Furthermore, Siena managed to preserve Kostof, S. (1992).The City Assembled: The Ele- Exploring a Regenerative even the memory of the historic centre. The ments of Urban Form through History. London: main streets Via Banchi di Sopra and Ban- Thames & Hudson. Structure Integrating chi di Sotto that take their name due to the Maggi, St. (2016). "Medieval Towns, Traffic and Urban Conservation, banking activities of the past, gathered in re- Planning Half a Century since First Pedestrian Zone Remodelling, and cent decades the principal banks of the city. in Siena, Italy". Journal of Traffic and Transportation Development for Even the Palio, of later origin, revives the ci- Engineering 4, DOI: 10.17265/2328-2142/2016.02.006 Fenghuang Historic Rurban vic spirit by continuing the use of the Piazza Nevola, F. (2007). Siena: Constructing the Re- del Campo as meeting place of all citizens naissance city (2nd ed.). New Haven and London: Landscape living within the walls for political reasons Yale University Press. Link online: Laura Anna Pezzetti* and Li Kun** as well feasts. https://books.google.gr/books?id=U5v2KrFA32Y Slow growth over the last six-and-a-half cen- C&printsec=frontcover&hl=el&source=gbs_ge_ turies, as well as the rivery with Florence, did summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Rurbanizing the countryside much to preserve the city’s character. But Harvey, Th. (2007). Siena & Sustainability: City China fast development has been recently nothing would have been possible to be pre- and Country in Tuscany, A Journal of the Built & turning towards villages and towns of the served without conscious land-use planning Natural Environments, Issue No.20. Full article countryside, which in the last decade have later. National land-use laws have helped online: https://www.terrain.org/articles/20/har- been undergoing a spontaneous process of protect the city and province, both within vey.htm uncontrolled rurbanization. the walls and in the surrounding countrysi- Heywood, W. (1904). Palio and Ponte: An account Since the late ‘70s, in fact, China’s Reform de, towns, and villages. The Siena master of the sports of central Italy from the age of Dante and Opening Policies have brought about plan, adopted just after World War II, that di- to the XXth century. London: Methuen & Co. Link tremendous social changes. Whether urban rected high-density growth to a few limited online: https://archive.org/details/palioponteac- or rural, developing the economy has beco- areas outside the walls, and thus protected coun00heywuoft me the primary goal of social development. it, as well as the desition that the pedestrians Douglas, R. L. (1902). A history of Siena. London: In the early ‘80s, China began the rural eco- and the urban structure of the historic center J. Murray. Link online: https://archive.org/details/ nomic reform centered on the land system would be the first priority of the plans' focus. ahistorysiena00douggoog and changed the land from collective mana- Siena has accomplished a goal of modern gement to the household-based land contract urban growth management, preserving the system1. The “No. 75 document” in 1980 and historic centre, that gives an example that all the five consecutive “No. 1 documents” from the cities should keep in mind. 1982 to 1986 by the CPC Central Commit- tee2 that constitute the policy framework, Notes mainly deal with rural economic and land * Department of Architectural Engineering, policies, which promoted the transforma- School of Engineering, Democritus University of tion of the planned economy into commodi- Thrace. Postgraduate student in "Historical built ty economy. The “Household-responsibility environment Integrated preservation with con- system” (a system of contracted responsibili- temporary techniques and advanced materials", ty linking remuneration to output) replaced School of Architecture, Technical University of the collective economy, thereby enhancing Crete, [email protected] the enthusiasm of peasantry for agricultural production (Zhong, 2017). "This paper is part of research for the course "Plan- While in the process of rapid urbanization ning historic areas through regional and urban a large number of rural people flew to cities, planning? under the supervision of Ass. Professor intensifying the hollowing out of rural areas, Despina Dimelli, of the Postgraduate Studies Pro- the modern urban construction industry be- gram of School of Architecture, Technical Univer- gan to infiltrate into rural areas. sity of Crete. " From 1978 to 2013, the urban resident popu- lation increased in China from 170 million References to 730 million while the urbanization rate UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Historic Cen- increased from 17.9% to 53.7%; the number tre of Siena. WHC Nomination Documentation of cities increased from 193 to 658 and the (1995). World Heritage List - Siena, proposal No. one of towns rose from 2,173 to 2,01133 . At 717. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/717/ the end of 2017 China’s urbanization rate Kostof, S. (1991).The City Shaped: Urban Patterns was 58.52% 4. and Meanings through History. London: Thames Due to the concurrent cause of land rights & Hudson. in rural areas (China's constitution decrees

