A Typo-Morphological Enquiry Into the Evolution of Urban and Architectural Forms in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, China
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A Typo-morphological Enquiry into the Evolution of Urban and Architectural Forms in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, China Qiu Feng A Thesis in The Department of Geography, Planning & Environment Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science (Geography, Urban and Environmental Studies) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada March, 2014 © Qiu Feng, 2014 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Qiu Feng Entitled: A Typo-morphological Enquiry into the Evolution of Urban and Architectural Forms in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, China And submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Geography, Urban and Environmental Studies) Complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final Examining Committee: Pascale Biron Chair John Zacharias Examiner Danielle Labbé Examiner Pierre Gauthier Supervisor Approved by Chair of Department or Graduate Program Director Dean of Faculty Date ABSTRACT A Typo-morphological Enquiry into the Evolution of Urban and Architectural Forms in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, China Qiu Feng This thesis focuses on the evolution of urban tissues of nine urban blocks of Huangpu District of Shanghai from 1842 to 1949, relying on theories and methods developed by urban morphology. It is more specifically a cross-cultural application of the Italian typo- morphological approach to the realities of a Chinese city, which offers a novel interpretation of Shanghai‟s urban form. By studying Huangpu District‟s urban tissues, we wish to learn lessons, inspire good design principles, propose new planning approaches, and shed light on the wider consideration of historical conservation in Shanghai and other Chinese cities. This thesis traces back the formation and transformation of urban and architectural forms in Huangpu District by exploring the street blocks evolution and drawing a typological analysis of residential types of the selected site. The research highlights the particularities and specificities of urban and architectural forms of Chinese cities and illustrates that the Chinese urban culture is enacted in the spatial system, rather than figuratively expressed by the architectural language. Keywords: Urban morphology, urban tissue, morphogenesis, type, building type, typological process, conservation, Shanghai, China iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation for the people who have helped and supported me throughout my thesis. First of all, I am especially grateful to my supervisor, Professor Pierre Gauthier, for his assistance and guidance, for his valuable comments, advice and engagement through the whole process of this thesis. Without his persistent help and encouragement this thesis would not have been possible. My gratefulness is extended to my committee members, the entire Faculty, staff, and to my peers in the department of Geography, Planning and Environment. Everyone‟s help and support has contributed to my progress and success in academia at Concordia University. I would like to thank my husband, Jiuling Bie, who has been supportive and loving through the good and more difficult times during the past few years. His love, kindness and support have taken me to finalize this thesis. A special thank of mine goes to: Hexian Bi and Qing Yang, who hosted my stay in Shanghai and made my field work memorable and enjoyable. I wish to thank my closest friends: Yuan Yang, Oliver Zhao, Yinggang Tu, Yue Zeng, Bin Wu, Yuchen Yang, etc., for their invaluable support and encouragement. They have always been encouraging me during my studies. Without them I would have been unable to complete my work. To each of them I extend my heartfelt gratitude. At last but not the least, I want to thank my sons and my parents, for their endless love and support, who made all the things possible. iv Table of contents List of figures .................................................................................................................................. ix Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 I.1 Current problems ............................................................................................................. 1 I.2 Hypothesis ....................................................................................................................... 2 I.3 Goals ................................................................................................................................ 3 I.4 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 4 I.5 Structure ........................................................................................................................... 8 1. History of Shanghai ............................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Geographic position and climate of Shanghai ............................................................... 10 1.2 A brief overview of Shanghai‟s history ......................................................................... 11 1.2.1 The origin of its name ............................................................................................ 11 1.2.2 A short history of Shanghai ................................................................................... 12 1.3 Shanghai‟s unique culture .............................................................................................. 15 2. Theoretical framework ........................................................................................................... 17 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Urban morphology ......................................................................................................... 17 2.3 Three main Schools of urban morphology ..................................................................... 18 2.3.1 The Italian School .................................................................................................. 18 2.3.2 The English School ................................................................................................ 19 2.3.3 The French School ................................................................................................. 20 2.3.4 Similarities and differences among the three Schools ........................................... 21 2.3.5 North American scholars ....................................................................................... 22 2.4 The urban form as a cultural object ............................................................................... 23 2.5 Urban tissue as an object of enquiry .............................................................................. 24 2.6 The cross-cultural application of Caniggian and Conzenian approaches in China ........ 26 3. Particularity of Chinese urban form ....................................................................................... 28 v 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 28 3.2 Two conceptions “shaping” Chinese urban form........................................................... 28 3.2.1 Rationalist .............................................................................................................. 28 3.2.2 Naturalist ................................................................................................................ 30 3.3 Two typical Chinese cities: the “northern city” and the “southern city” ....................... 30 3.4 Patterns and processes of morphological changes in Chinese cities .............................. 31 3.5 Morphological characters of Shanghai .......................................................................... 33 3.5.1 Jiangnan: the city of water ..................................................................................... 34 3.5.2 Morphological characters of Shanghai before 1842 .............................................. 35 3.6 Morphological transformation of Shanghai ................................................................... 36 4. Morphological analysis of the study area .............................................................................. 39 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 39 4.1.1 A brief introduction to the Huangpu District ......................................................... 39 4.1.2 The concessions in Shanghai ................................................................................. 42 4.2 The Shanghai urban blocks ............................................................................................ 45 4.2.1 Two theoretical models of Shanghai urban blocks ................................................ 45 4.2.2 Morphological features of urban blocks in the study area ..................................... 50 4.2.3 The general layout and spatial syntax of Linong ................................................... 52 4.3 General analysis of the morphogenesis of the study area .............................................