Research On The Cognition And Conservation Of The Dynamic Integrity Of Historic Urban Landscape

Historic cities could been taken as cultural landscapes,which are the results of the constant interaction between human and natural environment.Evidence has been found that historic cities are fundamental living environments for urban residents,rather than only the carrier of historic memories and meanings of the past.However,this kind of living environment is facing the crisis of lacking character and identity caused by urbanization and globalization.Furthermore,the imbalance between heritage preservation and urban development has been having negative impacts on residents’life quality in heritage sites.In the 21^st century,“landscape approach”has gradually become a vital tool in urban conservation and urban planning research fields.In this context,the concept of Historic Urban Landscape（HUL）emerged in urban heritage conservation field,which represented that the expanding defination of cultural heritage has come to a whole new stage.From the perspective of HUL,cultural heritage is no longer only related to preservation actions,but also should be integrated into the framework of joining efforts in promoting urban development,enhancing local characteristics,and improving urban residents’living condition.Focusing on the questions of“what to conserve”and“how to conserve”,this dissertation aims to study a series of research topics about the cognition and conservation of HUL,including the constructing the overall theory and proposing the feasible approaches for cognition and conservation.The epistemology for HUL is first discussed to set a foundation for this research,based on which the theoretical analysis is conducted and the theory of Dynamic Integrity（DI）is constructed.The DI theory builds up a reseach paradigm for the cognition and conservation of HUL,which indicates that the research should be carried out focusing on the exploration and integration of three threads.The three threads are developed from time,space,and people dimensions of the interactive composition of HUL.The study based on the thread of time dimension focuses on the diachronic layering process and pattern of HUL,namely,historic cities are examined from the perspective of HUL and the evolution history and layering mechanism are analyzed.The thread of space dimension aims at the synchronic idiosyncracy of HUL,the study of this section includes analyzing the concept of HUL units,proposing the historical geographical information overlay approach based on Arc GIS and fuzzy logic,and suggesting a series of approaches for the identification and delimitation of HUL units.The idiosyncracies of HUL units and the HUL ensemble are revealed based on the study of each unit.The thread of the people dimension is discussed from the perspective of the metrics of residents’perceptions and feelings.The relationship between people and their living environment is interpreted through residents’perception,based on which the inter-relation among subjective perception,objective HUL environment,and subjuctive feeling is explained.Based on understanding the influencing mechanism between performance of HUL perception and residents’sense of identity,the Asymmetric Impact-Performance Analysis（AIPA）technique is introduced into this research to uncover the impact type and capacity of different HUL attributes.Finally,three threads are integrated to combine the cognition study results for yield further insights concerning conservation.The feasible approaches to conserve the dynamic integrity of HUL are discussed from three aspects,including dual-evaluation-based decision making,management of change,and coordination in multiple domains.Creative results of this dissertation include the construction of the dynamic integrity theory for the cognition and conservation of HUL,the creation of the methods for the identification and delimitation of HUL units based on fuzzy logic,the constrcutiong of evaluation matrix for interpreting the influential relationship between historic environment and people’s sense of identification,and the presentation of the dual-evaluation approach considering both contribution of idiosyncracy and impact on residents’sense of identity.The theoritical significance of this dissertation is that the dynamic integrity theory proposed in this research has enhanced the theory system in urban conservation field and HUL research domain.The practical significance are from the methods and approaches presented,such as HUL units delimitation method,idiosyncracy identification method,idiosyncracy contribution evaluation method,sense of identity influence analysis method,and the dual-evaluation-based decision making approach,which would provide guidance for urban heritage preservation and renewal practises.Furthermore,the metrics of residents’perception and sense of identity together with the content concerning the dynamic continuity provide fresh insights for the livavility and sustainability development of historic cities.