Rehabilitating The Old City Of Beijing: A Project In The Ju'er Hutong Neighbourhood (urbanization In Asia Series)

This text offers a direction for the planning and development of Beijing. Wu Liangyong's project for the renewal of the Ju'er Hutong neighbourhood is its focus. It analyzes the ancient capital's features and provides architectural drawings and photographs of the finished project. Decades of revolution and turmoil in China, along with unprecedented economic growth since the early 1990s have had disastrous consequences for Beijing. Chronic overcrowding, inadequate sewage and garbage disposal, insufficient water supply, traffic congestion, and pollution are among the problems that today are reaching crisis proportions in Beijing. The author argues for 'organic renewal," in which the drive to raze the old city and build a new one is tempered by a respect for local and historical identity. He begins with an account of Beijing's place in the history of Chinese dynastic capital planning. Moving from grand spatial and temporal scales down to the human scale, he considers planning in Beijing since the 1949 revolution, the problem of renewing the city's aging neighbourhoods, the special qualities of its vernacular urban fabric and courtyard houses, and finally the detailed design and development of Ju'er Hutong. (adapté du résumé de l'éditeur) "In Rehabilitating the Old City of Beijing, renowned academic, architect, and urban planner Wu Liangyong argues eloquently for "organic renewal," in which the drive to raze the old city and build a new one is tempered by a respect for local and historical identity. As the project in the Ju'er Hutong ("Chrysanthemum Lane") neighbourhood shows, it is possible to achieve a balance between ancient values and modern concepts."--BOOK JACKET. "Rehabilitating the Old City of Beijing presents a fascinating account of Chinese residential design and planning and will interest urban historians, conservationists, planners, and architectural scholars and practitioners."--BOOK JACKET. Machine generated contents note: 1 The City of Beijing in Historical Perspective / 3 2 Plianning and Development in Beijing since 1949 / 16 3 Residential Development and the Renewal of Derelict Houses / 44 4 Organic Renewal in Ilistoric Cities / 56 S Traditional Courtyard Houses and a New Prototype / 66 6 Planning and Design of the Ju'er Hutong Project / 104 7 Post-Occupancy Evaluation and Lessons from the Planning and Design Experience / 163 8 The Continuing Debate over Redevelopment / 182 9 Future Prospects / 188 l0 Conclusion / 196 Appendices / 213 Notes / 223 Glossary of Chinese Terms ! 230 Bibliography / 232 index / 237. Wu Liangyong offers a new direction for the planning and development of China's capital.