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8/3/2019 The Evolution of Urban Form in China
1/16
The evolution of urban form in China: an application of
M. R. G. Conzens method in Guangzhou
Sheng Yao
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences,
University of Birmingham,
Birmingham B15 2TT,
UK.
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 07411028282
(Address above is available for 11mouthes)
Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Engineering,
South China University of Technology,
Guangzhou 510640
P. R. China
Abstract: M. R. G. Conzens theory of urban morphology has been an important stimulus to the
study of the evolution of European cities. This paper explores Conzens method of morphological
regionalization in the very different cultural environment existing in Guangzhou, China. No.10
Fu area is a typical traditional residential area in Guangzhou. Despite the lack of many of the
sources of data used in the West, this paper undertakes a morphological regionalization in this area
employing the three form complexes used by Conzen: ground plan, building types, and land and
building utilization. The application of the method to conservation planning is discussed.
Key words: evolutionary process, urban morphology, M. R. G. Conzens theory, Guangzhou
Introduction
In recent times, particularly since the mid-twentieth century, there has been increasing
attention to conserving aspects of the character of places. Urban conservation hasassumed considerable significance in many countries (Whitehand, Gu et al. 2011).
Identifying and delimiting character areas has become part of the conservation
process. However, decisions on this process are far from being well informed.
Relevant research in urban morphology needs to be brought to bear on the subject.
Urban morphology seeks to understand the spatial structure and character of a
metropolitan area, city, town or village by examining the patterns of its component
parts and the process of their development.
However, in China in particular there is a weak connection between urban
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morphology and the practice of urban conservation. Here top-down planning is
imposed in design projects practically countrywide (Chen 2010). Many historical
character areas have disappeared in Chinese cities as a result of large-scale urban
growth and revelopment promoted by government and other agencies.
Nevertheless, the approach of urban morphology has recently been adopted in
China despite the fact that historical sources are poor in comparison with those
available in the West (Whitehand 2009). It has become evident from analysis of the
ground plan of the ancient Chinese city of Pingyao that the types of studies
undertaken by Conzen and his successors can also be illuminating in Chinas very
different cultural environment (Whitehand and Gu 2007). A study of a small area near
Beijings Forbidden City has demonstrated the application of a full morphological
regionalization (Whitehand and Gu 2007).
This paper explores, in relation to China, aspects of urban morphological thinkingconcerning conservation that have been developed largely in the West. The principal
part of the paper examines Conzens method of morphological regionalization in
Guangzhou.
Application of Conzenian method
The theoretical underpinning to conservation that Conzenian thinking can provide
stems from Conzens perspective on the relationship between the urban landscape and
society(Whitehand, Gu et al. 2011). The urban landscape is, for Conzen, the
objectivation of the spirit of the succession of societies that inhabits it. And
morphological regionalizations are, like the landscape itself, a cumulative record
Conzen, 1966, pp. 57-61.
In practical terms the starting point for such a regionalization is the
historico-geographical structuring of the landscape. A major aspect of understanding
urban landscapes is the identification of urban landscape (or townscape) units. These
units provide a framework for establishing the nature and intensity of the historical
expressiveness of various parts of an urban area (Conzen, 1975, p. 98). As Conzen
showed, they also provide a basis for assessing conservation priorities.
In Conzens study of the English market town of Alnwick, he demonstrated how the
historical development of a major aspect of urban form could be expressed in great
detail cartographically (Conzen 1960). To understand this it is necessary to appreciate
how the various urban landscape components (termed form complexes by Conzen)
relate to one another(Whitehand, Gu et al. 2011).
The urban landscape is a combination of three components : ground plan (or
two-dimensional layout), pattern of building forms, and pattern of land and building
utilization. All these aspects have been the subject of geographical investigation
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(Conzen 1960).
A ground plan can be defined as the topographical arrangement of an urban built-up
area in all its man-made features. It contains three distinct complexes of plan
elements:1. Streets and their arrangement in a street-system;2. Plots and their aggregation in street-blocks;3. Buildings or, more precisely, their block-plans (Conzen 1960).
The ground plan provides the framework for the building forms and pattern of land
utilization, and the buildings contain the covered part of the land utilization. All these
components derive their character from the historical and cultural context at the time
of their creation and adaptation.
