SEMI CITY / ABOUT

About SEMI CITY

Partly planned, partly made by time, place and everyday life.

01 / WHY SEMI CITY

Why “semi-city”?

The name comes from the mountain-water relationships common to Chinese cities, and from Zigong's image of “half green mountains, half city blocks.” A city is never only buildings and roads: it is both landscape and everyday making.

02 / THE OTHER HALF

The other half of a city

Behind visible space are history and memory. Another city lives in archives, local gazetteers and old maps; another remains to be made through planning and imagination. SEMI CITY works to bring those overlooked layers into view.

03 / HOW WE WORK

How we work

We turn local knowledge, urban memory, planning experience and digital tools into content, archives, tools and projects that people can read, search, use and build upon.

  • READWriting and observation
  • SEARCHArchives and research
  • USETools and methods
  • BUILDProjects and the field

04 / FROM ZIGONG

Starting from Zigong

SEMI CITY grows from Zigong without being bounded by it. It is a starting point for understanding how landscape, salt, industry, streets and everyday life make a city - and for entering wider urban questions.

Enter the Zigong City Portrait archive

05 / FOUNDER

弥生

An urban planner and the founder of SEMI CITY. 弥生 works across planning, heritage conservation, local research, public communication and digital tools, turning scattered experience into urban knowledge that can keep growing.

06 / STAY IN TOUCH

Contact and further reading

SEMI CITY grows through essays, archives, conversations and work in the field. For research, public communication or project collaboration, please leave a message through the SEMI CITY WeChat official account.