68 | URBANISTICA INFORMAZIONI - special issue that “collectives” own rural land) and the de- The protection measures of “Chine- designated as CHCFT, after the launch of a vastating effects of the Cultural Revolution, se Historically and Culturally Famous troublesome and standardized active protec- which have left severe sequelae on Chinese Towns and Villages” tion. This exploitation for tourism, in fact, is traditional culture and on people’s spiritual It is said that the name of the Chinese town not intended to produce enhancement and concept, the first phase of development has of Fenghuang derives from the peculiar sha- a new culture to promote a sustainable al- sprawled uncontrolled in villages and town pe of its Old Street seen from the Yingpan ternative for economic development, but is within and around traditional fabrics. As a mountain behind it which, maybe to bring focused on a re-historicization of sites based result, the vitality of traditional morpholo- about the end of continuous destructions, on a “parasite” economic exploitation of cul- gies and dwelling types have gradually de- determined the name change in Qing Jiaqing tural heritage. clined in favor of standardized multistory era (1796-1820) from Delta of Three Rivers to Following the indications of the Master plan blocks, with poor constructive quality and Mouth of the Phoenix and then, in the Repu- (MP, 2009) prior to the designation, in the energy performances. During the last deca- blic of China, simply Phoenix. two “Heritage Conservation Planning” (HCP des, most rural settlements have already lost Myth, geographical factors and feng shui 2012 and 2013) the entire Old Road defined their traditional form and structures. are intertwined in the decreeing the happi- as “Cultural relics unit” and coinciding with As in the last decades, the historical urban ness of the site, southward of the Qinling the “Core Protection Zone”, is destined to landscape underwent dramatic changes, also Mountains. Built at the confluence of three commercial functions. The renderings for in rural settlements the traditional features rivers “between mountains and water”, Fen- the Zhashui County Fenghuang Old Town and heritage are disappearing rapidly. Until ghuang was at the same time paradigm of Tourism Development Master Plan (TDP, now, there are only 4,153 rural villages that feng shui principles and a thriving regional 2013) show that “preservation” may allow have been eligible for inclusion in the “Chi- inland port since Tang period. for heavy material substitutions. na Traditional Villages”5 (CTV) directory in By 624, the strengthening of the equal-field The MP also decreed the erasure of every to- mainland China, accounting for 0.74% of system encouraged the agricultural deve- pographical and morphological sign within the total number of administrative villages lopment and the first of a series of migratory the supposed control area and foresaw the nationwide6. Only 252 old towns have been waves from the south (Hubei and Hunan), residential development of all the agricultu- listed in the protection category of “China destined to continue even in Qing dyna- ral fields, which constitute instead an inte- Historically and Culturally Famous Towns” sty when after a new war (1675) the village gral part of Fenghuang historical landscape (CHCFT) since 2003, which accounts for would be rebuilt. It would be redefined again (Council of Europe, 2000). 0.16% of the total number of administrative at the beginning of the 1800, when at the In the TDP a standardized model of heritage towns in China. Although those towns have height of its splendor, some 100 houses will town is promoted, where the rural land is become “Cultural relics’ protection units”, be built and a trail will connect it to Xi’an turned from residential development of the the protection still faces enormous challen- and to the water road of Jin-Qian9. MP to the zoning construction area for touri- ges in the context of rapid urbanization. Since 2010 Fenghuang has been listed in the sm facilities outside the old town. Since most CHCFT also play the role of regio- “Fifth batch of China Historically and Cultu- The second HCP (2013) enlarged the buffer nal administrative centre in certain areas 7, rally Famous Towns” (CHCFT) which, from zone introducing also an “environmental co- in the last decade in the master plans formu- 2003 on, has been including in the heritage ordination zone”, but did not provide clear