The ground plan is the component most resistant to change, reflecting a majorcapital investment, particularly in the case of the street plan. Building forms also tend
to persist for a lengthy time span, but are more susceptible than the street plan to
destruction by fire and war, and to adaptation and replacement related to change of
ownership and function. The pattern of land and building utilization is the most
subject to change, at least in and around urban cores --- here new functional impulses
and fashions are prevalent and change is often facilitated by the more limited tenure
of the occupiers of buildings (Whitehand 2009).
These differences between the three components in their change over time are
evident in the way in which the urban landscape is historically stratified. The ground
plan generally determines the major units of the hierarchy. The smallest units, or
morphotopes, are generally determined by the form of the buildings (Conzen, 1988).
Land and building utilization plays a muted role in defining the various levels of
region within traditional areas of towns because of its broad conformability to the
ground plan (Whitehand 2006).
It is the application in Guangzhou of the method of elucidating these units and then
employing them to establish conservation priorities that is the main focus of attention
here.
Guangzhou
Guangzhou, with a population of some 7.73 million in 2007, is the largest city in
southern China. Its early development can be traced back to 214 BC if not earlier
(Zhou and Xiao, 2003, p. 124). During the period of Chinas closed-door policy, in
the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Guangzhou became the only significant port in China
trading with the outside world (Gu, Tian et al. 2008). The last of a series of extensions
to its walled area took place in 1647, and the built-up area of the city was largely
confined within those walls until the nineteenth century (Whitehand, Gu et al. 2011).
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Commerce and handicrafts burgeoned in Guangzhou between the mid-eighteenth
century and the Opium War of 1840-2 (Gu, Tian et al. 2008). After the mid-nineteenth
century, Guangzhou underwent unprecedented socioeconomic and cultural change
(Elvin and Skinner, 1974; Esherick, 2000; Tsin, 1999). Although traditional buildingmethods and styles continued, Western influences began to play an important role in
the citys transformation (Yang and Cai, 2003).
Following Chinas transformation under communism, mainly during the third
quarter of the twentieth century, Guangzhou underwent rapid development,
particularly after 1984 when it was designated as one of fourteen coastal open cities
(yanhai kaifang chengshi) by the central government (Xu and Yeh, 2003).
Urban conservation in GuangzhouGuangzhou is at serious risk of becoming placeless and losing its cultural identity in a
wave of urbanization and globalization. The introduction of structures of great mass
and height into traditional residential areas is destroying the historical urban fabric.
The development of conservation in Guangzhou resembles that in many other
historical cities in China. Guangzhou was inscribed on the national list of Precious
Historico-Cultural Cities in 1982. A conservation plan for the City was prepared in
1983 (Shi & Xu, 2005, p. 553) and was incorporated in a master plan for Guangzhou
in 1984 (Guangzhou Municipal Government, 1984). Seven conservation areas were
identified (Guangzhou Municipal Government, 1987). Eventually various
conservation principles were reflected in a set of conservation regulations
(Guangzhou Municipal Government, 1996; Peoples Congress of Guangzhou, 1999).
In 2000, 16 HCCAs were designated and a further 21 historical conservation areas
needing development management (neibu kongzhi lishi baohuqu) were scheduled to
be so designated. The boundaries of these two types of conservation areas and further
conservation principles and methods were set out in 2005 (Institute of Urban & Rural
Planning & Design, & School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, 2005). Four
general principles were identified in determining the boundaries of the HCCAs:
namely authenticity, integrity, continuity and practicality.
The present Historical Urban Area (Lishi Jiuchengqu) is some 20 sq km in extent. It
contains ten of the Citys 16 HCCAs, each encompassing a significant number of
traditional buildings and street blocks or archaeological sites, five Historical
Character Areas (HCAs, Lishi Fengmao Baohuqu), in which historical features are
more fragmented, and Construction Control Areas (Jianshe Kongzhiqu, areas
immediately adjacent to the HCCAs and HCAs). The boundaries of the HCCAs
largely follow city administrative boundaries and street lines (Guangdong Research
Institute of Urban & Rural Planning & Design, & School of Architecture, Tsinghua
University, 2005, p. 108). The ten HCCAs vary between about 50 and 145 ha in
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extent(Fig 1).
Figue1. The No.10 Fu Historico-Cultural Conservation Area in relation to the line of the city wall and the
Historical Urban Area. Based on Conservation Plan for the Historico-Cultural City of Guangzhou Plans
Section (Guihuatu) (Guangdong Research Institute of Urban and Rural Planning and Design, & School of
Architecture, Tsinghua University, 2005, pp. 6162).
