Chinese architects must gain the confidence to develop China's rural areas sustainably, not just turn them into urban sprawl, says architect Li Xiaodong.
Li, whose projects include Liyuan Library in the Chinese village of Huairou, believes China's architects must develop a unique understanding of their cultural identity in order to build the architecture the country needs.
"The reason we need to urbanise the countryside is to make the running operation of the economy there efficient," he told Dezeen. "It's about infrastructure, it's about efficiency of how to use the land instead of just turning it into urban space."
Li Xiadong says Chinese architects need confidence to develop their own style
With a population of 1.4 billion, China faces unique challenges. Four decades of rapid urbanisation has been fuelled by the labour of younger people leaving behind farming for life in China's cities. The country has one fifth of the world's population but only one tenth of its farmland.
Chinese architects must "solve problems"
According to Li, it is up to China's architects to rise to the challenge of developing the countryside more sustainably to meet the country's food needs.
"If there's no more countryside who is going to feed 1.4 billion people"" he said.
"In Singapore they don't have agriculture, they just buy food from the mainland, it's easy. If we bought food for the Chinese population there would be a war. We have to solv...