lated by each provincial government, under protection system also those pre-Qing tradi- guidelines and strategies for the “protection the guidance of the 11th Five-Year Plan and tional villages and towns that are acknowled- of the relationship between villages and the the National Urban System Planning Outline ged for their historical, artistic and cultural surrounding mountain and river”11. (2005-2020), more and more farming areas value , their commemorative revolutionary Therefore, in the “Zhashui County Fen- around the historical core has been conver- significance or for clear settlement character ghuang Town Regulatory Detailed Plan” (DP) ted to urban residential area. and traditional costumes10. compiled in 2013 as well, the flat areas of In the case study of Fenghuang Town8, with Yet, as the analysis of the case study of Fen- the river valley northward the old town can the promulgation of the “Outline of Spee- ghuang Old Town shows, the status of “Chi- still be designated as construction land. As in ding up the Development of County-Level nese Historically and Culturally Famous the TDP the land is destined for tourism fa- Urbanization in Shaanxi Province” (2009) a Towns and Villages”, by attracting unsui- cilities, the plot ratio is 1.8, and the building new process of development started. In 2009, table touristic-commercial development height limit reaches 24 meters. In addition, the People’s Government of the town formu- projects, seems surprisingly to constitute the protection scope of Fenghuang old town lated a new Master Plan (2009-2020) that tur- another major threat. is the same as that of the traditional hou- ned 294 hectares of land, including the old For local governments, expanding the touri- ses protection scope (Construction control town, from rural land to urban construction sm market is seen as a route to quickly pro- zone) determined by Shaanxi Cultural Relics residential land. mote the development of old towns and local Bureau in 200312. economic incomes. Given that the achievement of “Regulato- The various conservation and tourism plans ry Detailed Planning” is the statutory ba- reflect a threat that paradoxically looms sis for planning management (MOHURD, over the vernacular heritage that has been 2010), the DP plays a decisive role in the

special issue - URBANISTICA INFORMAZIONI | 69 development and shaping of the urban the systematic reconstruction of the formal Towns and Villages”, jointly announced by form in Fenghuang old town. essence, within a circular notion of time and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural De- In short, HCP and TDP do not record any the cyclic return to the ground of materials. velopment and the Ministry of Culture. change of direction after the CHCFT desi- The reality of the current present, however, In theory, the scope of heritage protection gnation. Applying to the Old Street only, is no longer that of autograph-reproducibili- has expanded from the original residential they ignore all structural, perceptual, cul- ty but that of a serial technique which, era- courtyard buildings to the entire ancient tural, and topographical relationships that sing the passage of time through the replace- town, natural landscape and surrounding link the buildings types to the morphologi- ment of modern materials, does not become environment18. According to the provisions cal structure and the latter to its natural and original in one’s own but looks instead arti- of the protection regulations, after the ap- manmade landscape. fact and inert. proval of CCFT at the county level should The carelessness towards the physical reality Clarified what is meant by the antiquity of have organized within one year the prepa- of both architecture and cultural landscape Fenghuang, we need to define what and how ration of the “Historical and Cultural Town does the rest, as it is also shown by current to conserve or protect. Analyzing the old- Protection Plan”. The protection plan should strategies derived from abstract and standar- timey pictures dating1958, it is possible to include the following contents: (1) Protec- dized diagrams. recognize the urban structure before the set- tion principle, protection content and scope Despite China has developed a relatively tlement’s expansion, which was still stuck of protection; (2) Protection measures, deve- complete heritage conservation system, the on 1800s. lopment intensity and construction control comparative analysis of regulations and pro- The attempt to reconstruct the historical re- requirements; (3) Traditional pattern and tection plans shows ambiguities in defining ality starting from the reality of urban facts historical style protection requirements; (4) object and contents of protection, over sim- and of reliable documentary sources reveals Historical and cultural blocks, The core pro- plification of tools due