Adaptive reuse of historic buildings/neighborhoods in the mind frame of sustainable development

Abstract

From the view point of sustainable development, this paper explores how the three aspects comprising sustainable development embody and influence the old building/neighborhood adaptive reuse. We argue that most of the reuse practices focus on economic aspect, aiming at maximum monetary pay back. Beside this, another trend is emerging, which strives to update environmental performance of old buildings/districts. Case studies were carried out for these two categories, respectively, in an attempt to analyze old building reuse in China and its future direction.