun to change toward practicality and diversity [76,77]. The transformation of these spaces is closely related to national and urban planning, and institutional arrangements provide valuable input into the reuse of these spaces [78]. Urban villages should not only preserve urban archives and development context, but also bring more diversified urban development patterns to the global urbanization process [79].
Obvious changes in cultural heritage can inspire people to embrace uncertainty and absorb adversity in an era of change, thereby enhancing their cultural resilience [80]. The preserved folk houses, ancestral halls, and temples in the urban villages in this case study show the unique cultural value of southern Fujian. In promoting the modernization of urban villages, the government pays attention to protecting and inheriting historical and cultural resources, discovering their contemporary value, and planning cultural creativity experiences and industrial innovation [81]. While inheriting the cultural context, Xiamen uses marketization methods to enable more capital to participate in the governance of urban villages, transforming them into urban public spaces that cross physical boundaries, and also providing an opportunity for residents open a dialog with the outside world.

4.3. Referability and Limitations of the Study

The imbalance of urban and rural development in China continues to promote the migration of rural populations to cities, making the resettlement of immigrants and their own development an unavoidable problem for cities. It also indicates that urban villages as a special urban form will continue to exist and receive more planning attention. This study mainly discusses the healthy city under a collaboration between regional governance and urban villages. Although the study is based on urban villages along the Bay Area in Xiamen, it can still provide a reference perspective for other Chinese cities.
In the context of Xiamen, as a coastal city, this case study reveals that under the framework of urban regional governance, different types of urban villages provide different resilience development models for the sustainable development of the city. In the early period oriented towards economic development, the resilience of urban villages that became residential communities lies in maintaining their functions while creating more livable residential areas. Urban villages that have not been fully developed also seek development under the framework of regional governance. For example, cultural tourism, coastal vacation, and art tribes have been formed under the framework of Xiamen’s tourism development. Therefore, for Chinese cities with similar backgrounds (coastal cities, tourist cities, etc.), this study proposes regional collaborative governance and differentiated resilient development strategies for urban villages, which are adjusted and referenced by combining local systems and development goals to explore diversified development paths.
This study uses historical data, field surveys, and resident interviews for triangulation, and uses scientific methods as much as possible to get closer to the truth. The views of the interviewees in this study are representative. Although the residents interviewed in this study did not completely cover all age groups or different types of people, the differences in the interview samples of various urban villages indirectly reflect the real situation of these villages, or the difficulties they face, and their living strategies in urban villages. With the above information, the researchers were able to explain how these cases established their own resilience in the different role positioning formed under the regional governance framework. However, the selected case areas in this study cannot fully cover all types of urban villages in China (inland cities, resource-based cities, etc.). Based on this, a subsequent research direction could deeply investigate the cases of urban villages that are significantly different from the types in this study, and analyze their internal resilience mechanisms, governance challenges, and development potential, so as to build a more comprehensive, more universal knowledge system and practical strategy for the collaborative development of urban villages and healthy cities in China.

5. Conclusions

This study discusses how urban villages in cities under the framework of regional governance become the source of resilience and sustainable development. The results show that urban villages often seek survival through resistance when facing a demolition crisis or development crisis. Absorption behavior usually occurs after the recognition of its value by policy and planning, and the two work together to shape a highly recognizable space that resists urban homogenization and renewal, which becomes the key to preserving the survival right of marginalized groups and regional culture. Urban expansion focuses on efficiency improvement, mainly in order to solve the problems left by extensive early development and improve the quality of life. It promotes the better integration of urban villages into the urban system through limited modernization, and maintains the inclusivity of the city while improving spatial reproduction and operation efficiency. When cities are not eager to obtain short-term benefits from some urban villages but focus on long-term strategies, co-construction, as a flexible reservation mechanism, can accumulate transformation capital through policy planning and progressive renewal, and reserve cultural and land reserves for future urban development.
These three mechanisms together constitute the source of urban village resilience, which can survive the wave of urbanization and become the spatial carrier to support the healthy development of cities. In the context of advocating cultural protection, inheritance, and development, the special phase of urban villages being inclusive of diverse cultures can seize the opportunity of cultural transformation, actively transform their own cultural advantages into the driving force for development, and achieve the continuation and improvement of their internal vitality through spatial transformation and functional renewal led by culture. The ability to fully discover and utilize cultural resources will be the core reason for the sustainable development of urban villages in the future, and it is also internalized as the driving force for the healthy development of cities.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/buildings15142499/s1, Table S1: Urban village information and sample Selection.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, S.-C.T.; data curation, L.-J.D.; formal analysis, L.-J.D.; investigation, L.-J.D. and S.-C.T.; methodology, S.-C.T.; project administration, S.-C.T.; resources, L.-J.D.; software, L.-J.D.; supervision, S.-H.L. and S.-C.T.; validation, S.-C.T.; visualization, L.-J.D.; writing—original draft, L.-J.D. and S.-C.T.; writing—review and editing, S.-C.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

This study was approved by the Science and Technology Ethics Committee at Jimei University (protocol code JMU202307039 and date of approval is 1 August 2022). No harm was caused to the participants during the study.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

