AA Landscape Urbanism Active Heritage 2011-12

HERITAGE ACTIVATION Tossapon Arunsuraponmatee Daniel Portilla Xuan Ying

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Content

Introduction

1 Heritage Site

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2 Active Preservation 3 Framework __________________

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Infrastructural Landscape __________________

10 Changping

20 Existing Masterplan

32 Site Analysis

48 Tourists Distribution

12 The Ming Tombs

22 Traditional Preservation

36 Branching System

50 Public Transportation

16 Heritage Preservation

24 Tourism Context

38 Process of Urbanization

53 Touristic Flows

28 Active Heritage Preservation

40 Main Structure

54 Main Road System 55 Transportation System 56 Infrastructural Landscape 58 Touristic Facilities 60 Wetlands System 62 Protective Landscape 64 Layers of System 66 Plots Subdivision 68 Landscape Framework

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Productive Landscape __________________

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Urban Landscape __________________

7 Conclusions

8 Technical Report

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76 Terrain Analysis

92 Urban Strategy

119 Active Heritage Preservation

126 Terracing Technic

78 Agriculture Strategy

93 Influences

121 Possible Future Studies

128 Wetlands

79 Water Management

94 Possible Touristic Activities

80 Groundwork Technic

95 Possible Touristic Facilities Location

82 Irrigation System

96 Possible Hotel Location

84 Terraces Layout

97 Urban Growth Strategy

85 Terraces Structure

98 Urban Growth on Site

86 Crops Distribution

100 Typologies 102 Urban Layers 106 Urban Elements

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130 Transportation

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Introduction

H

istory in itself is defined by our memories. From the very beginning humanity has tried to collect and preserve some physical elements that help us to keep tracking of our past. The selection of these elements might range from small objects to buildings, neighborhoods, or entire environments.

Depending always on the level of significance that it is embedded in its fabrication or its interaction with the society. Preservation then, responds to our needs of real-state storage in order to develop culture. For architecture, its field of action changes and increases with time as the urban development has reached an ever-accelerating pace. Today, as Koolhaas stated in the 2010 Venice Biennale exhibition entitled “Cronocaos”: “A huge section of our world (about 12%) is now off-limits, submitted to regimes we don’t know, have not thought through, cannot influence.

At its moment of surreptitious apotheosis, preservation does not quite know what to do with its new empire.”1 Thus it seems essentially necessary to identify what does need to be preserved, understanding the reasons it is worth to do it but even more important, what this preservation means in its different scales.

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Preservation and Architecture There are two basic clear positions about preservation regarding architecture, which can be characterized by Ruskin and Viollet-le-Duc’s understanding of this concept. For Viollet-le-Duc, “to restore a building is not to preserve it, to repair, or rebuild it; it is to reinstate it in a condition of completeness that could never have existed at any given time”.2 Depicting somehow that the object never will become what it was at the time of its original completion. On the other hand, Ruskin postulates about ancient buildings that “we have no right whatever to touch them. They are not ours. They belong partly to those who built them, and partly to all the generation of mankind who are to follow us.”3 A position that in clearly opposition to Viollet-le-duc does not allow any change on the heritage but on the contrary calls for not even interacting with it beyond mere observation.

The contemporary positions have not changed that much. In 1983, the National Heritage Conference in United Kingdom defined heritage as “... that which a past generation has preserved and handed on to the present and which a significant group of population wishes to hand on to the future.”5 Again dealing with the heritage as an object that must be almost isolated and treated as an untouchable art piece along time. The next decade, David Herbert in his book Heritage, Tourism and Society proposed a much more complex idea, affirming that “heritage places include historic buildings or monuments which bear the distinctive imprint of human history. Their interest may derive from architecture or design, from historical significance, or from a combination of these attributes. Heritage places are linked with people, events, activities and, in a wider sense, with cultures, societies and economies.”6 Adding in this way to the definition, all the interactions of the object of study with society, considering these as part of the preservation.

Several institutions and organizations are involved in the process of recognizing, or “declaring” heritage. However, there are not universally established mechanisms of dealing with the heritage preservations. And more relevant to the urban realm, there is not a clear answer of how to allow the interaction of what needs to remain and what needs to change. Regarding this, Koolhaas says that “as the scale and importance of preservation escalates each year, the absence of a theory and the lack of interest invested in this seemingly remote domain becomes dangerous… …The current moment has almost no idea how to negotiate the coexistence of radical change and radical stasis that is our future.”1 Considering this more holistic approach, it is fair to ask what kind of program is able to deal with this complexity involved with preservation. To what Rojek and Urry respond saying that “Tourism can, and does, influence the heritage agenda

because of the ongoing significant inter-relationship between ‘culture’ and ‘tourism’ to the point that, in contemporary societies, ‘culture’, ‘society’ and ‘tourism’ are not discrete entities but are totally fused”.7 Proposing somehow that tourism is able to merge the different components that comprises this broader approach to heritage preservation. At the same time, they overlap abstract and timeless concepts as culture and society, with a concrete and temporary activity as tourism.

Nevertheless, when tourism goes through the Ruskin definition of preservation, the result could be even the loss of the place’s essence, since focusing on the physical element, it forgets the relations existing of the element with its environment, which somehow are the ones that defines it as heritage. One of the clearest examples of this condition is Venice, which “is a site that exhibits many of the issues that are indicative of, and which confront contemporary tourism: environmental degradation; heritage management problems; conservation issues; major impacts on, and implications for, the host community.”9 The city has been preserved as an image that cannot be modified considering neither the urban processes nor its inhabitant’s interactions. As result, in the high seasons, up to 80% of the population corresponds to tourists, and at the same time, the city’s inhabitants have reduced from 200.000 to 60.000 in the last decades.

As mentioned before, preservation has been conceived as such clear concept in the modern Western culture. But if we move to the Eastern, the boundaries between what is heritage, what needs to be preserved, and the new urban developments, are much blurrier. Specifically in the case of China, the Cultural Revolution marked and defined arbitrarily the contemporary history of heritage in the country. Setting strictly that all elements that could signify “old ways of thinking” should be taken from whether private property or museums and destroyed. Historical sites, ancient artifacts and archives received a devastating damage. It was only after the opening for foreign tourism that it was possible to be aware of this loss and the importance of heritage in what would become one of the main economic activities of the country.

The contemporary history of Chinese tourism is very young since the country was closed to foreign tourists between 1949 and 1974 during the rule of Mao Zedong.

The first step forward in this matter was done by Deng Xiaoping, who decided to develop China’s tourism in the late 1970’s as a way of earning foreign exchange. In 2010, China ranked as the world’s third leading travel destination with 55.98 million visitors — behind only France (78.95 million) and the United States (60.88 million).

China will be the world’s leading travel destination around 2016-2018.11

INTRODUCTION

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This trend positions the country in a non-precedent situation for utilizing tourism as the main way of triggering active heritage preservation. Taking into account the existing economic activities of the communities but also crossing them with new touristic programs. In this sense Koolhaas says that “from a largely cultural concern, preservation has become a political issue, and heritage a right – and like all rights, susceptible to political correctness. Bestowing an aura of authenticity and loving care, preservation can trigger massive surges in development. In many cases, the past becomes the only plan for the future…”1 In other words, the actual situation of some heritage sites could be an opportunity for a new and unexplored way of development.

