Redevelopment strategy of closed coal mine industrial plaza: A case study of Fenghuangshan Mine in Jincheng, China

With the effective implementation of China’s policy on cutting the overcapacity of coal, a number of mines with exhausted resources and backward production capacity have been shut down and abandoned. Thus, the traditional independent industrial and mining areas become silent, and the industrial plazas serving coal production and workers’ lives are faced with the problems such as function loss and idle land. Therefore, excavating the value of the closed coal mine industrial plazas and giving it new functions is the key to revitalize the existing resources and stimulate the vitality of independent industrial and mining areas. Herein, research was conducted on the development of Jincheng City and the closed Fenghuangshan Mine in Jincheng of Shanxi, as well as their interactions. Meanwhile, the spatial components of the closed coal mine industrial plaza were analyzed, with the value evaluated by the AHP method, and thus the value characteristics and renewal challenges of the main spatial elements were clarified. Thereby, the urban design strategy for redevelopment of closed coal mine industrial plaza was explored. The analysis shows that the landscape and green ecological background of mountain mining and metallurgy are the core value representation of Fenghuangshan Mine, and the landscape preservation and ecological conservation should be taken as the focus of redevelopment. In terms of the closed coal mine, it is necessary to establish the renewal target of “mining retreating and city developing”, take the initiative to connect with the urban industry, and transform the “closed industrial plaza” into “open urban block”. On this basis, the urban design strategies are put forward from the five aspects, including order control under the guidance of landscape, integration and resetting of functional space, external and internal integration of transportation system, continuation and shaping of context features of mining and metallurgy, and the recycling and reconstruction of existing buildings. The research shows that the landscape reconstruction of infrastructure can not only improve the environmental quality of mining area, but also create the urban characteristics. In addition, the reference of urban design thinking can provide theoretical assistance to the formulation of protective redevelopment strategy of closed coal mines and has application prospect in urban renewal of such resource-based areas.