On June 30, the 14th edition of People's Daily published the headline - "Beautiful Upgrading of a Small Village" which covered more than half of the page, giving a “thumbs up” to the remarkable results that the Eco-Design Town has achieved in constructing the village and driving industrial development.

You may wonder what ecological design can bring to the development of the village. As you wander along the Liuxi River in Conghua district of Guangzhou city, you may gain a firsthand experience.
 

In September 2018, Conghua started the construction of Eco-Design Town, exploring to energize the village with design and promote the innovation of ecological value. From the holding of World Eco-Design Conference and some other large and medium-sized conferences and exhibitions, to the entering of numerous designers and eco-design enterprises, the village has taken on a different look and followed by changes to the villagers' living.
 

In 89 days, an old farmers’ market has been transformed into a world-class high-end venue, attracting numerous designers and eco-design enterprises. This is the area where Tangwei village in Conghua district of Guangzhou is located. Flowing down the Liuxi River, a vibrant ecological corridor comes into view. Here, a vivid practice to energize the village with design and promote the innovation of ecological value of Conghua, Guangzhou has been started.
 

Ecological transformation, beautify the village with the power of design.

It is dawning in the east and green trees are making shade. The spacious and flat Gongqing Road is now packed with pedestrians and cars. Located in Liangkou town in Conghua district, the Eco-Design Town is also beginning to hum with lives.
 

On the greenway between the dormitory to the office building, designer Zheng Junpeng decided to jog to work with his blue tooth headset to seek inspiration for his design; Yang Qiuyin, resident of the Bishui new estate community, just arrived at Zheng Junpeng's office building for gardening. She found that the roof tiles which are commonly seen in the countryside look surprisingly beautiful as a material of flower beds; Song jie, who also lives in bishui new estate, works in a hotel nearby sitting down in the office. Outside the window, the sky is clear and blue, with few clouds floating gently. Xiao Song takes a few photos and posts them at the Moment, and soon he received nearly 100 “likes”. This is one of the most ordinary mornings in the Eco-Design Town.
 

Eco-Design Town is a new industrial park in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area constructed under the background of Sino-Swiss Low-Carbon City Project. In April 2016, "Memorandum of Cooperation between the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation on Sino-Swiss Low-Carbon Cities" was signed, making Guangzhou one of the cities to implement the Sino-Swiss Low-Carbon City Project. In December 2017, “Agreement on the Implementation of Sino-Swiss Low-Carbon City Project-First Phase (2017-2018)” was signed. The project involves the low-carbon management mechanism, transportation system and the low-carbon developing ideas brought by the town development, etc., marking the prelude of the construction of the Eco-Design Town.
 

In 2018, Conghua planned to build Eco-Design in Tangwei, Liangming and Liangping village in Liangkou Town. According to the plan, the first phase of the project included the Eco-Design Town Conference Center (permanent site of the World Eco-Design Conference), Eco-Design Avenue, Wanqu Open University of Design, etc. The second phase of the project included the landscape renovation of Yadong River, the Designers’ Village and so on. It’s noteworthy that the first phase of the project was started in September 2018, completed in just 89 days by making full use of the unemployed rural resources such as the abandoned farmers' market, without even 1 sqm of additional construction land.
 

In December 2018, the first World Eco-Design Conference was co-hosted by People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality, China Industrial Design Association and other organizations in Eco-Design Town which has become the permanent site of the Conference. Subsequently, dozens of important international and domestic conferences were held here.
 

"In the past, villagers always got muddy shoes and dusted face whenever it rained or blustered, now there are buses carrying conference participants and tourists constantly shuttling." Ying Fangtian, President of the Organizing Committee of the World Eco-Design Conference , has witnessed the changes of the Town step by step. In his opinion, the crucial point of the town's reconstruction lies in the insistence of ecological philosophy, by applying low-carbon and environmentally friendly construction technology, adopting bamboo, stone, flower, grass and other local primitive ecological materials, "to transform the environment with the power of design" instead of large scale of demolition and construction.
 