Active preservation represents a relational model more than a restrictive one, where the urban development can be part of its strategy. Unlike traditional paradigms, considering heritage an untouchable element, this approach allows a deeper interaction of society with its heritage. If not is fair to say that focuses exactly in what is necessary to preserve that is this interaction and not the object itself. At the same time, working together with programmatic issues, it forces to deal with a multi-layer scheme in which landscape plays a unifier role. Landscape gets loaded of program and becomes the platform for development. It is able to perform as a strategic element, flexible enough to ensure protection while buffering specific areas, and generating the groundwork for infrastructure and development. Under the same logic, these frameworks are embedded with touristic program. Allocating most of the required facilities for the tourism to occur in areas that without any strategy could be unthinkable to develop. Through the process, this “landscape infrastructure” that somehow defines the interaction of tourist with the heritage, will also set the base platform for urban development.

Forgetting about the object of preservation as an element, and understanding that what needs to be preserved is the interactions and relations with society, permits urban development to happen in areas that by its proximity with the heritage was impossible to be thought before. This kind of development is not anymore a simple urban growth but one of the elements of the active preservation since workers, commercial areas, and accommodation are required in order to enhancing the touristic activities related with the heritage site. In this sense, the existing economic activities will define the character and the logics of urban interaction within these new spaces. The issues of spread limit are driven not by the development pressure but by the framework set by infrastructure. Allowing on the one hand to control the urban growth, and on the other, to ensure proper access to public facilities to inhabitants.

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In 2012 an interesting proposal was developed by Weiss/Manfredi + OLIN for the Washington Monument Grounds. The project considers several facilities merged into the landscape. In this way the economic activities necessaries for the touristic activities were taken into account and are part of the proposal from its conception.

As they described, the project “sculpt the ground plan and restore the existing tree canopy to create a new performance landscape that can accommodate a wide variety of events, while permeating the site with critical visitor amenities.”15 Another relevant example of this approach can be seen in the 2005 proposal for the Giant’s Causeway Visitor’s Centre, designed by Heneghan Peng Architects.

It comprises “a landscape of cliffs formed by hexagonal basalt stones, agricultural landscapes and cliffside walks. Utilising the large difference in level across the site, two folds are created in the landscape. One, extending the line of the ridge, accommodates the building. The second, extending the level of the road, screens the car park from view.”16 The strategic management of landscape is evident. As a buffer element, as infrastructure generator for facilities, but beyond any specific tactics, as an integrator medium. Reaffirming this idea of the relationship between buildings and landscape, Heneghan Peng adds: “There is no longer a building and landscape but building becomes landscape and the landscape itself remains spectacular and iconic.”16

Heritage Site

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hangping is located around 40 km to the northwest from Beijing. On the way of one of the main entrance to the Great Wall, the district comprises an area of 1,430 km2 and a population over the 600,000 people.

Within its territory are the thirteen Ming Dynasty Tombs, as well as the Spirits Way. Two heritage sites visited for million of tourists every year. The Ming Tombs were built from 1409 and 1644. This defines the character of the study area and determines the strategy of intervention. 1 The current city fabric of Changping is growing to the north direction reaching some nearly areas of the heritage sites, setting the question about if it is possible for urban development to happen into this protected areas.

Historical heritage was the reason for all this urban area to be developed. At the beginning as the sacred meaning of the tombs for the emperors, and nowadays as the prominent touristic attractions that comprises the thirteen Ming Dinasty tombs and the Spirits Way. The control proposed by the international institutions in order to protect this area is based on a restrictive (passive) approach that defines a boundary that cannot be touched and some areas of “controlled development�. This kind of approach has demonstrated to be non-practical and that not take into account the existing urban life of the place. The proposal seeks for an active protection of the area, defining the way that the site can work as a whole balanced system, without voids that allows developer’s hunger to put their eyes on.

Most of the existing villages take advantage of these attractions and base its economy on activities related to the tombs and agriculture.

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Changping

Aerial image of Changping and City of Beijing

Location: Northwest of Bejing, joining point of the Taihang Mountain and Mt. Yanshan.

Geography: It is located in a connection area of plains and mountain. The latter in the northwest, occupy about 59% of the whole area.

Area: 1,344 km

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Population: 829,000 people Administrative Division: 2 Municipal Streets (Chengbei and Chengnan); 15 Towns (Nankou, Machikou, Shahe, Huilongguan, Dongxiaokou, Yangfang Xiaotangshan, Nanshao, Cuicun, Baishan, Beiqijia, Xingshou, Changling, Liucun and Shisanling).

Local Products: Apples and Strawberries.

Acting as the north gate of Beijing, Changping District is one of the most important transportation junctions of the city. National highways, ring roads and light rail transit conveniently connect Changping with its neighbouring cities and counties.

Its science, education, culture civilization and tourism industry are well developed.

Star level hotels, travel agencies, tourist restaurants and shopping sites provide a good tourism environment for visitors. In addition, the qualifying event for the cycling section of the 2008 Olympic Triathlon was held around the Ming Tomb Reservoir.

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The Ming Tombs

Heritage buildings present in Ming Tombs area

The Ming Tombs area a group of mausoleums for thirteen emperors in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), as well as 23 empresses and one concubine. It is the extant imperial mausoleum building complex in China that has the largest scale and the largest number of the imperial mausoleums for emperors and empresses.

The construction of the mausoleum complex, starting in 1409, the seventh year of Emperor Yongle’s reign, lasted over 200 years until the destruction of the Ming Dynasty in 1644, the seventeenth year of Emperor Chongzhen’s reign. Located on a basin in the middle and surrounded by mountains on three sides as well as connected with Beijing Plain in the south, the tombs form a natural portal, with Dragon Hill and Tiger-Crouching Hill standing on both sides of the entrance.

The thirteen mausoleums, of different scales and sizes but same forms, are distributed in the east, north, and west sides, each taking a peak as its background.

The main structure, in turn, are Tomb Gate, Gate of Eminent Favor, Hall of Eminent Favor, Gate on Threshold of Stars, Five Stone Sacrificial Utensils, Soul Tower, and Treasure Town. The Underground Palace is under the Treasure Town. In July of 2003, the Ming Tombs and the Ming Xiaoling Tomb in Nanjing were inscribed into the World Heritage List by UNESCO as the assemblage of the Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing dynasties.12

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Thirteen Tombs The founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang (13281398), declared himself emperor in 1368 in Yingtian (today’s Nanjing). And he was buried in Xiaoling in Nanjing after his death. Xiaoling, located on the southern slopes of Bell Hill, is the tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang and his wife Empress Ma. The construction of Xiaoling was started in 1381, the 14th year of his reign under the title of Hongwu and was completed in 1405, the third year of Yongle’s reign. Constructed against mountain slopes, Xiaoling is a larg-scale architectural complex with imposing buildings, like Shenlie Hill Stele, Restricted Area Stele, Horse-Dismounting Stele, Stone Statues, Great Golden Gate, Square City, Stele of Divine Merit and Sacred Virtue, Hall of Xiaoling, stone bridges, etc. The Soul Tower, was the last layer building, behind which is a mound under a luxuriant growth of pines and cypress trees, beneath which is the vault of Zhu Yuanzhang.

