The remote and unspoilt character of Lucitopia Town, situated in the midst of the primeval Qingliangshan National Forest Park with its several pastoral villages, provides an excellent basis for the exploration, design and development of ecologically beneficial and sustainable solutions around a rural community, which seeks to harness, develop and promote the best of local cultural tradition and natural produce, whilst enhancing quality of life through the application of advanced expertise, methodology and technology. Emphasis is placed on such Sustainable Development Goals as efficient and renewable energy, biodiversity, responsible production and consumption, wellbeing, healthy foods, environmental protection and education. All this, together with the natural beauty, flora and fauna of the area, could make Lucitopia an engaging community for both residents and visitors.

From a wider perspective, the Lucitopia project aims to not only create an innovative, ecological town, but also to offer a compelling solution for the revitalisation of the rural community, which not only stems the tide of rural depopulation, but also brings ecologically aware visitors into the area.

In last year’s LRDC, the design participants had a wide remit to develop and revitalise the Qingliangshan area on the basis of a balanced unification of Ecology, Production and Living. This year once again, the LRDC aims to use the immense potential of Lucitopia’s unspoiled natural resources, human talent and inventiveness, and the latest technology together with traditional know-how to develop new forms of rural creative industry.

The focus of the LRDC 2019 will be around the innovative use of natural and waste materials, derelict areas and spaces, the shaping of the ecoscape, renewable energy and wellness, taking ‘edibles’ as a main starting point, to provide integrated design solutions. These solutions can address immediate local needs but also much broader issues around the design of rural – urban interaction within a social, economic and cultural context. The process of sourcing, developing and testing is in Lucitopia, but the aim is to replicate and export the results to a wider region and more rural communities.

In line with Lucitopia’s development strategy, this year’s design solution proposals will also be evaluated for possible further participation in the incubator program in Qingliangshan.

As in 2018, the 2019 edition of the Lucitopia Rural Design Challenge (LRDC) will focus on the area of Qingliangshan National Forest Park and Zhuxi Tree Farm in Zixi County, around a two-hour drive from NanCheng HighSpeed Railway station in Jiangxi province. This relatively remote location has brought some advantages to the region: most significantly, it has remained largely undeveloped, and thus maintained its natural beauty and unspoiled character.

Qingliangshan National Forest Park was established as Zhuxi Agriculture & Forest Farm in 1957 and was subsequently incorporated in the Jiangxi Production and Construction Corps, Fujian Military Region. Between 1964 and 1971 when the Corps was abolished, some 300 “educated youth” (or zhiqing, urban youth, who left the city to support agricultural production in rural areas) worked on the Farm. The Farm assumed the title of Zhuxi Tree Farm in 1973 and has kept this name until now. In November 2006, the Tree Farm was granted the additional title of “Qingliangshan National Forest Park” by the State Forestry Administration (Restructured as State Forestry and Grassland Administration in 2018). Throughout the Tree Farm, architectural features can still be seen from the time of the “educated youth”, such as the Tree Farm workers’ camps, former clinic, auditorium and cinema.

In addition to the administrative buildings, the Tree Farm covers an area which includes several villages. Like many such rural areas in China, and indeed, worldwide, Zixi county has suffered from family fragmentation and depopulation as younger residents left their homes in search of work in larger urban centres. The population, particularly in the villages, is now composed mainly of older people and some children. The inhabitants of the area also comprise two different groups: the ‘’originals” with a long local tradition and the “immigrants’, who were moved to the area from Qiandao Lake, Chun’an County in Zhejiang Province in 1959 due to the construction of Xin’an jiang reservoir. Though both groups of inhabitants are visually strikingly different in their architectural and living styles, they cohabit in a perfectly friendly and supportive way, and are equally affected by the population drain.

On an economic level, Zixi County has invested in several ecological or cultural tourism projects. The County is famous for its bakery and confectionary school, which send high quality bread and highly qualified bakers throughout China; most of the people who left Qingliangshan are mainly engaged in the work related to the bread industry. The area also produces high quality tea. In addition, the village areas are renowned for a plentiful supply of top quality bamboo, all kinds of organic vegetables and fruit, high quality spring water and delicious honey.

The Lucitopia development project officially started in May 2018 with the first edition of the LRDC. Taking the “Creative Industry Eco Town” as the basic positioning, Lucitopia Town aims to create a town that incorporates Creative Industries, “Livable Ecology”, Cultural Tourism, Leisure and Wellness, and Community Services, as in its “One Leaf and Five veins” ideology.  To date, the town has established a Creative Centre and its first camp, providing such facilities and services as office space, meeting rooms, accommodation, food, leisure and entertainment. In addition, a series of events and activities will take place around town life and the creation of new industry sectors.