1、Original ArticlePreserving the cultural identity of Chinese cities in urbandesign through a typomorphological approachAbstract Thispaperanalysesthehistoricalprocessoftransformationoftheurbanblocks,plotsandbuildingfabrics in Suzhou,China from the tenth century to the present day using a typomorpholog
2、ical approach,andoffers some design suggestions for urban designers and policy-makers based on the examination of the localcontext.The study aims to propose the western typormorphological concept in Chinese urban design,tomaintain local cultural identity in an era of rapid globalisation.The study re
3、veals that typormorphology is aneffective tool to solve the current problems in urban developments,and should be adopted in both the urbananalysis and urban design of Chinese cities.URBAN DESIGN International(2009)14,3654.doi:10.1057/udi.2009.6Keywords:typomorphology;urban blocks;Chinese urban forms
4、;urban designIntroductionOver the past three decades,Chinese cities havebeen experiencing rapid urbanisation and mod-ernisation on an enormous scale,which hascaused various urban problems and has drawnattention from scholars in multiple disciplinesworldwide.Avital problem is that Chinese citiesare b
5、ecoming placeless congested with inter-national-style architecture and characterlessurban spaces.The remarkably long,rich andcomplex Chinese cultural history is graduallyexcluded from its architectural representation.The current architectural language does notexpress local social relations,collectiv
6、e memoryand aesthetic achievements.Therefore,the iden-tity of Chinese cities is facing a great challenge ofsurvival in rapid development.It is important tomaintain unique Chinese characteristics of urbanforms in order to facilitate cultural expression,inhabitants sense of place,harmonious physicalen
7、vironment and tourism.Moreover,there is alarge amount of historical remains fragmentallydistributedincontemporaryChinesecities.There-fore,it is vital to match the new with the oldinordertocreatecoherentcity entitiesandlegiblecity images.This paper applies ideas from western typologyand morphology th
8、eoriestothe Chinesecontexttogenerate an appropriate methodology for theanalysis of Chinese cities,and,accordingly,tofurther provide design suggestions for urbandesigners and policy-makers to produce culturallysustainable urban forms.The Chinese city Suzhouis selected as a case study for the above pu
9、rposesduetoitssplendidtraditionandpresenceofstronghistorical urban fabric.The identity of a place,which is closely linkedto the personal and social identity of inhabitants,is recorded and embodied in the traditional builtforms,and reflects the choices of specific culture(Watson and Bentley,2007).The
10、refore,social andcultural value can be revealed through theexamination of long-lasting traditional urbanartefacts and their transformation over time.Some commonly studied urban elements thatare considered to be important and constitutean urban form in the literature are streets(see,for example,McClu
11、skey,1979;Jacobs,1993;Dumbaugh and Gattis,2005;Marshall,2005),r 2009 Palgrave Macmillan 1357-5317 URBAN DESIGN International Vol.14,1,3654www.palgrave-public squares(see,for example,Sitte,1965;Hegemann and Peets,1988;Whyte,1988;Gehl,2001;Carmona et al,2003),urban blocks(see,forexample,Paneral et al,
12、2004),skylines(see,forexample,Attoe,1981;Kostof,1991;Stamps IIIet al,2005)and landmarks(see,for example,Lynch,1960).This paper focuses on urban blocks,includ-ing plots and building-grouping patterns,as someof the fundamental elements of urban form.The analysis ofurbanblocks andrelateddesignsuggestio
13、nscanhelpdesignersandpolicy-makersunderstand the historical transformation of urbanforms,and can assist them in creating new urbanforms appropriate to their context.Furthermore,the paper discusses the merits of typomorpho-logical approach in the Chinese context,anddiscusses how it can be implemented
14、 bydesigners and policy-makers in other Chinesecities,to achieve design which is harmoniouswith the local built environments and enhancestheir identities.TypomorphologyType,synchronic type and typological processare three fundamental terms in the examination ofurban blocks of Suzhou.The concept of t
15、ype,andby extension typology,has been advocated byrationalists in their scholarly and design worksover almost two hundred years since the firstdefinition of type was proposed by QuatremeredeQuincy(1825)throughthecomparisonbetweentype and model.A type is the origin,essence,characteristics and structu
16、ral principle of forms,which cannot be exactly copied as a model.Itprovidesadesignframeworkfordesigners,withinwhich flexibility of detailed designs is allowed.A group of architects in Italy called the ItalianTypological School have further developed thetheory in architectural and urban design since
17、the1950s.The Schools founders Muratori(1950s)andCaniggia(1970s)havebuiltacompletedesigntheory,called operational typology,which hassince been followed by many others such asCataldi(1995).The School believes that thereis a connection between the traditional and thenew based on the fact that urban pla