As the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, King of Yan, Zhu Di was a man with distinguished talent in both strategy and war who won the deep favor of the emperor and was appointed to garrison Yanjing (today’s Beijing). In 1398, Zhu Yuanzhang died of illness. The crown prince died before his father did, leaving his son Zhu Yunwen as the heir of the empire. He was known as Emperor Hui (1398 to 1402) and changed the reign title to Jianwen.

Learning that King of Yan, his uncle, planned to come to the capital city Yingtian for the funeral of his grandfather, Emperor Hui issued an imperial edict preventing him, and, scheming with his favourites such as Qi Tai, tried to deprive Zhu Di’s title as well as his military and political power over Yanjing.

In July 1399, Zhu Di, under the signboard of punishing such sycophants as Qi Tai, dispatched troops southwards, and occupied Yingtian in 1402, killing Qi Tai but losing Emperor Hui. Thus there was no tomb for Emperor Hui. Old Plan of Ming Tombs area Source: Unknown

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Worship Processsion to the Ming Tombs

From ancient times, the procession to the Ming Dynasty Tombs has been a tradition for the communities not only of Beijing but from the whole country. This visits remain until today and the area receives thousands of Chinese tourists on a daily basis who get to the zone wether for religion, educational, or leisure reasons.

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“Detail of a silk scroll, The Emperor’s Approach, showing the luxury in which the emperor Xuande travelled. Elephants were kept in the imperial elephant stables until around 1900 and were often used for ceremonial occasions, such as the emperor’s visits to the Temple of Heaven. Here, however, the large number of horsemen accompanying the emperor’s carriage suggests that the emperor was on a much longer journey in the countryside.” 14

“Departure Herald”, 26 m (85 ft) in length, from the Jiajing reign period (1522-1566 AD); the painting shows the emperor’s large procession heading towards the imperial tombs of the Ming emperors.

Source: National Palace Museum

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Heritage Preservation

Each mausoleum of the Ming Tombs has a Sacred Way with monumental statuaries at the mausoleum’s front. Among them, the seven-kilometer-long Sacred Way of Changling Tomb is the longest. The Sacred Ways of other mausoleums are branched from it. On this Sacred Way, there were the most types and the largest number of facilities for ceremonies, indicating respected position and great momentum of Changling Tomb. The main structures include Stone Memorial Archway, Great Palace Gate, Stele Pavilion of Merit and Virtue, Marble Ornamental Columns, watching poles, stone statues, and Gate on the Threshold of Stars.

The five-bay-wide Stone Memorial Archway is the largest one extant in China. The Great Palace Gate, square pavilion with a double-eaved roof, and has entrances on four sides and houses a marble table inscribed “Stele of Divine Merit and Sacred Virtue, Changling, Great Ming”.

Map of the protection scope of the Ming Tombs and the construction control area Source: UNESCO

On both sides of the pavilion are arranged by a group of stone sculptures with a total of 24 stone animals and 12 stone statues, all of which are carved out of one single block of stone. The 24 animals are of six categories - lions, xiezhi, camels, elephants, kylin, and horses. 12 on each side.

The 12 standing statues are four military officers, four civil officials and four ministers of merit. The Gate on the Threshold of Stars, also called Dragon and Phoenix Gate, is the memorial archway structure of three doors and six pillars, with the upper part of pillars decorated with patterns of clouds and legendary animals.

Map of the Protective zone of the Xianling Tomb of the Ming Dynasty Source: Blue Study

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Existing Changping Village and Vilas Source: Google Earth

The existing road network is limited to connect the tombs to the city of Changping and some other highlighted attractions like the Spirits Way, or the Reservoir, zone that hosted some activities for the past Beijing Olympic Games.

Even though the zone is considered under protection and declared a “construction control area�, there are several urban developments present in the site. Some of them correspond to ancient villages which are located nearby the tombs and were generated at the time with the construction of the mausoleums. This villages has a very condensed density in terms of urban fabric and they insert in the landscape in a compact and respectful way.

On the other hand, there are the development of enclosed vilas in some areas with a high visual value. These typologies are dissociated from any urban growth present in the area, and do not interact with the surrounding in any form since they are completely gated.

Existing road network to the Ming Tombs Source: Blue Study

HERITAGE ACTIVATION

It becomes imperative to establish a dialogue between these urban realities.

Defining the framework for they to interact and allowing the urban growth to happen in a controlled way but more important, improving the conditions for tourism while ensuring protection to the existing heritage areas.

Active Preservation

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he problematic is mainly driven by the heritage and how urban development could happen in this unique circumstances. Understanding that we are in a heritage site and all its implications in terms of the balance between its preservation and the interaction with it will define the strategy of design.

At the same time, our approach of an “Active Heritage Preservation� push us to consider different logics of the site - environmental cycles, touristic routes, inhabitants activities, agricultural process, etc - and make them interact under the same framework, while allowing an effective protection of the tombs and heritage sites present in the area.

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Existing Masterplan

Master Plan Changping

Source: Chinese Gobernment

The protection area of the Ming Tombs is represented in the current Masterplan for the district only as an enormous green area, without showing any specific way of interaction of the area with its surroundings.

Some of the existing developments in the zone are shown on the plan, nevertheless they have not influence on the rest of the planning. And there is not a clear position on how to control its possible expansion.

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Existing Condition

Villages

Great Wall

Agricultural Fields

Ming Tombs

Reservoir

Spirits Way

The area features give it an enormous potential as touristic zone, not only because of the heritage, but also the natural and leisure related activities. These activities were mapped considering two approaches to them, from the tourists, and from the local residents.

HERITAGE ACTIVATION

The Reservoir, Agricultural Fields, and activities associated with the villages are the local scale features, while The Great Wall, Ming Tombs, and Spirits Way, have a national - and international - relevance, being the main touristic attractions of Changping at regional scale.

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Traditional Preservation In order to explore a different way of development and preservation, the main understanding of preservation were studied. The evident contrast between traditional preservation and the Active Preservation is clearly defined by Herbert in 1995, and it becomes the conceptual base for the proposal.

Traditional Preservation

Active Preservation

“... that which a past generation has preserved and handed on to the present and which a significant group of population wishes to hand on to the future.”

“Heritage places include historic buildings or monuments which bear the distinctive imprint of human history. Their interest may derive from architecture or design, from historical significance, or from a combination of these attributes.

Heritage places are linked with people, events, activities and, in a wider sense, with cultures, societies and economies.”