to the lack of urban concretely the problematic nature of the tection scope and construction control zone analysis, equivalence between enhancement fracture between material and cultural au- of famous towns and famous villages; (5) The and standardized touristic-commercial deve- thenticity – endorsed by the Declaration of implementation plan of protection planning lopment, and the lack of consideration for Nara15 and by the loss of hegemony of We- in phases. rural landscape as a component of the town stern culture – when it comes to define what However, the People’s Government of heritage system. and how to conserve. Zhashui County did not complete the pro- In the protection work of Fenghuang Old tection plan within one year and, even so far, Forgetting memory. Re-historicization Town, there are two major time nodes. the plan has not been compiled yet. Since and the issue of the style The first is in 2002, when the fourth batch the approved “CHCFT Protection Plan” has A territorial map dated 175313 shows the of “Provincial Officially Protected Site in legal effect, the failure to compile the plan contiguous village of Zhou-Jia-Yuan but not Shaanxi Province” and their protection sco- means that the specific content of the “natu- Fenghuang inland port. Since in Chinese pe/construction control zone as proposed ral landscape and environment to which the culture deletions have a meaning, we can by the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics ancient town is connected” has not been for- assume that the Phoenix was not yet risen Bureau was approved by the Shaanxi Pro- mally took into consideration. from the ashes of the latest conflict; or that vincial People’s Government and official- The overall protection of the ancient town its commercial status did not make it noble ly announced in 2003. “Fenghuang Street has lost its legal basis, and it has left the hid- enough to be the seat of local government. Dwellings”, was included in the list of “Cul- den dangers of the future protection of the The events recorded in the gazetteers indica- tural relics’ protection units” 16. The scope ancient town. The “Regulations” are ineffec- te that the ancient road, as we know it today, of protection was confined to No.135-433 tive in the actual implementation process dates back only to the end of Qing period, not courtyard buildings in Fenghuang Old Street and the local government seems not to fully to mention the work of continuous substitu- and the construction control zone was “East understand or apply the national heritage tions and reconstruction à l’identique about to Phoenix Road, west to Yingpan Mountain, protection policy. every sixty years. south to Shaanxi Silver Mine and north to The second HCP (2013) distinguishes betwe- The planned ephemerality14 of construc- Shui-Di-Gou River”17. The “Cultural relics’ en old buildings to be “protected” (partly tions is even inscribed in the technology and protection unit” of Shaanxi Province marks rebuilt after a fire in 1913) and traditional in the perishable materials (wood and clay), that the old town of Fenghuang has official- earthen buildings. Yet the latter, although used continuously until the ‘70 for all buil- ly become a statutory cultural heritage and built between the ‘30s and the Cultural Revo- dings, simple or nobles, up to the walls of li that the main content of protection are just lution, are authentic in their physical perma- fang and of the city, which were also subject the courtyard residential buildings. nence. Nonetheless, they have been excluded to periodic collapses and reconstructions. The second important time node is 2010 from the “Core Protection Area” and associa- Within the special relationship between me- when Fenghuang Old Town raised from a ted with the area of the buffer zone consisting mory and canon, the material reality of the provincial-level to a national-level “Cultu- also of multistory generic buildings, someti- building is not destined to survive the one ral relics’ protection unit”. In this year, Fen- mes built right into the wings of the courts. who built it. The old finds continuation in ghuang was included in the list of the “Fifth This reflects the Statute of CHCFT, where the new, passing down to the future through Batch of Chinese Historical and Cultural the notion of cultural heritage is still linked

