Research on Community Building in China, from the Perspective of Community Empowerment

Abstract

The official document of the 19th National Congress of the ruling party highly stresses the strategy of rural revitalization for the first time, calling for more attention to the crisis of rural communities. This provides a political agenda to promote rural planning lacking local extensive participation. While most research concerning the rural community involvement in governance and building is focused on the improvement of professional planning methods and techniques spatially, little attention is on the motivations and abilities to participate in the community. The empowerment theory, rooted in the American environment in the 1970s, provides a new perspective for inspiring the enthusiasm of vulnerable groups to participate in the community and improving their ability to participate. The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss how to improve community construction in China from the perspective of empowerment theory.