National Heritage Conference UK, 1983

Herbert, 1995

Rio di San Barnaba, Dorsoduro, Venice, Italy Source: Flickr © MorBCN

Plaça de la Vila de Madrid, Barcelona, Spain Source: Flickr © Francesc_2000

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Strategy

Existing Situation The current relationship with the heritage and population on the site is defined by tourism. Inhabitants from the villages go to work to the tombs or generated services associated with it. A second main activity is agriculture that is dissociated from the heritage and tourism, with exception of the celebration of the “Apple Festival� during one week of the year.

Travelling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past.

It includes a wide variety of activities, including buying produce direct from a farm stand, navigating a corn maze, picking fruit, feeding animals, or staying on a farm.

Proposal The proposal seeks to move tourism to a key location, taking advantage of the heritage, while generating new types of tourism related with agriculture. This approach ensure economic feasibility of the project and allows inhabitants to work in jobs where they have specialized during decades, such as crops production.

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Tourism Context China was closed to foreign tourism between 1949 and 1974 during the rule of Mao Zedong. Deng Xiaoping decided to develop China’s tourism in the late 1970’s as a way of earning foreign exchange. In 2000 they were ranked in the “World Cultural Heritage List”. In July 2003, the Ming Thirteen Mausoleums and Ming Xiaoling Mausoleums were put into the “World Heritage List” as a part of the imperial mausoleums of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. On July 1st, 2004, the Three Mausoleums in Shengjing were listed in the world cultural heritages as the expanded items of the Imperial Tombs of Ming and Qing Dynasties.

In 2010, China ranked as the world’s third leading travel destination (with 55.98 million visitors)—behind only France (78.95 million) and the U.S. (60.88 million).

China will be the world’s leading travel destination around 2016-2018.11 Looking closer to the incomes related with tourism, we can realized over 80% comes from accomodation. Then if we want to develop the tourism, the most efective way - under an economic activity point of view - is through the generation of new accomodation.

The data of tourism in the study area show us that only 32% percent of tourists stay overnight. This means an opportunity since there are over 60% of tourists visiting the area that could become possible costumers for staying within the zone.

To understand the types of hotel presents in Chinese tourism system, we took a look on the distribution depending on the class - Non rated, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 stars . In this way, we can estimate the actual demand on our site.

Chinese Contemporary Tourism Timeline

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Scale comparison and number of hotels for the area

The figure below shows the comparison between the different surfaces according to the range of 5 to 1 star hotels. It also shows the amount of them needed on the site in order to cover the trend demand of Chinese tourism.

After calculating the number of hotels required within the study area, we set the approximated area that each of them need to be developed, depending on the facilities associated with their types.

Table of Hotels Types and Facilities Requirements

The basic hostels only need space for accommodation, while as they category increases more facilities are required, such as swimming pool, conference room, spa, outdoor sports facilities, etc.

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Existing Touristic Attractions

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Proposed Touristic Loops

As mentioned previously, the mayor income of tourism comes from accommodation.

That is why the first strategy aims to generate enough touristic attractions in terms of number and diversity, to encourage tourists to stay in the site.

The existing attractions were considered as a starting point, and a kind of conceptual circuit was established between them. Several loops are attached to this main circuit, which will comprise facilities for different kind of tourism.

HERITAGE ACTIVATION

Through this methodology it is clear to understand where a strategic project is needed in order to complement the “loop” with the missing kind of tourism (agriculture, nature, sports, commercial). The projects developed will function in a synergic way since they are thought within a system to potentiate the tourist routes (“loops”) and not an specific attraction.

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Active Heritage Preservation

“Tourism can, and does, influence the heritage agenda because of the ongoing significant inter-relationship between ‘culture’ and ‘tourism’ to the point that, in contemporary societies, ‘culture’, ‘society’ and ‘tourism’ are not discrete entities but are totally fused” Rojek and Urry, 1997 HERITAGE ACTIVATION

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Framework

U

rban growth is a dynamic process which means many challenges and changes are still unknown by now. In order to create a dynamic framework for future development with a clear organization as well as enough flexibility, we take the ecological system and transportation possibilities as the most important factors which will influence future development.

This dynamic framework provides opportunities for combining and connecting urban with nature, tourism with local life, and existing villages with future urban development. To set this base framework the exising natural and urban systems were studies in order to get the data that will define design rules for this structure.

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Site Analysis The existing structure is driven by passed through traffic which dose not provide a clear organization inside the territory. Existing villages were developed fragmentally based on the adjacency to tombs, roads, as well as to the natural elements as lake, mountain and river. Instead of demolishing most of existing villages to form a totally new organization, we take them as a starting point for new urban development.

Our proposal of new development framework is aimed at building possible connections among all existing elements inside territory, tombs, villages, parks, entrances and natural resorts, and responding to the environmental issue of water scarcity, as well as the social issue of imbalanced development. In order to achieve this goal, we start a bottom-up reading of the territory.

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Existing Road System for Villages and Tombs

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Existing roads connecting tombs

Important infrastructure proposed connections

nodes

and

The proposal starts with a dynamic framework connecting the important exiting entrances or intersections of infrastructure with villages. This framework respects existing territory and guarantees a free and equitable movement of tourists, residents and goods.

Possible connections

Existing waterways

Natural water runoff

Based on the indexing of the water sources, exiting waterways and natural water runoff, a water system was generated, connecting mountain, urban area, agriculture fields and river, the system will collect water from mountain and wetlands, transporting it to the lower zones of the area for irrigation.

Water Structure

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North Entrance

Existing Center

West Entrance

Park

South west Entrance Park

Main Axis Entrance

Main Entrance Node

South Entrance

Main Road Main Water Course Possible Connection

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Branching System

Branching System applied into one pocket

Continuity between several pockets

In order to generate a balanced touristic development, which will benefit tourists as well as local residents, urban development and ecological system, an urban development framework was generated based on the transport and water structure. This framework is not driven by developer’s need for profits, or by fixed functional division which has less flexibility for future development. The framework is driven by a balanced water consumption system between urban, agriculture, wetland and forest. It collects the wasterwater from urban area, transport them by gravity to wetland for purification, and then use this purified water for irrigation.

This framework can form a close relationship between urban and natural areas, and helps to reshape the water cycle system for the whole territory. The process of urbanization is not seen as a merely occupation in natural area, but as an opportunity to re-establish the relationship between the urban life and the natural environment.

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The wastewater from urban area will be collected and purified by wetland based on the water consumption quantity and water purification quantity obtained by the proportion of urban area and wetland.

Wastewater and remediation area calculation

Purified water from wetlands will be used for irrigating agriculture fields. Forest happens when there is no enough water for irrigation and performs as rain water collection.

Land use proportions calculation

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Process of Urbanization

The infrastructure system will be built first to provide a structure for future development. Existing villages become the starting points for the whole infrastructure system.

Main road, secondary road system will connect all villages with important existing infrastructure nodes. In order to avoid huge urban area which would separate people from natural area, the proposal limits the width of urban area to the 10 minutes walking distance. From the low points of urban area, wetland system will be built to purify the wastewater produced by urban zones. Purified water will be distributed by gravity to irrigate farming fields at lower parts. In the area between the urban plots and the agriculture plots, where there is no enough water for irrigation, forest will be grow to collect water. In this way, green space and urban space are interconnected with each other.

