Hou Xiaolei, a professor at the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, has found an innovative way of bringing new life to the hutongs, the city’s ancient alleyways. Since 2015, she has led a microgarden project to build tiny gardens in hutongs, usually along the sides of the narrow alleys. The project was carried out as Beijing’s urban renewal entered a phase where massive demolition and reconstruction gave way to small-scale “regeneration” projects.
“We hope to bring art into ordinary people’s lives through the project and upgrade the public spaces of Beijing’s old city, increase residents’ participation in community governance and contribute to the improvement of the city’s environment and culture,” Hou told Beijing Review. Along one section of Chongyong Street, a historically significant thoroughfare in central Beijing, Hou and her team have built 35 microgardens consisting of more than 6,000 plants.
In addition to plants, the gardens also have art installations featuring elements of Beijing’s local culture such as kites and tanghulu, a traditional candied fruit snack.
Hou told the microgardens have not only increased the greenery of the old