All research data have been attached in the Supplementary Table S1 of this paper, and readers can find the complete dataset in the above Supplement.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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  81. Zheng, L.; Huang, T. Making Up for the Shortcomings of Modern Urban Governance: A Frontline Observation of Urban Village Governance in Xiamen: Xinhua News Agency. 2024. Available online: https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1829437520124972234&wfr=spider&for=pc (accessed on 6 July 2025).
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Figure 1. Study concept.
Figure 1. Study concept.
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Figure 2. Study area.
Figure 2. Study area.
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Figure 3. Map of land reclamation in the Bay Area.
Figure 3. Map of land reclamation in the Bay Area.
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Figure 4. Bridge construction and connectivity in the Bay Area.
Figure 4. Bridge construction and connectivity in the Bay Area.
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Figure 5. Spatial illustration of six urban villages.
Figure 5. Spatial illustration of six urban villages.
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Figure 6. Location details of urban villages.
Figure 6. Location details of urban villages.
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Figure 7. Spatial evolution of traditional buildings and farmland in XA (2005–2025).
Figure 7. Spatial evolution of traditional buildings and farmland in XA (2005–2025).
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Figure 8. Resistance and absorption logic diagram.
Figure 8. Resistance and absorption logic diagram.
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Figure 9. Expansion logic diagram.
Figure 9. Expansion logic diagram.
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Figure 10. Co-constructed logic diagram.
Figure 10. Co-constructed logic diagram.
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Table 1. Survey list of urban villages in the Bay Area.
Table 1. Survey list of urban villages in the Bay Area.
CodingNameGeographical LocationEnvironmental DescriptionPopulation
(Ten Thousand)		Area
(km2)		Inspection Time
aXinan
village		Ma Luan Bay Modern housing coexists with traditional residences. It is close to an industrial area, and the main residents are immigrants.101.4March–April 2025
bDashe
village		Tong An BayIt is located in the Jimei School Village tourism zone, the main inhabitants of the village are Chen clan people, and it mainly focuses on the development of cultural tourism.0.90.2April 2024
April–July 2025
cWeili
Community		Wu Yuan BayThe overall environment is moving forward toward a modern community, with a large number of migrants and mainly developing the housing rental industry.3.750.8May 2025
dBingzhou
Village		Tong An BayIt is located in Bingzhou Island, the red cultural village of Xiamen, mainly for local residents, and creates coastal tourism along the bay.0.8150.5May 2025
eHouxi
Village		Xing Lin BayTo develop study villages for Fujian and Taiwan cooperation and develop tourism relying on the City God’s Temple culture.0.130.3May–June 2025
fHoutian
Village		Tong An BayThe villagers live near to the Lin family. Currently, some traditional buildings are used as artist studios, and villagers take on experienced seafood professionals as business partners in their industries.0.610.44April 2024
May–June 2025
Table 2. List of interviewees in urban villages.
Table 2. List of interviewees in urban villages.
No.Sample CodingGenderAgeBackgroundYears of
Residence		Interview Time
1XA1M50Outsider (Sichuan)—construction worker203 March 2025
2XA2M60Outsider (Sichuan)—construction worker2010 March 2025
3XA3F50Outsider (Guizhou)—factory worker510 March 2025
4XA4M65Outsider (Henan)—waste recovery 1510 March 2025
5XA5F60Outsider (Sichuan)209 April 2025
6XA6F65Outsider (Hubei)—sanitation worker209 April 2025
7XA7A: M60–70Local/9 April 2025
B: F60–70Local/
8XA8F64Outsider (Anhui)—waste recovery309 April 2025
9XA9M40–50Local/9 April 2025
10XA10F60Outsider (Jiangxi)—factory worker3–413 April 2025
11XA11M70Outsider (Sichuan)—factory worker1613 April 2025
12XA12F30Outsider (Guizhou)3–413 April 2025
13XA13A: M50Outsider (Sichuan)—construction worker1513 April 2025
B: F50Outsider (Sichuan)—construction worker15
14XA14F30Local company staff/13 April 2025
15XA15F66Outsider (Guizhou)1013 April 2025
16XA16F60Local/13 April 2025
17XA17M40Outsider (Jiangxi)—company staff1013 April 2025
18XA18F50Outsider (Fujian)813 April 2025
19XA19F55Outsider (Fujian)—nanny513 April 2025
20XA20F65Outsider (Anhui)—waste recovery213 April 2025
21DS21M80Local/10 April 2024
22DS22F25Outsider (Helongjiang)—clothing shop owner213 April 2024
23DS23A: M65Outsider (Anhui)—restaurant owner2–313 April 2025
B: F60Outsider (Anhui)—restaurant owner2–3
24DS24F25Outsider (Henan)—student/13 April 2025
25DS25F45Local (married to DS)—restaurant owner105 July 2025
26DS26F55Local/5 July 2025
27WL27A: F60–70Outsider (Henan)2–3
B: F60–70Outsider (Henan)2–316 May 2025
C: F60–70Outsider (Henan)2–3
