Evolution Of Existing Settlements In New Towns And Its Design Application

In the background of the increasing scarcity of land resources and increasing population,metropolitans in China are constructing more and more new towns to ease the pressureof urbanization. During the campaign of new towns, the existing settlements in urbanfringe face a development dilemma: on the one hand, these existing settlements areimportant habitat for the original residents that are vulnerable to new opportunities forurban development;on the other hand, these existing settlements are bound to become apart of the city in the future, so the strategy for adaption is an important issue. In thepost age of land–revenue development mode, completely tabula rasa new town planningis no longer possible to implement the plan. From the practical point of view of the newtown planning, existing settlement status quo should be taken into full consideration toobtain a reasonable and effective living quality in these new towns.By reviewing literature of new towns theories, settlements studies and urban renewaltheories, this thesis lays a foundation for the mechanism for existing settlements growth,summarizing the effects of urban context continuation, urban complexity enhancement,and urban culture formation. Through overall study of three typical regions–3rdgeneration of British new towns, Paris new towns and2nd generation of Hong Kongnew towns-three principle are revealed:1. Evolution of the existing settlement is theunavoidable problem in most of the new towns construction2. The existing settlementshave a profound impact on the choice of new towns construction mode3. The evolutionof existing settlements has different re-development measures in new townsconstruction in different countries.In-depth analysis of three typical cases of three regions–Milton Keynes in UK, Tai Poin Hong Kong and Marne-la-Vallée in France, leads to the summary of fusion of theexisting settlements and new towns: incorporating existing settlements: preserving theexisting settlements, and reorganizing the suburbs. After summarizing differentstrategies for different status of existing settlements, different strategies are applied topractical cases: Jingxi New Town in Fujian Province and Hung Shui Kiu NewDevelopment Area in Hong Kong. These new development proposals are aimed topreserve the culture as the core objective of the existing settlement evolution.I hope this thesis can inspire people to rethink the new town campaign at present, and tounderstand the importance of existing settlements. This thesis is an alternative guide toconstructing new towns as the home town for both local residents and new incomers.