70 | URBANISTICA INFORMAZIONI - special issue to the problem of the original style of major morpho-types, the graphical reconstruction in a spontaneous and varied urban fabric. architectures, here inflected in a vernacu- of all the buildings in the Old Street, the The potential of the back yards thus emer- lar key, and to the restoration of the image topographic comparison between the frag- ges, as well as the need for calibrated grafts to which, in the rendering of the CTP (2012) ments of the crops’ walls and the positions ensure their continuity of use. Avoiding cut- and TDP (2013), is turned into a postcard for of the traditional and modern buildings, the ting other estranged plazas and new streets, tourist consumption, i.e. a “picklock” for a di- old-timey pictures and the agricultural par- that would compete with the old core, but sproportionate real estate development. cels that have just been erased for the con- activating instead some exploration paths For the specific characters of Chinese cultu- struction of the new provincial road. within the radial tissue, in synergy with the re and history, even the finding of available This clarifies that the correspondence betwe- Old Street, the courtyard houses and new documents leaves on the threshold of uncer- en the plot and the building type is genera- grafting can double the active front to gene- tainty and approximation. We therefore con- tive of an original radial-strip structure con- rate new economic activities and support a sidered crucial to mark the point zero of the verging on the top of the mountain where mixed residential-hospitality use. town’s status quo in May 2018. This will help the ancients recognized in the village’s Aside from the main courtyard buildings, to retain the memory of built facts, recor- form the deployed wings of the Phoenix in that unfortunately looks the less authentic ding from now on future transformations. flight. The structure used to stretch from the ones, the survey delved into six radials, selec- Within a month of intensive fieldwork and courtyards to the backyards vegetable gar- ting four areas-problem that could be repre- workshop19 , we have launched a first survey dens, continuing as far as the fields until the sentative of as many themes and sections of campaign of the founding elements of the wall (now destroyed) along the River where landscape units, to start the first experimen- settlement, of the building types and their it finally opened like a fan and reverberated tal design proposals. transformations, of materials, construction in an ideal triangulation with the top of the The themes related to the morphological techniques and landscape character. mountains. strip have been identified as conservation- In our reading, therefore, there are not just graft-mending; lacuna and rewriting; tran- Revealing, overwriting and enhancing only the parallel scopes of the Old Street, the sformation of unauthorized building; new the latent urban structure “control area” and the “development area”. building prototypes and rural landscape re- The Ancient commercial Street consists Similarly, we do not consider confining pro- covery. of the continuous front of the narrow- tection only to the buildings of the Street be- courtyard buildings (窄院 zhai-yuan) where cause of their ancient foundation. Conclusion on the Guanzhong type are grafted the Chu We recognize, instead, the diverse morpho- Paradoxically, the authentic character of Fen- character imported by migration. The blind logic scopes to be explored along the radial ghuang is today under the threat of the sta- wall is replaced by the wooden surface of the and in the dialectics between preservation- tus of CHCFT that, instead, should protect it. shop, opening completely onto the road, fra- transformation, especially within the so-cal- To prevent the transformation of Fenghuang med between the walls with the “horse head” led control area whose complexity, presence in the umpteenth themed-set village for the profile (马头墙 ma-tou-qiang). of vegetable gardens, walls, traditional buil- xiangchou20 where one pays the ticket to The fabric, being a palimpsest of architec- dings and strategic importance for reading enter and where people play a phony pasto- tural information to be deciphered, turned the urban structure constitutes the true asset ral idyll, it is essential to preserve wherever out to be also the keeper of the settlement to reestablish morphological relationships possible the residential use and the commer- matrix, which is still readable in the topo- graphical traces. The latent structure, taking apart the appea- rances and claiming its own identity, offers a constitutive logic to make sense and impro- ve in an overall system also the components that are spontaneously built and, following the rural regime of land, follow therefore the structure of the Phoenix, allowing for an in- tegrated strategy for conservation, grafting, reconnecting and sustainable development of the urban-rural landscape. To define the strategy of the regenerative structure, the vi- sion must necessarily extend from the street to the historical and agricultural landscape, nowadays already turned into built-up areas by the spread of generic multi-story building. This latent structure could be revealed only through the survey and mapping of the Figure 1– Photo of Fenghuang old town captured by UAV,2018.5.

