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Article

The Changing Urban Landscape of Chinese Cities: Positive and Negative Impacts of Urban Design Controls on Contemporary Urban Housing

by
Ali Cheshmehzangi
The Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies (CSET), Department of Architecture and Built Environment, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, 199 Taikang East Road, Ningbo 315100, China
Sustainability 2018, 10(8), 2839; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082839
Submission received: 6 June 2018 / Revised: 29 July 2018 / Accepted: 1 August 2018 / Published: 10 August 2018
(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Urban and Rural Development)

Abstract

China’s contemporary urban housing is increasingly developed at mass housing scale. In recent decades, it has transformed into large scale urban design approach rather than individual architectural design. This is generally common across major Chinese cities and is also becoming the case in some township regions. The increase in mass urban housing production firstly initiated in early years after establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and was then increased significantly from the 1970s onwards. Similar to the case of post-war European housing development in the 1950s and 1960s, China experienced a rapid transition and huge demand for new urban housing. The two decades of 1980s and 1990s are known as China’s remarkable era for rapid growth and urbanisation, which was unprecedented not only for China but also globally. In this paper, the focus is on urban design controls and their impacts on housing transitions in China by first analysing common housing typologies as well as their challenges and issues and common practices of urban design for housing projects across major cities of China. This paper argues in favour of alternative routes before concluding on the importance of detailed design and new possibilities for revised and re-evaluated urban design controls. This paper offers a set of analytical views on positive and negative impacts of urban design controls on contemporary urban housing in China. It also adds to existing research focused on urban housing transitions in China and directly linked to sectors of urban planning and urban design. This study concludes with possibilities for new directions, focused on: development of low- to midrise urban housing typology, compact urban development, and avoidance of gated community development.
Keywords: urban design control; urban housing; urban landscape; planning; detailed design; China urban design control; urban housing; urban landscape; planning; detailed design; China

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MDPI and ACS Style

Cheshmehzangi, A. The Changing Urban Landscape of Chinese Cities: Positive and Negative Impacts of Urban Design Controls on Contemporary Urban Housing. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2839. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082839

AMA Style

Cheshmehzangi A. The Changing Urban Landscape of Chinese Cities: Positive and Negative Impacts of Urban Design Controls on Contemporary Urban Housing. Sustainability. 2018; 10(8):2839. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082839

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cheshmehzangi, Ali. 2018. "The Changing Urban Landscape of Chinese Cities: Positive and Negative Impacts of Urban Design Controls on Contemporary Urban Housing" Sustainability 10, no. 8: 2839. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082839

APA Style

Cheshmehzangi, A. (2018). The Changing Urban Landscape of Chinese Cities: Positive and Negative Impacts of Urban Design Controls on Contemporary Urban Housing. Sustainability, 10(8), 2839. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082839

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