During the second phase of the project launched last June, the Eco-Design Town focused on the reconstruction of Yadong River with serious soil erosion at the time. An ecological restoration was implemented by eco-design technology, clearing up all planting encroached on riverbed of an area of 1700 square meters: enabling micro-topography to collect acidic rainwater like a sponge, and neutralize alkaline soil, putting rainfall flood management, aquatic ecological restoration, plant system restoration and waterfront landscape system as an integration. After half a year of transformation and restoration, the once silted Yatong River channel has now been replaced by green beach, viewing platform, ecological wetland, and waterfront path. Along the shore, sunflowers and Gesang flowers were in full blossom, and the lush green lawn becomes a good place for people to picnic and get close to nature.

Radiation and promotion effect, the local products have a new way out

As the village becomes more beautiful, then how to make the villagers’ lives better?
 

With the advance of construction and operation, the Eco-Design Town gives full play to the advantages of relevant industries, promotes the joint development of six surrounding villages, and continuously provides employment opportunities for local residents.
 

Chen Yijing, a farmer in Liangkou town, has engaged in alpine fungus planting for many years. Thanks to the superior water and soil in peak district of northern Conghua, the Ganoderma lucidum grown from her farm is of high quality. However, her farm locates in the high mountains where the transportation is inconvenient and no shops with stable flow of tourists nearby. In the past, her Ganoderma lucidum could only be sold in the market, "simply relying on word of mouth " of regular customers.
 

 

After the completion of the first phase of Eco-Design Town, Chen Yijing became one of the first settled individual farmers and set up her own local specialty shop in the commercial block in Conference Center. The endless stream of visitors in town brought her business opportunities, and designers form the settled enterprises also designed logos, posters, and packaging boxes ect. for her. Now, Chen is more motivated: "Seeing a new way out of local specialties, my children working outside the town even want to come home and help me with the business now."
 

Guan Meiquan and her family run B&Bs near the Eco-Design Town. She told the reporter that facades of many houses were renovated, village roads and greenery upgraded during the renovation of the town. Now, being enlightened by Guan Meiquan, many villagers also transform their houses into B&Bs, or lease them to enterprises as dormitories. " The B&B can be managed by one person at home, and the rest of the workforce can go to work in the town or hotels nearby," said the villagers.
 

The rent of a residential house plus income from a job or running a small business can bring about RMB$30,000 per year for local villagers. "Though we are not affluent, we lead a happy life," Guan meiquan said.

Led by characteristic and make the beautiful villages more attractive and even functional.

According to statistics, after the renovation of Eco-Design Town, the income of surrounding administrative villages has increased by 6 million RMB altogether, and the full employment of villages has been realized in general in planning area.
 

The beauty of the village should not be merely outside, inside beauty is more demanded. Zeng Xinying, the first secretary of Tangwei Village, told reporters that the construction of the Town has brought pleasant living environment and prosperity, and also new knowledge, culture and fashion.
 

Once, Zeng Xinyin learned that a Farmer’s restaurant was relocated to an inconspicuous private house coordinating with the Town construction. As a result, the restaurant owner wanted to attract customer by a large signboard. But how to design an eye-catching signboard and make it fit in with the atmosphere of the Town? Zeng Xinyin consulted the settled designer Li Xuesong, who directly made a field investigation of the restaurant and voluntarily designed a beautiful, eye-catching signboard that matched the style of the town –A how the Town’s exclusive "design culture" find solutions to the problems.
 

Glasses-free 3D Display, digital art paintings...The exhibition hall filled with "Black Tech" in   Eco-Design Town Conference Center now has become a popular choice for primary and secondary school students nearby to research, study and travel. In the summer vacation of 2019, some designers from settled enterprises in Eco-Design Town and college student also organized a public welfare art class for the primary school students nearby, which was greatly welcomed by the children.