The problem of deficient records
Compiling a record of detailed changes to the urban landscape of Guangzhou is far
more difficult than in the large majority of Western cities. As in practically all Chinese
cities, the lifespans of buildings are comparatively short. Surviving street and plot
patterns, and, for the period since 1840, survivals of building fabric, are important
sources for investigating the development of residential building types (Zeng, 1991;
Zhou and Xiao, 2003).
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There is a lack of systematic historical building records and historical series of true
ground plans (comprising streets, plots and the block plans of buildings), such as are
available for most European cities. A collection of historical maps of Guangzhou,
published in 2003 (Zhou and Xiao, 2003), contains maps of the city and its environs
from 1685 to 1949. However, maps prepared before the early-twentieth century showlittle more than streets and builtup areas. The earliest complete survey of Guangzhou
was prepared by Guangzhou Land Bureau (Guangzhou Tudiju) between 1926 and
1935. The resulting maps, comprising 383 sheets, were bound in two volumes,
entitled Guangzhou minguo jingjie tu (Map of land divisions and boundaries in
Guangzhou in the period of the Republic). They show street systems and plot
boundaries of much of the built-up area of Guangzhou at the scale of 1:600, or 1:500
in the case of maps prepared in 1933. A series of large-scale maps at the scale of
1:500, showing building block plans and street systems, was prepared in the
post-1949 period. Guangzhou minguo jingjie tu and the large-scale maps that were
prepared in the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries were important sourcesof information for the present research, and provided the base maps for the field
surveys.
A Chinese application: No.10 Fu area, Guangzhou
The meaning of case study.The case study is establishment of some basic principles and exhibition of some
morphological phenomena of general significance in the very different environment
from western cities. NO.10 Fu area was selected to examine the application of
Conzenian urban morphology to conservation in Guangzhou in relation to the method
currently adopted in that city.
Background to No.10 Fu areaThe word of Fu() means the commercial area near the river in Guangzhou.
Following the project of Daguan river and Xihao river which are west of city wall
in Ming dynasty, 18 Fu areas were built along the river and developed to be
commercial areas in Xiguan which is a district west of city wall. In Qing dynasty,
they have been the major commercial areas and open windows to the outside world inGuangzhou, even in China(Fig2).
No.10 Fu area is one of them. It is a ordinary and traditional area in Guangzhou
which is commercial outside and residential inside the area. It represent the characters
of traditional areas in Xiguan.
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Fig2. The location of Fu in relation to the line of the city wall and the rivers. Based on Atlas of Conservation
Plan for the Historico-Cultural City of Guangzhou Structure of Space Section (kongjiangejutu) (Guangdong
Research Institute of Urban and Rural Planning and Design, & School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, 2005,
pp.19).
Townscape analysisFigs4578 comprise, for the studying area, the maps of the basic triad of form
complexes, together with their syntheses --- the maps of urban landscape units.
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1. Town planThree different types of plan-unit boundaries, or seams (Conzen, 1969, p. 128),
have been mapped in Figure3: street-block seams (following the lines of streets),
plot-tail seams and plot-side seams. They are used to distinguish the groups of plots,and it is clear that the plan-unit boundaries are both a powerful articulation of the
ground plans structure and a fundamental framework for the plan units.
Fig3. Plan-unit boundaries
In Fig4 , 1-st order boundaries separate areas of markedly different on ground plan
for example, the road of No.10 Fu qilou unit(Fig9 B) and principal traditional
residential unit are distinguished by the boundary. Among the residential areas, the
post-1949 multi-storey flats of big size unit is separated with the pre-1949 traditional
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residential unit. 2-order unit boundaries reflect in particular spatial variations in plot
patterns which include plot depths, plot directions and the entrances of building in the
plot.(Fig4). As is widely evident in Europe, there is a marked tendency for spatial
groupings of plots into series with common characteristics. These groupings are a
major basis of plan units (Whitehand, Gu et al. 2011). And there are still some tinydifferences among the plots, for example the plot widths and plot shape, so this paper
use the 3-rd unit boundaries to distinguish them.
Fig4. Plan-units
2. Building typesBecause of the poor record of buildings especially the common residential houses
in Guangzhou, most judgment were made by survey works in the area to see the
exterior of the buildings and sometimes check the inside structure of the buildings.
