Study On Townscape Theory Of Gordon Cullen

Since the establishment of urban design as an independent discipline,urban design theory has been built up based on a number of ever-increasing theoretical works.Based on the classic works of the 1960s-1970 s developed by early urban design theorists such as Kevin Lynch,Jane Jacobs,Gordon Cullen and so on,thousands of theorists,practitioners,and policy makers have established numerous urban design theory system,therefore forming the theoretical basis of contemporary urban design policy and practice.In contrast,even though China's urban design theory is less comprehensive,systematic and numerous compared to that of western countries,many domestic scholars have successively published some urban design related papers and translated foreign classics to domestic since the emphasis on urban design started in the 1990 s.However,the theoretical works only represent the products of the theorists in specific context which means the translation of the theoretical works themselves is relatively fragmentary and one-sided.Only when excavating the profound cultural connotations and value standards behind the theory,and knowing the social contexts in which the theory is formed,the real value of the foreign classic theory in domestic could be clarified.Among thousands of theorists and theoretical works,Cullen and his Townscape(The concise Townscape)are one of the most important foundations in the numerous urban design theoretical systems.He values how people perceive and understand the city,and he is regarded as one of the earliest representative of who study how to perceive place and space in urban design field.Unlike Ed Bacon,Jane Jacobs and Kevin Lynch,Cullen was not related to the well-known development venation of urban design in America.He is a British urban design theorist,and the origin and development of his theory is relatively special.Moreover,domestic research on his theory is still in a preliminary state,which is obviously not enough in introducing the theory itself and excavating its origin,connotation and value.This dissertation aims to sort out Cullen's Townscape theory comprehensively,evaluate and analyze it based on its contexts and values,discuss its possible inspiration and extension under the reality situation of urban design in China,in order to provide theoretical reference for practice-based research combining Chinese context and open up more academic growth points in the future..This dissertation follows the main venation of “Background research—Theoretical origin—Theoretical transformation—Theoretical formation—Theoretical extraction—Theoretical application—Theoretical evaluation—Theoretical inspiration”.Firstly,using Cullen's 5 different status(illustrator,editor of AR,Townscaper,author of Townscape and Townscape consultant)and the corresponding three periods as the main clue,this dissertation analyzes the forming background and switching motives of Cullen's different status,discusses his Townscape theory and its origin,connotation in different periods,and introduces his urban design practice and his attempts of turning theory into practice.Secondly,while sorting out Cullen's Townscape theory,this dissertation points out and responds to the controversy about Cullen in academia,discusses the intelligence of mainstream between him and some other famous urban design theorists,and evaluates his Townscape theory according to its impacts and limitations.Finally,based on the critical and in-depth discussion above,this dissertation further discusses the possible inspiration in value and extension in principle of Cullen's Townscape theory under the reality situation of urban design in China.