The Urban Morphology Evolution Of Kulangsu In The Period Of Public Settlement Based On Space Syntax

Kulangsu,located at the estuary of Jiulong river,is a tiny island with an area of about 1.88 square kilometers and face the city of Xiamen.With the commercial port opening of Xiamen in 1843 and the Land Regulations for the Settlement of Kulangsu was signed in 1903,Kulangsu had developed into an international community with dynamic culture and modem life quality under the jointly administration of Chinese and foreigners and it was also a unique example in this region reflecting the modern human settlement environment from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century.During the almost one hundred years’ governance of Public Settlement,diachronic changes had taken place in Kulangsu’s urban morphology,and this island presented notable development from its traditional settlements to the colonial style settlements,and finally to a modern community with both international and local characteristics.Its evolution process and causes are worth studying.By using the theory and methods of space syntax and combined with the historical map and literature,this paper analyzes the evolutional characteristics of Kulangsu’s urban morphology during the period of Public Settlement.Through a comparison of the diachronic changes of Kulangsu’s urban morphology in various stages during the period of Public Settlement,this study aims at answering the following three questions:(1)What is the evolution process of Kulangsu’s urban morphology?(2)What are the typical characteristics of the evolution process of Kulangsu’s urban morphology?(3)What is the influencing mechanism behind the evolution of Kulangsu’s urban morphology?Firstly,this paper introduces the general development of Kulangsu’s urban morphology during the period of Public Settlement and divides timing sequence sections according to the characteristics of different stages.Secondly,it makes an intuitive analysis of Kulangsu’s urban morphology from three aspects:island boundary,planar texture and road network.Then it makes a comparative analysis of the diachronic changes of Kulangsu’s urban morphology in different periods using the space syntax indices which mainly encompass integration,selectivity,intelligence and connectivity.Based on this,it discusses the evolutional characteristics and influencing mechanism of Kulangsu’s urban morphology.Three conclusions were drawn:(1)the evolution process of Kulangsu’s urban morphology during the period of Public Settlement;(2)the evolutional characteristics of Kulangsu’s urban morphology during the period of Public Settlement;(3)the influencing mechanism of Kulangsu’s urban morphology during the period of Public Settlement.This paper introduces the space syntax theory and combines quantitative and qualitative methods.It helps offset the limitations of traditional historical research which mostly focus on facts and experience,thereby contributing to the quantitative research literature on urban history.Furthermore,it regards Kulangsu’s urban morphology as a whole system and provides a new quantitative research perspective as well as a scientific basis for the formulation of heritage protection strategy in Kulangsu.