"Is this a community meeting space?"
"Is this a place to read?"
"Is this a restaurant?"
"Is this an urban farm?" ......
Walk into Chengdu High-tech Zone
Lantian Road No. 2 and No. 3 "Vegetable Market Book House",
There are questions like this on every step,
Attract passers-by to walk in and explore.
According to the street of Fangcao Street, Chengdu High-tech Zone
The "Vegetable Market Book House" next to the Yimin Vegetable Market is managed by the partner CHAOS Space, where people come and go, and the merchants and surrounding citizens can conveniently enjoy public cultural services here. The humanistic temperature of a city quietly spreads in the small "vegetable market bookstore".
Interior of the Book House
Accessibility, perceptuality, and participation are the characteristics of the Vegetable Market Book House. Walking into the CHAOS space, you can see that the bookstore here is very different from the bookstore in other markets, the two-story space is not only spacious and independent, but also the content is "unique".
Books, vegetable patches, co-working spaces, restaurants, ...... Partner, CHAOS space has it all. Here, idle community spaces, vegetable markets and other public scenes are organically combined, trying to break the boundaries between residents' lives and art, public welfare, education and other fields, creating opportunities for different groups of people to meet, communicate and dialogue.
The wet market space is embedded with exhibitions and events
Let "community sharing" be integrated into residents' lives
According to the street of Fangcao Street, Chengdu High-tech Zone
The Vegetable Market Book House has two floors:
1st floor: about 130 square meters, with more than 2,000 books, mainly books on community governance and children's books. The book room is decorated simply and elegantly, from the bookshelves to the reading tables and chairs, every place reveals care and refinement. In addition, there are cakes, snacks, coffee, etc. for sale in the restaurant area, and various cultural exhibitions can be presented in the public area;
2nd floor: similar to a LOFT space, with desks and computers, which can be used by community youth to share office.
In particular, there is a small vegetable patch outside the bookstore, where seasonal vegetables such as coriander and peppers are grown.
The questions on the stairs are all asked by the residents, in fact, restaurants, urban farms, book houses, and gathering spaces, we are all here.
——Yang Yingqi, the manager of the CHAOS space
The CHAOS space is jointly created by the Bud community and the community construction agency "Big City and Small Village", which is independently invested and operated by social organizations in a market-oriented way, supplemented by financial subsidies for the community.
"Reading is a power"
Yimin Vegetable Market has been opened in the Beilei community for more than 20 years and is an important service point for residents here. Last year, the pharmacy next to the vegetable market was being subleased, and we are also thinking about how to make better use of the vacated space, and want to transform it into a reading space for citizens in the vegetable market, but how to promote the sustainable development of the 'vegetable market bookstore'? How to make the 'Vegetable Market Book House' truly serve the people? How to maintain the aroma of books in pyrotechnic gas? After considering the actual needs of the community and careful consideration, we want to make this place more diverse and open, which can be integrated with the vegetable market in a sense, and truly become a community sharing comprehensive space where the elderly, young people and children can participate in the co-creation, and residents can come here to interact and communicate at any time.
——Zhang Xiaojing, Secretary of the Party Committee of Beilei Community, Fangcao Street Street, Chengdu High-tech Zone
According to the street of Fangcao Street, Chengdu High-tech Zone
By integrating resources and encouraging the participation of social forces, the Bud Community and the community construction agency "Big City and Small Village" jointly promoted it, and finally presented the "Vegetable Market Book House" managed by CHAOS Space. As the "partner" in the name of the space indicates, the community and the "big city and small village" hope that this is a place that emphasizes co-construction, co-governance and sharing, and that anyone can come to "partner" to do things, and make the CHAOS space an important position for publicity, guidance and service to the masses and a public cultural space for citizens to co-build, co-govern and share.
The renovated space is divided into areas of the Caishi Book House according to the needs of residents, including food and beauty bookstores, public events, community exhibitions, co-working spaces, coffee bars, etc. Among them, the public event area is the largest, and it can be used to flexibly hold themed sharing, concerts, and other events as needed.
In the future, the space will also work with relevant co-creation partners to set up sustainable food stores, zero-waste grocery stores, etc., to encourage residents to actively pay attention to and participate in sustainable living and other fields.
——Yang Yingqi, the manager of the CHAOS space
The scene of the event
Social organizations operate autonomously
Let the "Vegetable Market Book House" be sustainable
As the manager of the partner CHAOS space, Yang Yingqi, a youth community builder, and her team studio "Big City Village" have been rooted in the Bud community for several years, cultivating a strong feeling, and the partner CHAOS space is also a new attempt for them.
Since 2019, Yang Yingqi has launched the "Big City and Small Village" studio, which is dedicated to urban micro-renewal and rural revitalization. At the end of 2022, the "two-way friendly community of people and pets" created by "Big City and Small Village" in the Bud community became popular. In 2024, "CHAOS" will become a new project initiated and independently operated by Dacheng Village—a community gathering space with social experimentation, community co-creation, and urban-rural links as the main line.
Interior of the Book House
At the operational level, we will continue to find ways to innovate public cultural services and adhere to sustainable development. In addition to retailing books, food, and cultural and creative products, CHAOS will also serve as a "window to the city and village", selling local flavors, culture and art from all over the country in the form of exhibitions, and equipping them with corresponding books, so that residents can feel the beauty of food while eating.
Old seed germ rice, Zigong intangible cultural heritage salt, Guizhou sour soup, Bishan flavor wine...... High-quality, healthy, and local products are introduced into the space, and people can really learn about these ingredients through books.
Interior of the Book House
In the future, the "Vegetable Market Book House", which is managed by CHAOS Space, will deliver more high-quality reading activities and books to residents, and pursue "poetry and distance" together in the midst of fireworks and the smell of books.