28WL28M60Outsider (Hubei)—sanitation worker2016 May 2025
29WL29M25Outsider (Jiangsu)1–225 June 2025
30BZ30M65Outsider (Anhui1)—waste recovery317 May 2025
31BZ31F65Local/17 May 2025
32HX32F50–60Local/16 May 2025
33HX33M55Local grocery store owner/16 May 2025
34HX34F40–50Building repair worker116 May 2025
35HX35M35–45Local/21 June 2025
36HT36M35–40Initiator of the art project919 April 2024
37HT37M45–55Outsider (Fujian)—construction worker5–65 July 2025
38HT38A: M60Outsider (Hubei)—temporary worker1–25 July 2025
B: F60Outsider (Hubei)1–2
39HT39M75Local/5 July 2025
Note: The age of the interviewees is based on the year of the interview. The personal information of the interviewees was as complete as possible. In accordance with research ethics, the interviewees are represented by codes. The code “F” represents female, “M” represents male, “A: F” represents female A, and “A: M” represents male A. “Local” residence period “/” refers to long-term residence within the villages The specific period cannot be determined due to going out for study or work.
Table 3. Land reclamation in Xiamen Island and the Bay Area.
Table 3. Land reclamation in Xiamen Island and the Bay Area.
PeriodThe Main DriverRegional Case
1995–2005
Industrial construction and port expansion		Industrialization development, port expansion, transportation infrastructureHaicang and Xinglin Taiwan investment zone
Wu Yuan Bay Business Center and Park
The development of Maluan Bay New Town
2005–2015
New town construction and ecological restoration		New town construction, industrial upgrading, tourism developmentThe construction of new towns in Maluan Bay and Jimei
Huandong sea area construction coastal romantic line and science and technology city
Construction of Xiang An Airport
2015–2025
Ecological priority and high-quality development		Transportation hubs, layout of emerging industries, ecological compensationThe integration project of industry and city in Maluan Bay New Town
The mangrove park restores ecological wetlands
Table 4. Bay Area bridge construction list.
Table 4. Bay Area bridge construction list.
NumberBridge NameCompletionPurpose and FunctionConnection Area
1Xiamen Bridge1991Replace the Gaoji Seawall, Relieve traffic pressureXiamen Island—Jimei
2Haicang Bridge1999Relieve traffic pressure, Promote the development of the Haicang Taiwan Business Investment ZoneXiamen Island—Haicang
3Jimei Bridge2008It connects the eastern part of the island with Jimei New City
Support the development of Ring east sea		Xiamen Island—Jimei, Tong An
4Xinglin Bridge2008Reduce pressure on Xiamen Bridge
To promote industrial and new town development zones in Xinglin area		Xiamen Island—Xinglin
5Xiang An Bridge2023Improve Xiamen’s eastern transportation network
Support the development of Xiang’an Airport and Technology City		Xiamen Island—Xiang An New town
6Tong An Bridge2007Connect Tong An and Xiang An
Promote the formation of the economic belt around the Huandong sea area		Tong An Xiang An
7Xinyang Bridge1996Connecting Xinglin and Haicang
Promote the development of industry and logistics in Maluan Bay area		Xinglin—Haicang
8Xinglin Bay Bridge2007Promote the joint development of Xinglin bay New Town and Jimei Cultural and Educational DistrictInside Jimei New Town
9Xinzhou Bridge2011Promote the joint development of Jimei New Town and Xinglin New TownInside Jimei New Town
Table 5. Planning list of traditional buildings in urban villages.
Table 5. Planning list of traditional buildings in urban villages.
NameTraditional ArchitectureDevelopment FormatWhether to Practice or Not
XAAncient housesAncient house townNo
DSAncient houses ancestral hall templesCatering, home-stay, cultural and creative activities, experience museumsYes
WLAncient houses ancestral hallsTea housesYes
HXAncient houses
Ancestral hall temples		Catering, experience centers, museumsYes
HTAncient houses ancestral hallsArtist studiosYes
BZFolk houses
Ancestral hall temples		Historical and cultural streetsNo
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Ding, L.-J.; Lee, S.-H.; Tsai, S.-C. The Healthy City Constructed by Regional Governance and Urban Villages: Exploring the Source of Xiamen’s Resilience and Sustainability. Buildings 2025, 15, 2499. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15142499

AMA Style

Ding L-J, Lee S-H, Tsai S-C. The Healthy City Constructed by Regional Governance and Urban Villages: Exploring the Source of Xiamen’s Resilience and Sustainability. Buildings. 2025; 15(14):2499. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15142499

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ding, Lan-Juan, Su-Hsin Lee, and Shu-Chen Tsai. 2025. "The Healthy City Constructed by Regional Governance and Urban Villages: Exploring the Source of Xiamen’s Resilience and Sustainability" Buildings 15, no. 14: 2499. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15142499

APA Style

Ding, L.-J., Lee, S.-H., & Tsai, S.-C. (2025). The Healthy City Constructed by Regional Governance and Urban Villages: Exploring the Source of Xiamen’s Resilience and Sustainability. Buildings, 15(14), 2499. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15142499

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