special issue - URBANISTICA INFORMAZIONI | 71 cial-production functions of interest to the ned by individual rural family to being owned by by State Council of the P.R. China in 2008: Histo- Community. the collective. rically and Culturally Famous Towns should be At the same time it is necessary to promote a 2 . Document No. 1 refers to the first document protected as a whole, maintain the traditional form of development consistent with an idea issued by the Central Committee of the CPC eve- pattern, historical features and spatial scale, and of sustainable tourism, avoiding the total ry year. Since the Central Committee of the CPC must not change the natural landscape and envi- consume of land and the plundering of the continuously issued the Central Document No. 1 ronment with which they depend. Community’s true resources, which are irre- on agriculture, rural areas and farmers from 1820 12 . In 2002, the fourth batch of Shaanxi cultural producible and authentic. to 1986 and from 2004 to 2018, the document has relics protection units and their protection scope Current development and revitalization now become the proper term for the Chinese go- and construction control zone proposed by the projects not only are illiterate in the urban vernment to attach importance to rural issues. Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau were composition or cosmetic like a caricature or 3 . Source: the Central Committee of the Commu- approved by the Shaanxi Provincial People's Go- a movie set, but mostly they are deceptive nist Party of China; State Council of China. (2014) vernment and officially announced in 2003. The without innocence as they mask their con- Urbanization Plan for 2014-2020. http://www.gov. “Fenghuang Street Dwellings” in Fenghuang Old sequences behind the unrealistic special ef- cn/zhengce/2014-03/16/content_2640075.htm Town was included in the protection units list. fects of the renderings. 4 . Source: the Xinhua News Agency. (2018) Chi- The objects of protection are No.135~433 residen- Those standardized tourist facilities, which na's urbanization rate rose to 58.52%, releasing tial buildings in Fenghuang Old Street; the con- are incompatible with the character of villa- new kinetic energy. http://www.gov.cn/xin- struction control zone is “North to Phoenix Road, ges and towns as well as with their surroun- wen/2018-02/04/content_5263778.htm south to Yingpan Mountain, east to Shaanxi Silver ding natural or rural landscape, will disap- 5 . China Traditional Villages refer to the villages Mine Residential Community, and west to Shui- point soon the new growing expectations of which were formed earlier, have abundant tradi- Di-Gou River”. quality, authenticity, culture, and beauty. tional resources, have certain historical, cultural, 13 . Map of Whole Zhen-an County Territory, source: Nie Even the prospect of a corrective in the futu- scientific, artistic, social and economic value, and Wei, Editor. Zhen’an County Records (All)[M]. Cheng re by means of demolition and rebuilding is should be protected. Since 2012, the Chinese go- wen Press Co., Ltd., 1969. not viable nowadays, both for the extent of vernment has started to organize the selection and 14 . Cfr. A.F. Wright, ‘Symbolism and Function: Reflec- the phenomenon and because the modern publication of the list of China Traditional Villa- tions on Chang’an and other Great Cities’, The Journal of materials could no longer “go back to Earth”. ges. So far, four batches have been announced. Asian Studies (pre-1986), XXI, 4, August 1965. Unused and unusable, the remnants of ove- 6 . Administrative village means formally village- 15 . ICOMOS (1994) The Nara Document on Authenti- restimated quantity of low-quality building level divisions in China, serve as a fundamental city would remain instead on the field, leaving organizational unit for its rural population (cen- 16 . The fourth batch of cultural relics protection local Communities to deal with the total loss sus, mail system).By the end of 2016, there were units in Shaanxi Province have 7 categories and of available land and a devastated natural 559,186 administrative villages in China, data 158 sites, 7 categories are: ancient sites, ancient and cultural landscape. source: China National Bureau of statistics. tombs, ancient buildings, cave temples and stone 7 . The lower administrative unit of the county. carvings, important modern historical sites, mo- Notes 8 . Shaanxi Provincial People's Government Docu- dern representative buildings, and other. * Department of Architecture, Built Environment ment No. 21 of 2009. 