Environmental Design Pursuing Meaning:research On Amos Rapoport’s Humanistic Urban Environmental Design Thought

Urban design research in contemporary China is facing both increasingly complex challenges of urban development and opportunities to expand its own research field.Since the birth of modern urban design in 1950 s,its connotation and denotation have undergone many changes,which are closely related to the process of urbanization and the change of urban development demand in foreign countries.Therefore,it appears particularly significant to study western urban design theories and to summarize an urban design theory system which can be applied to China ’ s urban development.As China’s urban development mode transforms from extensiveness to quality,urban design based on urban regeneration and taking the existing urban environment as the main research object will become the research priority as well as the exploration focus of China’s urban design in the future.Different from new town construction,many problems to be faced by the revitalization of old cities are closely related to the social behaviors,cultural backgrounds and cognition of urban space of different residential groups.Accordingly,combining environmental behavior research results with specific urban design processes not only provides new ideas and methods for predicting and creating more pleasant urban spaces,but also further expands the connotation and extension of urban design,making urban design a truly important platform for integrating diverse urban resources,gathering social consensus,and enhancing the vitality and sense of belonging in old cities.Amos Rapoport is an important scholar in the field of urban design and environmental behavior,and as one of the founders of environmental behavior research,his theoretical research has been recognized by many scholars at home and abroad.When studying the form of housing,Rapoport began to pay attention to the close relationship between environment and human cultural activities.Under the influence the revival of humanism,based on the cognitive behavior research in psychology and cultural anthropology,he put forward the concept ‘meaning’ and its means of expression in constructing environment and applied this notion to the urban environment design.Furthermore,He summarized an Environmental Behavior Study(EBS)method of urban design,and constructed the design theoretical framework of human-culture-environment.Since the concept of "urban double repair" was proposed in 2015,urban renewal has caught a lot of attention both in the research and practice of urban design in China.In October 2020,the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19 th CPC Central Committee formally put forward the urban development strategy of "implementing urban renewal”,which represents the transformation of contemporary urban design in China from " top-down "and management-centered development to " bottom-up " and people-oriented stock renewal urban design.By summarizing Rapoport’s theoretical research and drawing on the links and components among human behavior,culture and environment,it is of great help for in-depth observation and analysis of the behavior regulation of specific groups in the urban environment.Meanwhile,It will provide theoretical and methodological support for the construction of a more user-friendly urban spatial form and its guiding mechanism.