Re-empowerment is an experimental social design project consisting of a set of urban interventions, located in the former air defence basement of a residential building in Beijing. 

In the process of urbanisation, around one million migrant workers took up residence in underground spaces in Beijing. Many of the new generation of migrant workers, aged between 22 to 32 years, are confused about their future and are losing their sense of identity. 

Because Beijing is now overpopulated, the Chinese government is carrying out ‘townisation’. The practice of living in air defence basements has been banned; however due to conflicts between multiple stakeholders, including migrant workers, landlords, local residents, government and social enterprise,

little has so far changed.

This project asks how Beijing’s air defence basements can be redefined so that they re-empower the new generation of migrant workers and related stakeholders through a sustainable development strategy. The project ultimately proposes that air defence basements can provide platforms for the establishment of social capital and act as places of transformation between urban and rural areas. Re-empowered migrant workers can gradually find direction, by positioning themselves with distinctive identities, improving their professional skills and becoming a crucial force in promoting the ‘townisation’ reform in China.