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Practically all plots, whether containing pre- or post-1949 buildings, are totally or
very nearly covered by buildings, the multi-storey flats of 9 storeys areas, which
generally have building coverage of less than 50%, are particularly distinctive (Fig9
H). It is very difficult to distinguish the row houses because of their frequently and
irregularly redevelopment in structures and utilizations of buildings, for example theowner changed the zhutongwu house(a type of traditional houses with one jian) to
be used as a flat(Fig6 A); rebuilt the ground floor of pre-revolutionary other row
house to be a shop(Fig6 B); separate a mingziwu house(a type of traditional houses
with two jian) to be two houses with one rebuilt and the other one still be
traditional(Fig6 C). The principle of the judgment is to check the origin of the
building, thezhutongwu house which now be used as a flat is still a traditional lingnan
house in building type.
Fig5. Building type
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Fig7. Land and Building utilization
Fig6. Jingtang Chens photographs, 2010
A B C
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3. Land and building utilizationIn Fig7, it is clear and obvious that most of the commercial and residential mixed
lands are along Baohua Road and No.10 Fu Road facing outside the studing area, the
residential lands are inside. It is a common pattern of land and building utilization in
Guangzhou. Many rooms of the ground floor of the multi-flats in the right side of themap are changed to be shops, so it is commercial and residential mixed lands too.
4. Urban landscape unitsThe maps of the basic triad of form complexes, together with their syntheses --- the
map of urban landscape units. The inter-war thoroughfare units are almost entirely
lined with purpose-built shopfront buildings. These front directly onto the street in
Baohua Road(Fig9 A) and No.10 Fu Road(Fig9 B). Most of the units are traditional
units, the special one is River Space unit; it is a river before in Ming and Qing dynasty
Fig8. Urban landscape units
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but was filled to be the street of No.16 Fu beijie, and the plots still has the character of
rivers edge(Fig9 G). No.16 Fu Dajie is a street in the middle of the map with plots
along the two sides of it which are shorter than most of other plots in studying
area(Fig9 C). The buildings of the multi-storey flat unit are built in the
post-revolutionary period, and are totally different with other building fabric becauseof their massive size(Fig9 H).
problemsThe most intractable problems concern the relationship between traditional and
modern physical forms. Structures of great height and mass introduced in recent
decades are grossly out of scale amidst one and two-storey dwellings(Fig9 H). The
introduction into them of multi-storey buildings in most cases not only destroys the
human scale of what are generally little more than alleyways but also seriously
impairs natural lighting at street level(Whitehand, Gu et al. 2011).
Another problem is numerous poorly-constructed redevelopment and invariably
illegal, top-floor extensions. It not only destroy the facades of original grey brickwork
but also the character of the whole block. Here many of the redevelopment and
extensions are non-desirable relationship with traditional lingnan culture, it is just
poorly and simply-constructed rooms or shops which are introduced into the houses of
original characters.
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Fig9. Characteristics of urban landscape units. Autors and Jingtang Chens photographs, 2010
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conclusion
Unlike urban expansion, restructuring and economic development in China, which
have been the subject of considerable research over many decades, the conservation
of Chinese towns and cities received little attention until the 1980s(Whitehand and Gu2007). Cities in China will lose much of their traditional characters if urban
conservation continues to be ineffectual.
The principle of Conzenian method is that we should treat historical landscapes as
entities not loose assemblages of historical bits and pieces. But in China, the poplar
things for urban morphology are redevelopment of commercial pedestrian streets and
monumental buildings. The traditional residential area which represent the historical
characters of local culture attract little attention from the government, and many
structures of great height and mass introduced in recent decades destroyed the urban
fabric of the areas.
In this paper, The feasibility and value of utilizing the Conzenian method of urbanmorphology has been shown in an environment strikingly different from the European
one in which it has so far largely been applied. Through landscape research, we can
understand the historical characters of urban form and correlated to urban
conservation.
The meaning of townscape analysis in Guangzhou is providing a basis for
conservation planning, urban design and building design for the future. Urban
landscape wants to achieve a succession of previous societies. Without the plans
based on the townscape analysis, it is in high risk of losing connections between
historical grain and new buildings.
A major consideration is the way in which urban morphological analysis and
synthesis, expressed cartographically in terms of a hierarchy of urban landscape units,
articulate and help to enhance that historical and geographical awareness that is such
an important contributor to a healthy society.
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