“Urban planning in China”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

China provides one of many examples of how archaic philosophies and their resulting planning decisions have had a profound impact on not only the spatial organization, but the culture of cities and nations of the distant past and present.^[2]^[3]^[9] Planning in China originates previous to that of the very early dynastic times, for example, "the most influential study of an ideal layout for a royal capital was recorded in the Kaogongji" (Artificers' Record) during the Western Han dynasty (206 BC-9 AD) and is thought to have been a replacement for a lost section of the Rites of Zhou created during the Zhou Dynasty (1100-256BC).^[2]^[3] Further, the Rites of Zhou indicate that the origins of the most basic of urban planning philosophies in China are of a more archaic nature relating to concepts of geomancy, Feng Shui and I Ching.^[3] The planners of ancient China "imposed an orthogonal and cardinal regimen on the districts, temples, places and streets of its capital cities at least as early as the Zhou dynasty (1122-221 B.C.)" and that the Rites of Zhou confirm the importance cosmologically based philosophies such as directional orientation and symmetry.^[2]^[3] Santiago Ortuzar indicates that such basic rural and urban planning philosophies may have originated more than 7000 years ago in the Neolithic villages, for example, the Hemudu culture settlements in Zhejiang province. Banpo, a village outside of Xian dating to 4500 or 3000 B.C. provides an example of early urban activity centres as 45 dwellings still remain in what could be easily considered high density for the building materials of the time. The traditional walled cities, such as Xian were planned in 7th century AD as the first Chinese capital city under the Sui Dynasty. The construction of which was preceded by a regional survey to ensure the flow of water, resources and a strategic location for reasons of health, natural balance and safety; an exercise planners today practice on a daily basis. Xian’s city walls during the seventh century AD enclosed approximately 80,000ha and housed an estimated half a million people; an accomplishment even the most prominent European cities failed to achieve until the 19th century; furthering their historical and present value making them entirely relevant to recent planning paradigm shifts of both the East and Western.^[9]

It is perhaps best to follow the example of Santiago Ortuzar, Professor of Urban Planning, School of Architecture

Central & Mayor Universities, Santiago, Chile, who analyzes traditional urban planning in China by separating urban tradition and urban antiquity; two highly integrated aspects of urban morphology as their origins in Eastern planning are different.^[7]

Urban Antiquity

Human settlements in China are considerably older than those of the West, as neolithic villages in the lower plains of the Yangtze River are approximately 7,500-7,000 years old. Banpo, an early village located on the outskirts of Xi'an, discovered in 1953, may have preceded Xi'an by 1,500 years or more and dates to approximately 5,000BC. The village, while partially excavated presents considerable evidence of early planning efforts in China as its layout reveals "various land uses(zoning) were allocated and where several activities took place" and further represents "a clear indication of a conscious decision to separate the perilous outside world with a secure internal space" in fashion similar to present towns, cities and global city municipal zoning. Some 45 dwellings and various other structures used for food storage and animal pens compose the site. Further from these structures were work areas, several timber fired kilns and a cemetery consisting of 250 tombs. Various types of pottery, bone and timber tools were also recovered from the site; reinforcing the spatial usage patterns derived from the layout, remains and other site data. The grouping of such objects in archaeological context further reinforces the level of "sophistication both in terms of spatial and humanorganisation that can only be classified as a settlement inhabited by a cohesive social group composed of urban dwellers" approximately 5,000 years ago. A second village near Beijing dating to 2,400BC further confirms that similar discoveries such as Banpo "are not isolated examples" of early and intentional urban planning in China.^[7]

Chinese settlements, while later than those of the Nile Valley, Indus, Euphrates and Tigris river basins "are undoubtedly some of the worlds first in terms of human evolution and urban character".^[8] Ortuzar furthers this statement by indicating that there is "a long urban tradition which stretches far back in time. It has continued to remain uninterrupted for several thousands of years from the very origin of towns until the contemporary city. Few nations can exhibit such a continuity over a long period of time".^[7]

Urban Tradition

Urban tradition is usually intimately related to urban antiquity, however, in the context of China it has its own set of attributes in relation to urban planning, design and the social realm. China's population is classified as being approximately 55-60% rural and in contrast to the majority of western countries rural inhabitants are not thinly distributed over the landscape on individual land tracts. Rural inhabitants "live grouped together" in hamlets creating an absence of parcel bound dwellings in the countryside. This settlement pattern has existed in China for thousands of years for various purposes including defense from "attacks by bandits, local chieftains and other enemies came together in hamlets. There were practical reasons too, such as the boring of wells to assure themselves of sufficient clean water". This situation appeared much later in European history for similar reasons. Rural Chinese live in small scale urban settlements of "about 500 to 700 persons each" with men traveling daily by horseback or bicycle to a nearby plot of land, while women either accompany their husbands to the fields or attend children or the household. Services, entertainment and social activities are agglomerated in the larger urbanized hamlets that are often planned to service roughly twenty-five surrounding settlements. The resulting geographic and planned patterns of such settlements respond "to a regional criteria of urban distribution, something rarely occurring in other cultures". The resulting patterns of living in one area and working in another is considered to be a social characteristic that many Chinese peasants have continued as they gradually urbanize into global city regions and other more urbanized and planned environments. In contrast, European peasants did not begin to urbanize in a similar manner until the advent of a modern transportation during the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and arrived in urban areas with little or no urban experience due to the disbursed settlement patterns of the West. Ortuzar furthers, that the urban tradition in China has been ever present "as its origins can be traced back to the early ages of development; one which is not necessarily bound to the size of towns, nor to the level or degree of urbanization achieved".^[7]

Current Policy

Urban planning was given extensive attention post-1949, particularly as part of the First Five Year-Plan. Urban migration stayed below 20%, with city planning primarily supporting urban industries and limiting opportunities for migrating into cities from rural areas^[9]. In 1958, The Great Leap Forward shifted the country's focus towards industrialization. Rural people were moved to factory jobs and city dwellings en mass, straining infrastructure. The country recovered slowly. Eventually, in 1979, formal urban planning efforts in China were restored and promoted due to the adoption of reform and open policy, causing consistent urban growth^[10]. The economic boom ushered in by Deng Xiaoping increased funding to major city planning works, including urban revitalization and renewal projects^[11]. Architecture of this era was influence by a re-connection with global designs, including noteworthy examples such as I. M. Pei's the Beijing Xiang Shan Hotel^[12]. As understandings of pollution became more comprehensive, urban planning began to focus on creating more environmentally sustainable developments, while also preserving historic aesthetics. Currently, urban planning in China run on multiple levels of government. This central planning approach ensures each city follows the national economic plan, exists in a cohesive design with other cities, and is funded by an informed government. Urban planning in China focuses to guide and comprehensively regulate urban construction to ensure the rational development, construction and implementation of the national economic plan that serves as the nation's master planning document. The central government has established a tiered planning and legal system to guide, implement and regulate urban development and construction in accordance with the national economic plan.

Criticism

It has been pointed out that the current policy of copying existing, "old", western cities or established Asian cities such as Singapore means missing out on opportunities for radical new thinking regarding city planning that are arising from the unprecedented speed of the current Chinese urbanization. For instance, it has been suggested that putting the entire road network underground can be a viable solution when dense cities are being built "from scratch".^[13]

History

Urban Antiquity

Urban Tradition

Current Policy

Criticism

See also

References

Notes