The role of forests and wetlands in the process of urbanisation is multiple, besides purifying and collecting water, they also perform as an attractive place for people to meet, a boundary which limits the urban growth and a connective system providing a continuous and diverse landscape.

Existing village as start point of new urbanization.

Main roads connect all existing villages.

Secondary roads grow based on main roads and existing villages.

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Water movements management

From the low points of each piece of urban area waste water is transported to wetlands for purification.

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Green space distribution

Main waterways infrastructure.

connect

the

main

water

Secondary waterways connect the main waterways and the main water infrastructure.

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Secondary waterways

Waterways for open space Main waterways

Waterwater waterways and ponds

Secondary roads

Roads for urban area Main roads

Main structure and existing villages Main structure and existing villages

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Main Structure Layers

The landscape network creates a major framework for future development. Urban area and green space are overlapped and interconnected based on the ecological logic. In fact, this will generate a close relationship between urban and nature, guaranteeing a balanced development in future Changping.

The design for the main structure incorporates a number of essential layers: road, waterways, river, agriculture, forest, wetland and urban. These layers are combined to produce a structure that is dynamic, flexible, functional and sustainable .

All connections

Main structure and existing villages

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Main Structure Layers

Main Framework

Urban Areas

The infrastructure framework is defined by the influence of topographic conditions, the existing tombs, villages, and the water traces presents on the site. A first hierarchy of branches runs downstream and a secondary in the opposite direction distributing the water within the “pockets� generated.

The urban growth starts from the existing villages and continues utilizing the framework as the base of its expansion. Urban areas are located in the upper parts of the terrain thus water can be collected and treated downstream in the wetlands and re-utilized for agriculture.

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43

Wetlands

Agricultural Fields

The area for wetlands was estimated in about a 25% of the urban area, considering the wastewater generation of an average density. This wetlands are located adjacent to the urban areas, allowing the possibility of taking advantage as a natural feature.

Agricultural Fields are the last area of the main framework, they will utilize the water remediated in the wetlands and area associated to the existing economic activities on the site. The calculation of the surface takes into account the amount of purified water coming from the wetlands.

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The area has rich topography with several pieces of mountains and seperate villages. The landscape structure creates continuous and diverse open space formed by wetland, forest and agriculture, connecting existing villages, new urban area with mountains. The Spirits way is an area which featured by a main axis and a park nearby the lake. The landscape structure creates diverse connections between these two main elements.

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45

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Infrastructural Landscape

P

roposing new urban development in this sensitive historical area needs to consider complex systems of flow, movement and exchange, which should not destroy existing beautiful environment and views, but adding new exciting and attracting features to them. In order to achieve this goal, infrastructure plays a crucial role in organising and managing these complex systems, and improving people’s experience in the area.

The proposal integrates roads system, water system, cut and fill technic, services facilities into an interconnected way, responding to the urban development processes. This multi-layered infrastructure system will play a recreational and aesthetic role as well as practical function, creating a new landscape and establishing identities for the site.

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Tourists Distribution Tourism will be the main driven force for the future development in Changping. It is expected that the amount of tourists will increase 10% per year in the next 10 years based on the local tourism-increasing trend. Which means by 2022, Changping will attract 5,016,297 tourists per year.

Depending on the tourists flow analysis, the number of tourists was distributed within the territory. These tourists need certain amount of residents and facilities to support their staying. A series of clusters will be formed based on this tourists distribution. Inside each cluster, there is a balanced development among tourists, residents and facilities.

The tourists distribution was studied identifying the percentage of them that goes to different kind of attractions: Historical, Agricultural, Sports, and Natural. This provided the data to generate an index of the distribution over the territory and consider all the implications that this could mean.

Tourists Distribution Diagram showing the percentage of tourist respect with the entire amount depending on the type of touristic attraction.

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Public Transportation The integrated mobility network is a system of overlapping scales and modes of transportation. From a variety of buses, electric cars and biking trails, the transportation system offers tourists and residents a variety of options.

Based on tourists flow analysis, several transfer centers are proposed, and set the site into vehicle control area and vehicle free area. All buses and coaches from outside transfer at the main entrance to local bus system. There are two bus loops connecting the vehicle control area and vehicle free area. Private cars are only allowed in the vehicle free area, before entering the vehicle control area, private cars will have to transfer to electric cars at the transfer center between two areas.

Transportation Organization Diagram showing the distribution and the kinds of transportation in different loops generating pockets where cars are not allowed.

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Touristic Flows

Touristic flows on the study area and touristic attractions

To develop more in detail the strategy, a more specific area was chosen. This area comprises most of the relevant features that are considered in the proposal.

Different programs were placed according to the previous studies touristic clusters routes.

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The touristic flows were mapped to understand how the route loops behave at the next scale. In this sense, the flows are defined by the two main access, while concentrating in the central area where the Cultural Center is located, becoming a kind of touristic hub for the area.

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Main Road System

Main Roads Secondary Roads Pedestrian Ways Roads of Existing Villages Waterways

The basic network of main roads, secondary roads water ways and pedestrian ways guarantee a continuous flow of tourists, residents as well as water inside the area.

This network provides the possibility of combining urban and nature, tourism and local life, existing and future developments.

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55

Transportation System Attractions Main Bus Loop Station Secondary Bus Line Station Cycling Station Transfer Center (Electric car Renting Place)

Main Bus Loop Secondary Bus Line Cycling Line

With an overlapping network of bus lines, cycling lines and pedestrian lines, a residence can ride a bike to the bus stop, park it at a local transfer station, and take the bus to work.

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A tourist can come by bus, rent an electric car at the transfer station nearby bus station, after visiting several resorts, he can park the car at another transfer place, then take a bike at bike station and ride into the mountain following cycling lines.

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Infrastructural Landscape Possible Entrances of Plots

Roads for Facilities

Public Area

Public Area

Semi-public Area

Semi-public Area

Green Area

Green Area

Possible entrances into the plots are defined by the distance from the nearest intersection of roads system. Distance is changing based on the hierarchy of roads at intersections.

Internal roads that provide accessibility for service facilities are created based on these possible entrances, forming a continuous and smooth connection among them. The area and location of facilities are defined by the programs within the plots.

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57

Wetland and Landforms

Multiple Networks

Public Area

Public Area

Semi-public Area

Semi-public Area

Green Area

Green Area

The groundwork of wetland (cut) and landform (fill) also happens related to these possible entrances. Their boundaries are defined by internal roads connecting different entrances.

Facility, wetland and hill will corporate together to form a continuous and diverse infrastructure landscape. They will shape the main identity of the community.

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Touristic Facilities

Attractions Touristic Service Facility Cultural Facility Commercial Center Hotel

Based on the tourists flow and distribution proposal, the location for four types of facilities was chosen: Hotel, Cultural Center, Touristic Services and Commercial Center. Most tourism related facilities, such as hotels, tourist information center, restaurants, museums are placed within 10 minutes walking distance from tombs. Commercial centers are distributed evenly to provide convenient service for tourists as well as residents. Two biggest tombs attract large commercial centers and hotels to be built surrounding them. All these facilities become part of the infrastructure incorporating wetlands and landforms. They connect green space into a vividly network, and play an active role in stimulating future developments.

