Yan’an to relocate residents of traditional troglodyte dwellings

Yan’an, in Shaanxi Province, is launching a program to relocate the Yaodong population currently living in traditional troglodytic dwellings in Northwest China. For security reasons and for better urban management, the local authorities decided that the remaining population, with priority given to residents in landslide-exposed areas, need to be relocated.

The director of Yan’an’s Office of Urban and Rural Planning is weighing up, on the one hand, preserving this type of habitat to encourage tourism, and on the other hand, reconstructing similar but modernized troglodytic dwellings (in brick, with running water, electricity, and access facilities…) for the locals.