Rediscovery of Cultural Landscapes in Southern China: Sustainable Heritage and Planning in Rural Settlements

Abstract

The traditional settlements in Southern China are facing new challenges upon the rapid urbanization in the last half-century. In recent years, due to the awakened conscience of home-calling, there have been concerns and actions to re-examine the merits and possible values of these settlements. With a lengthy investigation and personal engagement to discover potentials of the concept ‘human landscape’ in relationship to these settlements in Southern China, the author has been involved in cases of the region that are extending our understanding of cultural heritage. These cases are presenting an alternative approach in enriching the meaning of built heritage towards an evolving cultural perspective. By summarizing the approaches in these practices, it is aimed to set up a new approach of dealing with cultural heritage in the contemporary situation where urbanization and rural settlements are inseparable.