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Facility area Wetlands Hills Waterways

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Wetlands System

The wetland system provides an essential ecological network for the site. The site is divided into several drainage areas, from the calculation of the amount of the waste water produced by urban area, is possible to figure out the area of wetland each drainage area needs for purification.

Inside each drainage area, several low points along road system are selected for building wetlands. Nearby each piece of wetlands, there is one piece of small hill to balance the earth work.

These two elements provide an interesting and continuous landscape along roads system. They play a functional, recreational, and aesthetic role for the city.

Location and amount of Wetlands Waterways

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Main Roads Secondary Roads Wetlands Landforms Waterways

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Protective Landscape

The surroundings of the tombs are deeply influenced by these ancient structures. A series of landforms are generated in order to isolate visually the tombs, while allowing activities to happen really nearby them. Some of these landforms are embedded with infrastructure and contain touristic in the opposite side to the tombs.

Forest is also utilized as an strategic element, it can limit the access and also buffer the noise produced by urban areas or highway traffic.

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Forests Waterways

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Layers of System

Protective System

Forest

Waterways

Landforms Wetland System Wetlands

Pedestrain Cycling System Public Transportation System

Secondary Bus System Parking Lots Main Bus Loop System

Service Facilities System Facilities

Main Roads

Framework

Exiting Villages and Tombs

Secondary Roads

Tomb

Exiting Village

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Plots Subdivision

The first step of the urban development is to modify the plot into several terraces considering both the existing topography and the direction of sun.

Based on the terraces and their relationships with facilities, future urban development acquires diverse fabrication, such as enclosed block, semi-enclosed block, linear block and mixed block. And depending on the programs, the new development can merge with the infrastructure totally, semi-merge with them, or only connect with infrastructure by certain points.

Public Area

Semi-Public Area

Green Area

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North-South Streets

West-East Streets

Enclosed Fabric semi-merge with facilities

Semi-Enclosed Fabric merge with facilities

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Enclosed Fabric

North-South Streets

semi-merge with facilities

West-East Streets

connect facility by points

Linear Fabric

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Landscape Framework

Hotel

Commercial center

Touristic facilities

Touristic facilities

Touristic facilities

Commercial center

Touristic facilities

This area is located nearby one of the biggest tomb which has a large amount tourists during the year. A hotel is placed on the upper part where has nice view, a commercial center in placed on the lower part where nearby main road and bus loop. Facilities and green system are intervened with each other and form a multifunctional infrastructure system.

Cultural center Touristic facilities

Hotel

Museum Touristic facilities

Transportation transfer center

Transportation transfer center

Commercial center

Commercial center

Touristic facilities

This area is located nearby another biggest tomb. A hotel, cultural center and a museum are proposed inside this area. The infrastructure system combines commercial center, transportation transfer center, and tourism service facilities.

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Infrastructural Landscape

Type A In the area surrounding tombs, touristic facilities merge into the ground forming a continuous surface for people’s activities.

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Type A: Driven by Tourism

Infrastructure system performs as a spatial organization responding to the programs and topography. Three types of infrastructure were generated in the site.

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Infrastructural Landscape

Type B In the transportation transfer area, infrastructure system combines parking plot, tourism facility, market, bus stations into a connective integrity. The roof of buildings is flexible for diverse activities.

Type C In the area where needs a large amount of facilities, infrastructure system combines commercial center, parking plot, touristic facility together, forming a hybrid landscape.

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Type B: Driven by Transportation

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Type C: Driven by Commercial Center

5

Productive Landscape

A

griculture has always been one of the main economic activities for the local residents. The proposal seeks to find a balanced way of urban growth where the availability of plots is based not only on the land value but in the relationship between the natural scape and the urban scape and how the former is able to supply the basic resources to the new neighbourhoods.

The strategy utilized to structure the whole proposal is the water system since it is the basic element needed for any human development and its scarcity in the region will become and it is already an important issue. Within this system two different sources can be recognized, one from the natural system through mountains (clean fresh water), and other one from the urban system, through the water used by industry and domestic activities (waste water). Water collected from the natural source can be distributed to agricultural fields for farming and any other use, while water communicates flushing, industrial cooling, or any other possible demand.

Agricultural Fields plays not only a food production role, but also become part of the touristic program for the site.

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Terrain Analysis

The existing conditions of the terrain were studied and indexed in order to generate a structure for agricultural fields that responds to the topography, connectivity, water system, and wetlands.

Water framework will set the base for these agricultural patches, while topography will determine the kind of terrace that is possible to build. Wetlands provides the water for irrigation that has been remediated previously from the urban areas.

Slope Analysis

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Road System

Agricultural Patches

Water System

Wetlands

The terraces for the irrigation system are generated in a way that allows two different kind of crops. Main terraces in the middle can allocate fruit trees that require irrigation on a weekly basis, while small plants that required daily irrigation can be cultivated in the smaller terraces, with more proximity to the water source.

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Agriculture Strategy

Touristic Attraction

The strategy for the Productive Landscape is based on the different benefits that can be obtained from it. In these terms, Agriculture is understood as a touristic element, as well as a local job opportunity, and an industrialized way of food production.

Restaurant, Shops, and Commercial Area Food Market Forest

The common factor between these approaches of Agriculture is the functioning system. It is a basic cycle that starts taking the water from the urban areas, treating it in the wetlands for later being storage and distributed for irrigation on agricultural fields.

Agriculture as Tourism

On the other hand, programmatically, different activities can take place in the steps described previously, depending on the type of adjacency.

Agriculture as Local Job Opportunity

Agriculture as Food Production

Urban Area Water Treatment Water Storage Agriculture

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79 Rainwater

Balance System Urban Area Buffer zone

Gray water

Wetland

Forest

Agriculture

Wet Meadow

Gray water

Shallow Marsh

Deep Marsh Wet Meadow Cleansed water Shallow Marsh

Open Water

Deep Marsh

Open Water

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Groundwork Technic

Cut and fill technic was explored to developed agricultural terraces in the different slopes conditions of the site.

The first logic considers the earth movement within the same area, while a second options considers the interaction with the next plot.

Diversity of terraces allows diversity of crops and adaptability to the several locations of the agricultural fields.

Cut and fill in the same countour level

Cut and fill in the different countour level

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Terracing

20%

Pond and Landform

swale service road

15%

Wetland

swale

service road

10%

Agricultural Terraces (Large Trees)

swale

service road

5%

Agricultural Terraces (Small Trees)

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service road

swale

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Irrigation System

The irrigation system is based on a branching depending on the slope. Three ranges were established - from 0% to 10%, 10% to 20% and 20% to 30% - in order to set the rules for ensuring the movement of the water by gravity. The system considers two kinds of branching, a simple and a double one, this allows to have more options considering the different topographical conditions on the site.

