Research On Public Markets In Contemporary Beijing Old City

Public markets are important places for people to buy vegetables and other freshfood, which are essentials parts of the daily life of urban dwellers. With their longhistory in China, markets play the role of inheriting historical culture and traditions inthe society. Thus, the construction of markets not only relates to the basis of the nation’seconomy and people’s livelihood, but also provides the sources of vitality in a city andthe propulsion for social development. Markets are deeply involved with social issuesincluding distribution of agricultural products, food safety and sanitation, public servicein neighborhoods, etc., which are also indispensable in the field of architecture andurban planning.With the view to the old city of Beijing in the contemporary era, this dissertationregards markets as an integral part of urban spaces and investigates the distributionstatus, spatial characteristics and public attributes of markets based on architecture andurban design theories. The47markets within the old city of Beijing are the main focusin the research.As the research background, recent markets-related policies and regulations at thenational level, the municipal level and the district level are studied. The history ofmarkets in the old city of Beijing as well as researches and practices concerning marketsat home and abroad are briefly introduced. Theories relating to the preservation of theold city and creation of public spaces also serve as reference to the analysis of thedistinctive urban background of contemporary Beijing old city and the emphasis on theclose connection between the construction of markets and the goal of preservation andregeneration of the old city.The dissertation investigates the scale and the distribution of markets incontemporary Beijing old city, analyzing their characteristics according to correlativeelements. The status quo of market spaces are also carefully investigated through fieldresearch and data collection. According to different spatial modes, markets are dividedinto four categories—markets that are continuous lines of stores, centralized markets,affiliated markets and decentralized markets. Taking many foreign markets ascomparative cases, each category is discussed separately in the aspect of architecturalcharacteristics and its connection with the old city and public spaces. Existing problems and relevant factors of future development of markets in Beijingold city are concluded in the dissertation. Drawing lessons from theory studies andpractices of market construction in foreign countries, suggestions for the markets’ futureare proposed from both macro and micro perspectives, including attention to theenvironment of the old city, adaptation to modern needs, integration of markets and citydevelopment, exploration of sustainable strategies, elaboration of spatial details andamelioration of spatial qualities, which all contributes to turning markets into publicspaces with cultural tradition and epochal innovation.