The Birth, Growth And Evolvement Of The Regionality

Today, China is not only in the process of globalization, but also in the process of urbanizing process. So many problems of architecture and city is waiting for answer. As a focus, the research on regionality has been studied for a long time. In this article, we try to put it in the background of urban renewal, especially the old downtown regeneration. The main reason is to emphasize the importance of "region", "dynamic" and "conflict".As the basic attribute of architecture, regionality is the response to the nature and social factors in some region. It shows the connection between architecture and the place where it is. Along with the global civilization, characterized by the unification of global economy, information and technology, human being are facing the crisis of cultural assimilation and loss of regional identity while sharing the global culture and technological products. Hence, the sustainability of traditional culture of local architecture has become a global issue in the process of globalization.Along with the changing of economic structure and the deepening of the industrialization, the urbanizing process is undertaking nationwide in a large scale and steps on a new stage. As an adjustment, urban renewal is a main study problem in this progress. How to look and act on the regionality is the key to this problem, the preserve and develop of old downtown.With this background, the dissertation is divided into three parts. The first section "Method and related architectural theory" has two chapters. The first chapter is foreword, points out the practical significance and purpose of study regionality in the background of globalization and regeneration. The second chapter introduces some basic concepts, and gives a glace of the research in this area. At the end of this section, we explained the structure consisted by "Three Cities".The second section is divided into three topics by the research structure, "Three Cities":"The birth of regionality" is consisted by chapter 3,4. By investigation the old downtown in Tianjin, we conclude the elements for traditional regionality and the main problem it faced. "The growth of regionality" is consisted by chapter 5,6. By introduce the scheme for the old downtown in Shaoxing, we puts forward "now and here" concept and "responsive" method of design. "The growth of regionality" is consisted by chapter 7,8. By introduce the work of "Las Vegas Studio", we turn over to think of the concept of regionality and the future. The third section is epilogue. It summarizes the main points of the dissertation with regard of China conditions.