Abstract
Historical urban forms which have experienced long evolution, are resilient and durable. It is important for urban planning to explore the everlasting wisdom and principle from them. Taking Chengdu as an example, this paper collects satellite data, historical literature and maps, integrates history investigation, geographic information and morphologic analysis to identify the historical urban forms from the existing city, and studies their composition and characteristics. It suggests that the characteristics of urban form result from the local environment, functions of city, and historical cultures and customs; that the respectful and matter-of-fact attitude to nature, the local experience and wisdom developed by people to adapt or make good use of environments is crucial; and that historical urban forms are valuable and influential to the present urban form.
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Notes
- 1.
The shape and location of urban forms are not accurate, but their relative positions to the topography are correct.
- 2.
Before the Qin Dynasty, there were frequent floods in the Min River and droughts in the Chengdu pain. Libing built Dujiangyan to solve this problem. They divided the Ming River into an outer river and an inner river. Though making good use of the topography, they conducted the floods to the outer river, the necessary water to the inner river. After that, the flood can be controlled well and enough water can be obtained to irrigation.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (51208530); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (CDJZR12190008; 106112013CDJZR190001).
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Li, X., Xu, L., Hanmei, Z. (2017). Distinguishing Characteristics of Urban Form from Evolutionary Perspective—The Case of Chengdu in China. In: Pan, Q., Li, W. (eds) Smart Growth and Sustainable Development. GeoJournal Library, vol 122. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48296-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48296-5_1
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