Typological transformation: a study of traditional urban dwelling and urban fabric of Guangzhou

Abstract

The study on urban morphology has been widely developed in Western countries especially in Europe and America after the mid-20th century. The urban morphology of a place has a corollary of the urban form which encompasses urban planning, building fabric and land utilization pattern. The evolutionary process of urban morphology, otherwise known as urban form or urban landscape, appears to be unique in many other countries, including East Asia. However, there has been little attention paid with systematic method on the study of Chinese cities adopting this cross-disciplinary approach. This study attempts to investigate the urban morphology of Guangzhou by looking into the interrelationship between urban fabric and building typology, as well as their changing pattern in the historical context. Guangzhou was the Chinese city where the first large-scale urban re-structuring attempt was made by the Nationalist Government to transform it from a pre-modern, walled city into a modern metropolis in the early twentieth century. The complexities and dynamics associated with the growth of the city are valuable information for reviewing the theories and improving our level of understanding on urban morphology.

Based on the review of literature, a theoretical framework, urban form as an outcome of the urbanization process with an emphasis on building typology and urban fabric, was established in this thesis. Within the framework, the concepts and methods of morphological analysis are adopted to analyze the physical aspects of the city at both micro and macro scales. By examining the transformation of the traditional residential building types, five selected prototypes are investigated and their corresponding evolutionary process as components of urban fabric is analyzed. Morphological analysis on urban fabric was made through the comparison on four urban districts of similar background in order to find out the distinctive characteristics for them.

On a macroscopic scale, the urban fabric has undergone a transformation in relation to the building use pattern and their forms. Three models in relation to the urban blocks of study in Guangzhou have been established as a reference and consideration when carrying out urban design and planning activities in future. The first model is the linear development of building transformation in urban blocks and the effect simultaneously infiltrating into inner layer parallel to streets. The factor of whether or not the cases which are within the ancient walled city is not a matter in respect of transformation. The second model is the fringe development infiltrating to the core whereas the fringe albeit becoming intact cannot protect the inner core from occurring transformation. The last model is the corner development of urban blocks which has become an increasingly common phenomenon, revealing the significant value to a paradigm of the transformation process.