Ju Er Hutong Project: a Rehabilitation Model Or an Unsuccessful Attempt?
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Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture 12 (2018) 629-643 D doi: 10.17265/1934-7359/2018.09.003 DAVID PUBLISHING Ju Er Hutong Project: A Rehabilitation Model or an Unsuccessful Attempt? Giuseppe Cinà and Qi Mu Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Polytechnic and University of Turin, Turin 10129, Italy Abstract: What will be the future of Chinese urban heritage in the context of globalisation and a socialist market? Ju Er Hutong, as one of the first rehabilitation projects to take place during China’s late-1980s housing reforms, is generally considered a successful initiative in terms of urban regeneration and historic area conservation. To what extent does this success demonstrate a capacity to develop new policies and a new planning approach in the current Chinese urban regeneration process? To answer this question, and to summarize its achievements and its remaining unsolved problems, this paper provides the following insights: (1) an analysis of the evolution of Ju Er Hutong to its current form; (2) a literature review concerning the background and the outcome of the rehabilitation process; and (3) a critical assessment of the overall process, so as to summarize its constitutive advantages and problems. Key words: Urban heritage, old city preservation, Ju Er Hutong, urban restructuring, conservation. 1. Introduction assignments and guidelines compiled by realm officials, acted as an official technical regulation. The basic Widely documented Hutong is an important carrier architectural housing typology in China was the of the urban culture of Beijing, and is the basic unit of courtyard house, whose dimensions were all spatial structure within the ancient city, through which predefined by urban schemes. The most common the principles of its organization take shape. In order to housing unit corresponding to an administrative unit offer a description of the Ju Er Hutong within the residential spatial organization of Beijing, (Chrysanthemum Lane) preservation policies and to generally called Li Fang, was shaped before the 9th provide a critical assessment of their implementation, it century. At the end of Song dynasty (960-1279), there is worth examining its historical and morphological were 62 Li Fang in Beijing. Each Li Fang corresponds evolution. to a rectangle of land of about 0.2 km2 [1]. The word In order to better understand the original formation “Fang” means “square”, which indicates the original of Ju Er Hutong and its correspondence to the symbolic geometric units. Walls enclose every Li Fang and the hierarchy of housing patterns in ancient Beijing, a set gates were closed and guarded every night. Outside the of important spatial characters and spatial evolutions walls, the main roads are symmetrically aligned, while will be presented. residential buildings were built along the small internal The formation of the Chinese urban morphology, alleys and form the sub-zones [2]. With the with its rigid symmetry and formalized symbolism, development of commercial activities, the frontier was based on the guidelines in Rites of Zhou, a between the commercial and residential areas was fundamental work on State bureaucracy and removed, but the function of Li Fang was redefined in organizational theory. Its chapter Kao Gong Ji, a set of an administrative unity, now called “Fang Xiang” Corresponding author: Giuseppe Cinà, M.Sc. architecture, (meaning “block and lane”), abbreviated as Fang and Ph.D. urban planning, Associate professor. Research fields: urban heritage preservation, urban project, and peri-urban maintaining the same surface area. Ju Er Hutong agriculture. 630 Ju Er Hutong Project: A Rehabilitation Model or an Unsuccessful Attempt? belonged to the Fang called Zhao Hui. In every Fang, influenced the formation of Ju Er Hutong. In general, there were also small markets and schools that Manchu and Mongolian military communities, as the constituted a new settlement system, serving basic most efficient military organizations and having high economic and social functions. social and political positions, were all settled in the Beijing became significant when it was rebuilt in Internal City (Nei Cheng), while the ethnic Han 1260 by Kublai Khan as the capital city of the Yuan community could only live in the External City. The dynasty. The reconstruction was based on the area of Ju Er Hutong was located in the northeast part guidelines of Kao Gong Ji and followed the spatial of the Internal City and administrated by the Manchu structure of the previous capital cities [3]. The scale of [4]. Therefore, its population of roughly 2,500 people every category of streets and the technical width was comprised entirely of Manchu soldiers and their between two Hutong (44 steps, about 67.76 meters) families. At the end of the Qing dynasty, the Han was predefined in the Kao Gong Ji (Fig. 1). According community were allowed too live in the Internal City to