Sustainable Transformation of Small Mining Cities: Post-mining Transformation Design of Hebi Mining Area

Abstract

For a long time, the transformation of small mining cities has always been difficult. Hebi, a city in Henan Province, China, is a typical small mining city with a development model of “mining first and then city.” The history of coal mining in Hebi mining area can be traced back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25–AD 220), and the official establishment of the local mining bureau began in 1957. In the development of more than 60 years, the coal industry has profoundly shaped the spatial structure of the city, and the interactive relationship between the mining area and the urban area is constantly evolving. In this small coal city, the revitalization of declining mining areas needs to properly handle the various factors such as geographical conditions, resource endowments, historical context, capital source, technology support and other factors, and the transformation prospects are full of uncertainties. This paper takes Hebi Mining Area as an example, and attempts to transform the declining coal mines into a tool for regional industrial transformation and economic revitalization through design, and brings more possibilities to the shrinking mining area with a diversified development model. At last, the paper calls for a more efficient paradigm of transformational work for small mining cities which are in distress.