A study on the mode of public participation in Chinese urban design under the concept of multi-body participation：community-building oriented with multi-age participation

With the society and economy of China entering the transition period, people's requirements for urban life show a trend of diversification and high standards. Urban design is no longer limited to physical space but starts to carry out multi-angle and multi-level comprehensive consideration on the social and spatial problems of symbiosis. In this context, the innovative social governance and the quality improvement of urban public space that highlights the role of the public have become hot topics. As the main body of city users, ordinary people entering into the deep and substantial participation from the superficial and symbolic is the only way for urban design to transform from the expert-led "optimal scheme" to the "reasonable scheme" recognized by pluralistic bodies. In the process of western democratic politics, the participation theory that focuses on the construction of microdemocracy is prevalent, and the public participation based on pluralism has become the theoretical basis for the planning participation. In addition, the concept of communicative planning, which emphasizes cooperation and consultation, also enriches the connotation of diverse participation. Due to different systems and awareness, it is difficult to promote public participation under China's national conditions. Community building, the interdisciplinary product of urban design and social governance under neighbourhoods, is regarded as the experimental field for participating in the reform. Therefore, under the current administrative system, laws and regulations, this paper tries to make use of the grass-roots management mode with Chinese characteristics to establish an inclusive multi-participation mechanism. It allows residents of different ages can go deep into the process of community building as unit of family. Meanwhile, by some media, activities and tools that in Chinese style, the public can be encouraged to engage in the design. We hope the bottom-up process of urban design in micro scale can be an effective instrument to reflect the public's will and repair social relations at the same time, while explore and solve urban problems in diverse cooperation.