17 . Provincial Government Office. (2003). No. and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Mi- 9 . Cfr. Office of Publicity, Education, Culture 38: Notice of the Shaanxi Provincial People's Go- lano, [email protected] and Health. s.d. Guide of Fenghuang Town, Fen- vernment on the announcement of the fourth ** Department of Architecture, Built Envi- ghuang Town. batch of Shaanxi Provincial Officially Protected ronment and Construction Engineering, Politec- 10 . Cfr. Selection Measures of China Historically Site. nico di Milano, [email protected] and Culturally Famous Town and Villages, issued 18 . According to Article 21 of the “Regulations on 1 . By 1956, China realized agricultural coopera- by Ministry of Construction and State Admini- the Protection of Historically and Culturally Fa- tion, i.e. the abolition of private ownership of stration of Cultural Heritage in 2003. mous Cities, Towns and Villages” land and the realization of public ownership. 11 . According to Article 40 of the " Requirements 19 . Directors Professors Laura A. Pezzetti and Since the implementation of the policy of agri- for the Compilation of the Planning of Historical- Li Yueyan; scientific committee Dean Liu Jia- cultural cooperation, the collective management ly and Culturally Famous Towns and Villages Pro- ping, former Dean Liu Kecheng, Professors Lei system of agriculture has been implemented. The tection (Trial)" issued by the Ministry of Housing Zhendong, Ren Yunying; teaching: Laura A. Pez- enthusiasm of farmers' production has been sup- and Urban-Rural Development and State Admi- zetti, Nora Lombardini (Politecnico di Milano), pressed for a long time, and the development of nistration of Cultural Heritage in 2012: "Protec- Li Yueyan, Ma Long, Cui Xiaopeng (XAUAT); in agricultural productivity has been slow. In Sep- tion measures for landscape environment, such cooperation with Shangluo County Local Go- tember 1962, the Eighth Plenary Session of the as topography, rivers and lakes, farmland, native vernment, Zhashui County Local Government, Communist Party of China formally adopted and landscape, natural ecology, etc., closely related to Fenghuang Town Community, Fenghuang old promulgated the Revised Draft of the Regulations famous towns should be proposed" Town Architectural Heritage Protection Manage- on the Work Regulations of the Rural People's According to Article 21 of the “Regulation on the ment Committee. Commune, which stipulates that the ownership Protection of Famous Historical and Cultural Ci- 20 . Chinese term indicating nostalgia for the ru- of rural homesteads has changed from being ow- ties, Towns and Villages, State Council” issued ral countryside.

72 | URBANISTICA INFORMAZIONI - special issue References Brazil, Landscape at Today, the picture requires a robust critical ICOMOS. (1994). The Nara Document on Authen- review because a huge bibliography and an ticity. Nara Conference (Vol. 309, pp. 9–12). Northeast. extraordinary amount of documentation Council of Europe. (2000). European Landscape Minor Historical Centers largely unprecedented continues to be col- Convention. Report and Convention Florence and Historical Territories lected, analysed and interpreted. One of the (Vol. ETS No. 17, p. 8). Gabriella Restaino* main reasons for this is the wide dispersion Wright, A. F. (1965). Symbolism and function: re- of the documentary corpus in multiple archi- flections on Changan and other great cities. The ves, public or private, civilian or military, in Journal of Asian Studies, 24(4), 667-679. and out of Brazil. They form true "warehou- Zhong, F. (2017). Agricultural Policy (second edi- Brazil “Nordeste” ses" of memory or lost history, or simply for- tion ed.). Beijing: China Agriculture Press. The occupation of the territory in north-ea- gotten, scattered in Europe, Italy and abroad. Shaanxi Institute of Urabn & Rural Planning and stern Brazil with the arrival of settlers in the They may be share on a “Multimedia Archi- Design, People's Government of Jinshan County. sixteenth century, took place along the coast ve” on-line. (2009). Zhashui County Fenghuang Town Master and through ancient trails that internalized In general it is possible to believe that offer Plan (MP) (2009-2020) in the region. This process created a specific the people the opportunity to tell and share, People's Government of Fenghuang Town, spatial configuration of the landscape and one with the other, the memory contained Zhejiang Yuanjian Tourism Planning and Design the terra incognita. The new cities and the in the historical documents, can provide