Second homes, amenity-led change and consumption-driven rural restructuring: The case of Xingfu village, China: Fid-Bau Portal

Second homes, amenity-led change and consumption-driven rural restructuring: The case of Xingfu village, China

Wu, Meiling / Gallent, Nick

Abstract This paper explores the linkages established by second home developers and owners with local residents in host communities, and further discusses how these extra-local linkages stimulate amenity-led change and rural restructuring. Research, comprising a mix of semi-structured interviews and site visits, was conducted in Xingfu village, China. That research focused on the increasing importance of extra-local economic and social capital to consumption-driven rural restructuring. Urban incursion not only drives change in the rural economy, but also brings important landscape and community impacts: a once homogenous and stable community is now characterized by dynamism and heterogeneity. The research draws attention to interactions between extra-local and local actors over time, as the second home industry in the area grows, and aims to contribute greater understanding of the exogenous drivers of rural restructuring, especially in the Chinese and developing country context.

Highlights • An exploration of second home development at Xingfu village (Chengdu) as part of a post-disaster response to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. • A private development on village land, with demand for second homes generated by a suspension of provincial hukou rules. • Research examines the role of the second home developer in delivering integrated rural development in partnership with local government. • Analyses the impacts wrought by extra-local actors in the community and its economy; • Concludes that the intervention delivered mixed results and more could have been done to capture development value and distribute benefit;