18、nning anddesign are deeply rooted in history.Accordingto them,a type is an a priori synthesis inthe builders minds before the actual buildinghas been built.A synchronic type emergesin certain periods of time in history,and mayor may not be applied to other forms in laterperiods.A typological process
19、 is the progressivetransformation of a series of related synchronictypes on a particular scale in the same culturalcontext over time(Caniggia and Maffei,2001,p.54),and outlines the continuity and inter-relation between types.Types not only exist inbuildings,but also in urban forms at differentlevels
20、ofresolution,whichare,inItalianTypology,building materials,buildings organism,urbantissue,urban organism and territorial organ-ism(Caniggia and Maffei,2001).The differentlevels of resolution of urban forms become therationale for the subdivision of urban blocks inthis paper.From the 1960s to the pre
21、sent,urban morphol-ogy has been developed by geographers basedonmorphogeneticresearchincentralEurope(Hofme-ister,2004),among these Germany-born Conzen(1969)was the founder of the British Morphologi-cal School.Together with his followers,he hascreatedaconceptualratherthandescriptiveframe-work for the
22、 transformation of urban forms,(Whitehand,2001,2007).The framework dividesa townscape into three research objects:the townplan,building form and land use.Furthermore,another fundamental concept of morphologicalregion indicates the structural relationship be-tween different parts of a city,which cont
23、aindifferent types of plan units,building forms andland use patterns(Conzen,1969,1981,1988).Within the school of urban morphology,Kropf(1993)startedtointegratemorphologytheorywithtypology theory by searching for the intellectualsimilarities and differences between the two.Des-piteadefinitionoftypomo
24、rphologyisstillabsent,it has already been suggested as a combination oftypology and morphology theories in manyscholars studies,such as Castex and Panerai(1982),Moudon(1994),Hwang(1994),Samuels(2008)and Chen(2008).Case StudySuzhouIntroductionSuzhou is located in the south alluvial plain ofYangtze Ri
25、ver,southeast of Jiangsu Province,East-Central China,with 1650 square kilometersof urban land area.The southwest of the city isconnected to Tai Lake,the surrounding area ofwhich was once the most fertile land in history.There are numerous streams throughout theregion,and the most developed Chinese c
26、ity,Preserving the cultural identity of Chinese cities37 r 2009 Palgrave Macmillan 1357-5317 URBAN DESIGN International Vol.14,1,3654Shanghai,sits to its east.Suzhou has been laudedfor centuries by the Chinese and foreigners as atrue,revelatory symbol of Chinese society andculture,and for its materi
27、al transformation thatillustrates the social,intellectual and culturalrelations typical of the traditional and moderncivilization of China(Carroll,2006,p.7).The development of Suzhou is divided intothree periods according to the most dramaticchanges of the city forms throughout its history.The city
28、was founded as the capital of the state ofWu in 514 BC,while it flourished during theNorthern Song Dynasty(9601126 AD),when thecity was initially commercialised and its basicmorphological configuration was established.Since the late Qing Dynasty(1850s)and theRepublic of China era(19111948),the city
29、hasbeen experiencing modernisation and absorbingexternal influences.During the Peoples Republicof China era(1949present),Suzhous urban formhas changed dramatically because of national-wide industrialisation,urbanisation and globali-sation.This examination concentrates on the oldcityregion,whichisins
30、idethecitymoats,asithasthe longest history and has experienced the moststriking changes.Basedonthehierarchicalmethodofsubdividingurban forms,urban blocks consist of plots,whichfurther consist of buildings.The synchronic typesof blocks,plots and building fabric that carry thecharacteristics of each p
31、eriod and the possibletypological processes of these types are illustratedbelow.Particular synchronic types are defined bysize,height,location,proportion,density,volumeof physical forms and their relationship with thesurrounding environment,such asorientation andconnection with access routes.These a
32、re based onthe statistic data analysis ofa numberof blocks bythe authors in particular morphological regions ineachperiod.Moreover,somerepresentativeblocksare further selected by the authors to identify plotpatternsandspatialrelationshipsofbuildingswiththeir surroundings in detail.The empirical stud
33、yof the urban blocks,plots and building-groupingpatterns in Suzhou gives a glimpse of the scope oftypomorphological analysis and the urban designof the city.Suzhousurbanblocksinthefirststageofurbandevelopment(9601850s)Traditional urban blocks in large Chinese citieswere fundamentally influenced by t