There are two main areas of irrigation, considering the frequency of irrigation required for different spaces, as well as the spacing for planting and circulation.

In this way, big terraces for Fruit Trees are located in the central areas, further from the main canal because they do not need that frequent irrigation, while smaller terraces area nearby the main canal since they required a daily irrigation.

The system considers a hierarchy of canals for water distribution, and a circulation system that works in the opposite direction. This circulation system, allows cars to access to the large terraces, while only pedestrian to the smaller ones.

10%

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83 20%

30%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Irrigation Branching

Circulation Paths

Crops Separation

Daily Irrigation

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Weekly Irrigation

Circulation Paths

Main Canal

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Terraces Layout After different terraces were generated as explained previously, the possibilities for crops arrangement were explored. Depending on the kind of agriculture Industrial, Commercial, Touristic, or as a Community Garden - the different terraces layout work configuring several crops patterns.

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Terraces Structure

Water System Service Roads

Roads System

Service Walkways Overall Structure

Irrigation System

Agricultural Terraces

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Crops Distribution

Grapefruits

Strawberries

Apricots

Peaches

Cherries

Grapes

Pears

Dates

Apple

Guavas

The selection of crops for the agricultural fields was done in relation with the requirements of every specific species able to be cultivated on the site. After knowing the species and its features, the harvesting information was crossed with a time table on a yearly basis. In this way we can identify where crops are being produced at different moments of the year.

Depending on the slope and the type of terrace, the different kind of crops were distributed on site as shown in the plan view. This information is the base for knowing how the Agrotourism industry is going to work and take advantage of the agricultural fields.

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The crops distribution on the site according to the species selection and season of harvesting.

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Productive Landscape

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6

Urban Landscape

U

rban development is an integral part of the whole network considering ecological, social, tourism and heritage related issues. The location, scale and typologies of buildings are driven by comprehensive influence of topography, touristic activities, infrastructure system, productive landscape, and goods transportation. Instead of isolated urban plots, in the proposal, buildings are intertwined with other factors as agriculture, forest, landform and wetlands, transforming this sensitive historical area into a diverse and vividly social community. During this dynamic urbanization process, both tourists and residents, urban life and natural environment can take benefits.

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Urban Strategy

The Urban Strategy considers the two different source of users, Local Residents and Tourists. Understanding this, the users are associated with the main activities and these with the facilities needed by that program. Other two factors that define the location of this urban elements are the accessibility and the adjacency between them and other urban features.

Existing Condition

Accessibility

The site information was indexed, considering the existing condition (Tombs and Villages), the Accessibility and the Land Use established previously. These information will be crucial to understand the type, scale and location of the future urban development on the site.

Land Use

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Influences

Topography

Tombs

Villages

High Density

Middle Density

Low Density

Non-Development

The first influence considered is the topography. Thus a slope analysis was done and the steepest areas over 15% defines the limit for urban growth to happen. The main touristic attraction and the most important buildings of the heritage sites are the tombs. Its location was also considered for not only limiting the urban growth but also to generate buffer zones, and defining accesses routes. The existing villages have been present in the site for hundreds of years and form part, together with the tombs, of the cultural heritage of the place. It was relevant to set its influence in terms of distance for new urban growths, but also for defining the interaction of these new urban areas with them.

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Possible Touristic Activities

Crossing the previous information about the crops seasons, different activities were proposed in order to ensure touristic movement all along the year. This will provide the base data for touristic facilities required for these activities to take place.

The scale of the public infrastructure for these activities was estimated according to the Chinese regulations standards. In this way it is possible to understand the area required and the relationships with the rest of the elements of the proposal.

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Possible Touristic Facilities Location

Taking into account the previous data, ten possible locations for Touristic Facilities were studied. All of them have an specific character defined by the location and adjacency. Programmatically, the land use and previous existing attractions determine the functions of each of these infrastructure.

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The program for the ten options comprises Winter and Summer Crops Tourism, Agricultural Center, Food Market, Cultural Hall Center, Library, Tourism Information Center, and Restaurants.

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Possible Hotels Location

3

Hotels location is defined by three main factors: topography, proximity and relationship with the tombs, and views. According to this, eight different possible location were studied, identifying the kind of influence of these three factors, and setting four main types of character.

1 2

4

These different influences will determine the character of each hotel, depending on the location for it. Taking advantage of the unique features of each site.

Possible Locations and Influence Summary

Topography

Tombs

Views

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Urban Growth Strategy Taking hotels as the starting point that will trigger the urban growth, the relationships of these with the rest of urban elements were studied.

1

Four different typologies were generated, based on the main character of the hotel, driven by the Tombs, Agriculture, Hiking and Natural Activities, and Forest and Natural Landscape.

From these options, the one related with the tombs was developed more deeply in order to understand all the implications and to deploy the urban morphology for the active preservation.

2

3

4

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Urban Growth on Site The logic of urban growth considers the hotel as starting point, since it is able to trigger a diversity of economic activities associated. Other influences for the urban area are the existing attractions and new touristic facilities, such as the Ancient History Center which irrigates its character to the surroundings, with a Library, and Museum. Agriculture fields also is closely connected with the touristic program, interacting through the Food Market, and the restaurants proposed around the Cultural Center and the Hotel.

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Typologies

Different typologies are related with its program and at the same time with the proximity to touristic attractions. The largest buildings attract tourists and all related activities, such as stores, restaurants, etc. These facilities are considered the starting point of the urban growth and are followed by infrastructural buildings.

Infrastructure is not considered as an isolated system but it embeds the facilities necessaries for the adjacent urban areas, while generating a framework, related with the visual control. Playing a protective role for the heritage sites. This buildings are merged with landscape, and are the physical effect of what we defined as “infrastructural landscape”.

Mixed-use buildings that have a scale enough to accommodate commercial program in the ground level, while allowing residents to live on the upper floors.

This second typology is associated with good connectivity and access to open green spaces.

In the next step, smaller buildings make the urban fabric denser and more interesting for tourists to walk around, generating a “Soho” area defined by shops in the ground level and flats above. This area is much more pedestrian-driven even though is surrounded by good vehicular access. Some of these buildings can morph according to the specific activities of its surroundings. Like in the case of the Food Market, located nearby agricultural fields. Allowing the space enough for storage and production process of the crops.

Ewha Womans University Campus Center by Dominque Perrault

Stavia Hotel-Spa Proposal by Menomenopiu Architects

Cultural Center Orio by Arredondo, Lizarralde and Artzaetxebarríapiu Architects

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Urban Layers

The landscape strategic manipulation allows urban development to occur in the proximity of heritage site, encouraging its interaction while taking advantage of the economic activities associated with it.

The components of urban landscape comprise Forest, Agriculture, Landforms Wetlands, Green Areas, all of these merged with the Touristic Infrastructure, Public Facilities, Open Spaces system and Residential Buildings. The limits between different zones are blurred and most of the time they overlap each other, interacting not only in a physical but also programmatic way.

