jaue2023+003: Sustainable Regeneration Based on Community Empowerment in MTL Village

Abstract

With the rapid development of urbanization in Asia, the one-way and continuous migration of rural populations to cities has brought about many adverse effects. This article creatively uses community empowerment methods in a rural context as a guide, aiming to describe the revival process of a rural coastal village (Mui Tsz Lam) in Hong Kong under the guidance of sustainable development goals. The project first uses the Sustainable Development Goals to develop local sustainability plans for rural communities, then uses participatory design for co-creation, data collection and review, and finally fully empowers individuals in the implementation process to achieve sustainable development and social equity while protecting the unique village environment. The pillars of the project are to empower communities and build networks of collaboration with government commissioners, researchers, NGOs, and others to help the sustainable regeneration of villages. This study proves that community empowerment can help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals advocated by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Using a community empowerment approach in villages like MTL where endogenous dynamics are lacking can effectively engage multiple stakeholders and build collaborative networks to help address the negative impact of rural depopulation on village conservation.