A Research To Morphological Changes Of The Ancient Capital Cities In Jiangnan Region

Preserving the historical and cultural heritages and traditional features in the process of mass construction has become a critical issue of the new stage of the urbanization in China.Under the political background of valuing Historic Urban Landscape and emphasizing the continuity of culture context,improvements are needed for the urban planning theories and design methods which are appropriate to Chinese tradition and practical situation.This should be based on deeply understanding what historical resources mean to urban development and the characteristics and patterns of Chinese historical cities development.Thus the priorities should be to compile and understand the Chinese urban history and the morphological process of historical cities and their urban forms.Suzhou,Nanjing and Hangzhou are three ancient capitals in Jiangnan Region.The interaction between the royal governance and natural landform enable the evolution of these three old capitals to be typical and particular.The research objects of this study are the processes and mechanics behind the evolution of the urban forms of the three historical capital cities mentioned above.By simultaneously compare,identify,analyse and summarise the characteristics and patterns of these three cities,typifying the Chinese traditional spatial concepts and urban planning ideas represented by the Jiangnan region,to lay the foundation for systematically building urban planning theories and methodologies which are appropriate and relevant to China.The core research method in this paper is Urban Historical Mapping based on Geographical Information System.The research method will firstly involve collecting and sorting historical data into text data and graphical data,to then extracting historical information that is relevant to this research and plot the information on vector topographic maps which form a set of urban maps of different historical periods.This set of maps and information is then used to build an urban historical database.The urban network system will then be constructed by extracting relevant elements from the map and data for calculation and analysis which finally conclude to the summarising of patterns and characteristics of the urban morphology of the research region.The analysis process combines research perspectives from multiple subjects including textural study of history,element analysis of urban morphology and regional analysis in urban geography.The main chapters of the research are organised under three levels of special scales,which are macro,meso and micro levels.Firstly,taking the macro level of entire Jiangnan region,the research period from Prehistoric Age to early Qing Dynasty where traditional regional settlements system is mature and developed.The positional relationship and correlation between urban settlements,natural landscape and artificial water networks are deduced by measuring the distribution and density of the urban settlements in Jiangnan region.The development of the regional settlement network under capital city influence can be divided into five periods.The meso-level research focuses on the hinterland area of the Capital cities dated from prehistoric period to the 14 th century,and assesses the social and economic relationship between the capital cities and the hinterlands and the development impact they have on each other.It is discovered that,before the 14 th century,the division of political regimes between the North and the South provided development opportunities for Jiangnan Capitals and their hinterland areas.The unification of the divided regimes also provided sustainable agriculture development for the Jiangnan region and thus provided a solid economic foundation for the subsequent capital establishments.The range of the capital cities’ hinterland area follows that of the natural river basin,and the connection between and within the capital cities and other cities in the area were mainly through artificial water networks which is an important representation of the impact political power has on the capital region.The micro level focuses on the city areas of Nanjing and Hangzhou during the Six Dynasties,South TangWu-Yue and South Song periods,analysing and summarising characteristics and morphology of the physical urban spatial form,capital city walls,land and water transport network,land usage and functional facilities and power distribution.The key discovery is that,even during the times of divided regime and resource scarcity,the rulers placed great importance on the capital cities urban form being compliant to etiquette standards.As a critical element to the etiquette system,the most important role of the capital cities was to resemble the divine legitimacy of the regime.The founding of the capital cities of Nanjing and Hangzhou prior to the 14 th century established the foundation to the future constructions of both cities.The continuation of the urban form of the Jiangnan capital cities goes beyond the physical space and appearance,rather a consistent core planning concept,the usage of the micro landscape,the high level functional layout and the relationships and urban systems between the hinterland area and the capital cities and the entire Jiangnan region.