so- Institute. (2012). The Heritage Conservation Plan- development of villages along these paths, lutions to the problems of the world, for the ning of Fenghuang Ancient Town (HCP) generated a particular landscape and a new integration and sharing of different cultures. People's Government of Fenghuang Town, Center urban and territorial design; it is possible to This is the proposal of a “New Cultural Citi- for urban construction and regional planning of recognize even today, historical features of zenship”. Northwestern University. (2013). The Heritage the shape and of the structural elements as Conservation Planning of Fenghuang Street and well as the intangible traditions of great cul- Consideration on the ancient territo- Dwellings (HCP) tural relevance. ries and the cities of Nord-Est Brazil Zhashui County Tourism Development Bureau, Studies of the last 50 years, allowed the for- through the cartographic sources Zhejiang Yuanjian Tourism Planning and Design mation, in Europe, of a body of literature The relationship between history and to- Institute. (2012). Construction Planning of Cultu- mainly specialized in the field of architectu- ponymy, based on ancient cartography, has re Tourism Ancient Town of Fenghuang (CTP) re and urbanism. Recently, these studies are drawn the attention of many scholars since People's Government of Fenghuang Town, focused on the historical development rela- a long time; the importance of localizing the Zhejiang Yuanjian Tourism Planning and Design ted to cultural, territorial and urban landsca- names of places and historically analysing Institute. (2013). Zhashui County Fenghuang Old pe, especially in Brazil. them, as well as the need of grounding the Town Tourism Development Master Plan (TDP) This study aims to investigate and describe linguistic and historic analysis on wide Zhashui Urban Construction Bureau. (2013). the historical development of the region of and systematic catalogues, has lead part of Zhashui County Fenghuang Town Regulatory De- ancient Pernambuco and Alagoas, and the the research onto the individuation of to- tailed Plan (DP) cultural landscape from the pre-existing tra- ponyms, gathered by historic cartography, Regulation on the Protection of Famous Histori- ces and signs that can still be found in the in addition to other documentary sources, cal and Cultural Cities, Towns and Villages, State grounds of historical colonization and mi- and then compared to the modern and con- Council § Order No. 524th of the State Council gration in north-eastern Brazil. Furthermore, temporary cartography. For this reason, in (2008) seeks to identify the meaning and the value this work of research, cataloguing and ter- Measures for the Preparation, Examination and in relation to the protection processes, incre- ritorial analysis, I wanted to document the Approval of Detailed Control Plans on Cities and ase and transformation underway or propo- substance of the examined territory of the Towns, MOHURD § Order No. 7 of the Ministry sed. The study aims to reach “reconstitution” “Nordeste”, in particolary of Pernambuco e of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (2010) of the rules of the historical structure of the Alagoas through the historic cartographic Issue of the Requirements for the Compilation territory and of the principal settlements, documents related to various ages, that of the Planning of Historically and Culturally their evolution and the relationship with the could become a starting point for further Famous Towns and Villages Protection (Trial), current contemporary landscapes. research on the same region. MOHURD and National Cultural Heritage Admi- The result may be the activation of a new interest The study of historic toponymy within the nistration § Order No. 195 of the Ministry of Hou- in the cultural heritage of the cities of foundation/ territory can help to throw light upon the sing and Urban-Rural Development (2012) construction of the XVI century and the migration ancient urban fabric; indeed, by identifying territories and for research into the conservation and placing some significant toponyms, and restoration of landscape, territorial and urban also through the morphological (both heritage of colonial origin; because Brazilians and orographic and hydrographic) references Europeans can together think of a possible future shown on the maps, it is possible to recon- for territories and cities of the Northeast Brazil as struct the whole historic road system (pri- UNESCO Heritage. mary and secondary axis and directrix).

special issue - URBANISTICA INFORMAZIONI | 73