Deng [2], the surface of the basic unit of the block is and the restriction of settlement to Manchu and about 4,535 m2, meaning that one Hutong could Mongolian military communities was lifted [5]. After include ten normal courtyard units. This conforms to this, the social composition of local residents and its the “square form” of the spatial model mentioned impact on the spatial organization of the urban fabric before. By this regulation and the consequent urban became more complicated. texture, the urban morphology of ancient Beijing was Despite these changes, the urban fabric of today’s Ju perfectly shaped. At the same time, it gave birth to the Er Hutong evolved according to the traditional housing urban form of Ju Er Hutong which has played a core typology of Chinese architecture. Its pattern was based role in the historical area of Beijing until today. on different sizes of courtyard buildings articulated During the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), the policy of organically, in order to form an articulated building separation of military and residential functions system [3]. Fig. 1 The basic pattern of the urban block composition of Beijing during the Yuan dynasty, based on the Hutong system. Source: Deng [2]. Ju Er Hutong Project: A Rehabilitation Model or an Unsuccessful Attempt? 631 2. Methodology designed “to keep the part still in good shape, repair some of the walls and roofs, and make new This paper is based on a series of literature review on construction only when we have to”. However, the the Chinese urban morphology and the existing realization of his idea appears controversial and research outcomes related to the morphological another interpretation given by Ian [7] is more likely to transformation of the case study. In order to provide a be appropriate to the situation: “instead of clearing out critical assessment on the overall approach of the entire neighborhoods, you saved what could be saved rehabilitation project, we carried out field survey in and built similar-sized and similar-looking buildings to March, 2016 and 2017 to better understand the replace those that truly were hopeless”. modifications and social transformations occurred To untangle this controversial matter, it is worth before/after the accomplishment of the project, some summarising the process of the whole project to recurrent issues concerning physical/societal spheres in establish close insights into its achievements and today’s Ju Er Hu Tong has been emphasized and failures. The project was developed in four distinct argued. Particular attention has been paid to the phases (Fig. 2). interventions of the built environment. The first phase was focused on No. 41 Courtyard, a Last but not the least, we conducted observation in small area of 0.209 ha where the dwellers lived in the field, concerning: (1) spatial transformations of extremely poor conditions and the residents had a indoor and open spaces in Ju Er Hutong; (2) social strong desire to improve their living standards. composition and daily activities of inhabitants; (3) Frequent flooding, lack of sunlight and distant public spatial relation between Ju Er Hutong and the toilets all contributed to a poor quality of life. surrounding area, paying particular attention to the Moreover, in order to create additional space for influence of planning background and subsequent expanding families, the public space in the courtyard impact on the tourism development and the changes occurred to local inhabitants. was illegally occupied, resulting in 84% of the plot being covered by buildings, as opposed to the planned 3. A New Type of Courtyard House as a proportion of 58%. After a series of studies on the Model for Old City Rehabilitation spatial characteristics of traditional courtyards, the The Ju Er Hutong rehabilitation project was one of a design team decided to utilize the so called “standard number of experimental projects aiming to establish courtyard buildings”, reorganizing the spatial structure new urban renewal solutions in housing settlements by adding two levels to both the south and north sides with high historical and environmental value, including and one level to the west and east sides to increase the a specific conservation plan focused on the South Gong per capita living space. Furthermore, considering the and Drum Lane area. needs of residents, the design team conceived several Ju Er Hutong rehabilitation project (8.2 ha) was types of layout equipped with kitchen and bathroom, designed by Wu Liangyong, a Chinese urban planner and also some outdoor spaces such as balconies and and a professor in urban planning, architecture and roof terraces. During this phase seven old courtyard design. The project is currently cited as an houses were demolished, and 46 apartments were award-winning case due to its attempts to adopt more newly constructed, which resolved the basic living conservative (or at least less destructive) measures for problems for 44 families (the other two apartments the maintenance of the historical fabric [6].