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Abstract: The Chinese countryside has long been associated with cultural continuity, albeit in contradictory ways. It has been marginalized for several decades, while all development efforts have focused on urbanization. However, as the tensions and paradoxes of modern urban life become increasingly obvious, the countryside is once again recognized as an enduring symbol of authentic national values. Chinese traditional cultural heritage is rooted in Chinese traditional villages. In fact, being built before the coming of the Republic of China, those villages nowadays still possess a great deal of very important material and immaterial forms of cultural heritage, as a historical record of the Chinese nation development. Through the examination and study of traditional villages in Luoning, and the perspective of theories of architectural conservation theory, community co-construction, and private-public partnership, the dissertation proposes a hybrid county governance model to maximize the stakeholder's functions roles, and operational procedures in the preservation and development of the traditional villages. Thus, through the integration of three stability perspectives—cultural, economic, and social —the dissertation provides the government's optimization strategy for heritage preservation. In the first case study, the governance of Zhangzhuang's traditional village is examined. The village's residents share responsibility for one another and are frequently connected by strong family ties and regular community organization in decision-making. Unfortunately, this thriving community-led government is insufficiently prepared to deal with the expanding tourism industry, it fails when it comes to overarching development objectives, and it lacks substantial experience in the preservation of historic structures. The Second case study investigates the government-led traditional types of villages. These are characterized by low public and community participation, and underdeveloped commodity economies, but being usually of outstanding importance, they result rich in traditional material and intangible cultural resources and have great potential for developing a tourism sector. Government-led efforts to reactivate the development of these villages have the advantages of credibility and authority, preferential policy formulation, and government short-term funding. However, these villages face severe problems in terms of community involvement, complementary market economies, and insufficient long-term government funding. This condition is investigated in the second case of the government's conception and promotion of the "Hou Shangzhuang Village Traditional Village Restoration" project. Despite some initial success, the project came to a standstill due to the competing interests of businesses, the government, and the community. The third case study looks into traditional villages where the primary development component is driven by businesses, creating conditions for the growth of a market economy. The analysis demonstrates that enterprise investments benefit from complementary capital input, resource integration, and effective management. However, the issue of uneven income and benefit distribution, as well as excessive consumption of public resources, pose a serious threat to both: the authenticity and integrity of cultural heritage, as well as the fair and sustainable development of local communities. This situation is examined in the case study of Qianhe Village, where the tourism industry has grown through multiple investment operations by private enterprises. The dissertation examines diverse hybrid governance models for each of these three different cultural, social, and economic heritage contexts. In specific it points to the role of government to efficiently design, validate, and promote responsive solutions for the resilience of cultural heritage of traditional villages in China.
Keywords: Heritage, Traditional Chinese village preservation, planning and management, Government, Governance, Participation, Community Co-construction
Published in RUNG: 11.03.2024; Views: 270; Downloads: 9
Full text (9,17 MB)

Abstract: In the last few decades, the Modern Conservation Movement has developed from European-limited practices into a global movement with universal common views and practical measures for managing heritage resources in different cultural contexts. As an innovative idea of this movement, the Historic Urban Landscape approach aims to protect and manage historic urban environments with respect to both the fundamental principles in the international doctrines and the local social/cultural/historical contexts. It recommends local authorities to use the HUL toolkit to identify, conserve and manage the overall landscape of their historic cities. In the case of China, who is an old civilization, a modern nation and a socialist country at the same time, the conservation practice needs to follow the basic and common conservation principles in the international doctrines, and meanwhile, it shall make its initiatives based on the actual social, cultural and political situations. The establishment of Historically and Culturally Famous City (HCF City in short) system is a positive attempt for such a purpose. The system manages various urban elements relating to the city’s historical and cultural features under a comprehensive notion of HCF City. However, the system is not prefect because it depends excessively on the top-down management of local governments, and also because it overlooks the spatial and spiritual relationships among the protected elements... The thesis provides a big picture of architectural and urban conservation practices in China. It introduces the forming process and the characteristics of historic urban fabric, as well as the history of urban conservation. Then, it takes a deep look at the existing HCF City system, including its basic ideas, structures and mechanism. It analyses the system’s initiatives and deficiencies. Finally, it provides feasible advices to improve the current system by using the HUL toolkit.
Keywords: Urban, History, Heritage, Conservation, Management International Principles, Modern Conservation Movement, Globalization, Localization Historic Urban Area, Historically and Culturally Famous Cities, Conservation System, Historic Urban Landscape Chinese Architecture, Chinese Urban Planning, Conservation History, Policy
Published in RUNG: 11.02.2019; Views: 4065; Downloads: 48
Full text (217,96 MB)