34、wo policies offeudal governments,namely,the zoning conceptand the LiFang system.The concept of zoningwas meant to separate the noble class,humbleclass and different kinds of handcrafts industries,as determined by the feudal social hierarchy.TheLiFang system was a system of social orderingemployed by
35、 the government,and one LiFangwas physically identical to an urban block.Anurban area within a city was divided into anumber of LiFangs or rectangular or squareblocks,consisting of 25 south-north-orientedfamily courtyard houses(Zhong,1986,p.218).LiFangs were walled and had four gates eachside,and we
36、re strictly controlled by governmentofficers during the night until the Song Dynasty.Even though walls of LiFangs had been brokendown and the numbers of households in oneLifang later became more diverse,its impacton the morphology of traditional urban blocksand plots remained,and Suzhou retains many
37、traces of this.The earliest study resource of urban blocks inSuzhou is a map dated from the Emperor QianLongsreign(17361795).Thecompletelybuilt-upurbanblockswereprevalentinthenorthandwestparts of the city,whereas the previous Inner Cityand the southern part of the city were undeve-loped by this peri
38、od(Figure 1).There were threetypes of urban blocks in Suzhou in this period.The first one was the special block type(T1),wherein one block contained one grand buildingcomplex only.Another block type was the post-LiFang block type(T2),wherein blocks usuallycontainedhouses.Thethirdtypewastheordinarybl
39、ock type(T3),wherein blocks were mix-use.There were 12 T1 blocks in the city,which werebetween200and300meterswideand250and300meters deep,which made them larger thannearby blocks.T1s were walled,north-south-oriented and not fully occupied by buildings.T2 blocks were situated in the northeast andnorth
40、west parts of the city,and were rectangular.BlocksinthecentrebelongedtoT3,mostofwhichwere for commercial use and smaller than T2blocks.In addition,most of the blocks on thefringe belt of the city were irregular and arrangedalong the major streets.Study areas A1 and A2 are the representativesofurbanb
41、locksinthefirststage.Theblocksintheeast half of A1(block 41 to 76)and the blocks inA2 are of T2 type,whereas the blocks in the westhalf of A1(block 1 to 40)are of T3 type(Figure2).Study area B represents the urban blocks in thesecond period,and was almost undeveloped inChen and Romice38 r 2009 Palgr
42、ave Macmillan 1357-5317 URBAN DESIGN International Vol.14,1,3654Figure1:Urbanblocksof Suzhouinthe eighteenth century andthe selectedstudyareas A1,A2and B;Buildingsinthe blocksofT1are marked as grey rectangles(Adapted by the author according to the official map of Qian Longs reign(Chen,2006,p.48).Pre
43、serving the cultural identity of Chinese cities39 r 2009 Palgrave Macmillan 1357-5317 URBAN DESIGN International Vol.14,1,3654the first stage.The plot patterns in each block ofA1 are shown in Figure 2.The sizes,portions andareasoftheblocksofA1havebeenmeasuredandanalysed to find common physical prope
44、rtiesof T2 and T3.As shown in the four charts ofFigure 2,the lengths of all blocks are similar,between 50 and 100 meters,whilst the widths ofthe blocks vary between 50 and 250 meters,suggesting that the lengths of traditional blocksin Suzhou(north-south direction)are less flexiblethan their widths.T
45、he reason is related to thecourtyard building type of this stage,as willLengths&Widths of All Blocks010020030040050002 04 06 08 0Block numberMetreslength widthArea of Residential Blocks(T2)025507510040 50 60 70 80Block numberArea m2(,000)Area m2(,000)Area of Commercial Blocks(T3)025507510001 02 03 0
46、4 0Block numberWidth/length Ratio0.01.02.03.04.05.06.07.002 04 06 08 0Block numberRatioFigure 2:Analysis of A1 indicating the sizes,portions and areas of the blocks(produced by the author).Chen and Romice40 r 2009 Palgrave Macmillan 1357-5317 URBAN DESIGN International Vol.14,1,3654beshownlater.Furt
47、hermore,theareasofT3blocksare smaller than of T2,because most of T3 blocksare for commercial use,whereas the T2 blocks arefor residential use,and commercial blocks needmore perimeter edges to directly face streets.Another feature observed from these blocks is thatthe major width/length ratios range
48、from 1 to 2,with few of them exceeding 4.All blocks werearranged in a regular chessboard pattern.The plots patterns in T2 blocks differ from thatof T3 blocks.In T2 blocks,a plot often occupied anarrow and long slot from the north edge to thesouth edge of its block.There are exceptionsthough;forinsta
49、nce,Block72hasalargecentrallylocated plot,because the rest of the block wasundeveloped in this period.Blocks 59,60,63 and64andBlock70and7376,whichareneartheeastmoat of the city,were also not fully developed inthis period.In T3 blocks,plots are located alongperimeters,which are smaller and much dense
50、rthan plots in T2 blocks,especially in Block 122.In order to identify the plot patterns andbuilding-grouping patterns of T1,T2 and T3 inmore detail,several examples of urban blockshave been selected from both A1 and A2 areas.Their accessibility analysis illustrates the relation-ship between building