Forest

Agriculture

Landforms

Wetlands

Green Areas

Forest is utilized mainly as a buffer, protecting the surroundings of the tombs but also working as a limit for urban growth and recreational space.

Agricultural terraces surround the urban development in their several typologies. Some patches goes into the urban fabric, nearby where a Food Market is generated.

Landforms are a key feature of the urban landscape, they are the result of the ground work for generating the wetlands. Located in strategic positions, they work as buffer and visual isolators.

Wetlands are dug in the required locations, according to the water framework catchment areas. This soil is utilized for generating the landforms.

A system of Green Areas is established all along the urban zone. From small grass patches surrounding the buildings, to large-scale parks comprise a continuous flow of open spaces.

103

Touristic Infrastructure

Open Space

Public Facilities

Middle Scale Mixed Use

Low Density Residential

The main projects comprise the Ancient Chinese History Centre, Museum, and Library. On the other hand, an Hotel located in the limit of the heritage site complete the largescale touristic facilities.

Open Spaces are located mostly in the core of the urban area. This strategic position allows most of population to take advantage of them, while also functioning as recreational space.

Public Facilities buildings are associated with main roads and respond to different kind of services required by population and tourists.

Hybrid buildings accommodate residential housing while allowing commercial and other uses in the ground floor.

Low density responds almost to an imitation of the existing conditions of the villages. The areas nearby the hotel will have a touristic character, working as a kind of Soho neighbourhood.

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Urban Elements

In this specific neighbourhood, the character and working logic is determined by the hotel. The surrounding buildings have commercial activity, taking advantage of the tourists, while a smaller residential housing areas are “hidden� but around the corner, generating a kind of Soho where tourist can find a more typical village experience.

The basic urban elements are interacting in a dynamic way and the boundaries between their functions are blurred. Private and open space are sometimes overlapped, as well as green areas and landforms work as a transition to the natural landscape of the surroundings.

Roads

The road system ensure a good connectivity within the urban area, and also with the rest of the touristic zone of Changping.

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Plots

Buildings

Public Spaces

The plots generated are the starting point for buildings and are defined mainly by the groundwork for wetlands and landforms generation.

The different buildings in terms of scale and configuration are arranged in a gradient way varying according to their adjacency and specific program.

A system of public spaces connects the whole urban area and works as both an open space and a transition from the build environment to natural areas.

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Urban Landscape

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The urban areas recognize the existing villages and highlight the value of its layout in terms of a clear and effective organization of the territory. The limit between the urban and natural areas it is not a boundary but a brand of interaction where people can enjoy and take advantage of the intrinsic benefits of this landscape while understanding the function as part of this as a system for their neighbourhood.

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The different typologies that comprise the urban fabric are interweaving with the adjacent land uses, such as agricultural fields, forest, and wetlands.

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Pedestrian area nearby urban center

Urban wetland and waterways system

Urban park and waterway

Urban forest and agriculture interacting with urban fabric

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Conclusions

T

he benefits of heritage have been usually considered only on a cultural preservation approach, nevertheless nowadays heritage becomes an opportunity for development. The active protection allows inhabitants to work and to develop activities with which they are strongly related, and incorporate their lives as part of the preservation.

The unique features of Changping, such as the outstanding natural spaces, and the powerful cultural heritage convert the zone in an international tourism spot. To take advantage of this situation, does not only mean to get the profits from tourists, but to re-think preservation as a generator process and not as a passive activity. Through the study, it was always clear that the traditional versus between development and preservation should be forgotten and these two issues must dialogue in a much more synergic way.

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Public Transportation

Water Management

Agricultural Tourism

Ground works

CONCLUSIONS

121

Possible Future Studies

Touristic Activities Changping has rich historical and natural resources which can attract people coming here for various purposes.

In order to develop the potential of this area, future studies can try to propose diverse activities during the whole year, avoiding off season, and study the facilities needed to support these activities.

Public Transportation There is no sufficient public transportation system in Changping now, most people come here by private cars.

The increasing tourists will bring a lot of pressure of traffic to Changping if the public transportation is not improved. Future study can propose more transportation options as bus system, public transportation transfer center, electric car system and cycling system, and limit the amount of traffic in this sensitive historical area.

Water Management Water scarcity is a seriously issue in Changping, Future study can try to figure out the existing water sources and built a connective wetland system to purify and reuse wastewater produced by urban area, building a balanced urbanization process in Changping.

Agricultural Tourism Existing agricultural fields in Changping already attract many tourists per year now. But a large proportion of farming land are still producing low-economical crops. Future study can consider more productive and economical crops for Changping, and propose more tourism related agricultural fields.

Ground Works Changping has beautiful topography of mountain and sensitive views around tombs. Ground work can be a critical strategy of proposing new developments and respecting existing views at the same time. Future study can consider how to combine cut and fill process into urban process and integrate with heritage related issues and environmental issues.

Hotel Typology Changping attracts a lot of tourists per year, but only a small amount of tourists stay in Changping over night and this means a huge profit potential for future developments. Future study can focus on proposing diverse hotel typologies related to rich topography and touristic sources of Changing, figuring out how the building of hotels can influence and stimulate new development.

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CONCLUSIONS

123

Landscape becomes a fertile field for new ways of development. Its intrinsic holistic features allow integrating multiple factors into the equation, relocating them all under a same common ground. Heritage preservation seems to be a relevant subject in forthcoming urban and architectural projects.

As mentioned previously, first because of the augment of preserved sites, and secondly because of the enormous increase of urban development. Preservation needs to take a critical position and understand its current role. It is necessary to realize that “just like modernization – of which it is part – preservation was a western invention. But with the waning of western power, it is no longer in the West’s hands. We are no longer the ones that define its values.

The world needs a new system mediating between preservation and development.” 1 Perhaps we are not able to establish a system of active preservation, but at least to propose a different ways of interaction with the landscape. Setting the bases for these new steps to happen.

And to ensure that what we are preserving is not just an inanimate substance but indeed our historical heritage.

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8

Technical Report

T

hree main technical issues were relevant in the development of the project and its construction and development processes were studied. First, and related with the main structure of the proposal, the Terracing technic, and all the implied systems of construction, water storage, and distribution. Second, the Wetlands technic, which complement the water framework and allows a balanced system utilizing the wastewater to provide clean water for agricultural fields irrigation.

And finally, the Transportation system, since the central strategy of the proposal is based on tourism, it becomes a key issue to understand the distribution and features of the different transportation ways.

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Terracing Technic Terraces are used to reduce sheetand-rill erosion and prevent gully development. Terracing reduces sediment pollution to lakes and streams, and traps phosphorus attached to sediment particles.

Terraces may also retain runoff for moisture conservation.

Agriculture terrace in Douro Valley is locate for grape farm

Hotel in Douro Valley uses agriculture terrace for good view

Douro Valley is located in northern Portugal, some distance from the city of Porto. The hills of the valley are covered with terrace fields of vines falling steeply down to the river banks. The scenery of the valley is spectacular with the colours of the land changing throughout the year as the vines mature.

There are three typical terrace cross-section types.

Grassed backslope

Grassed backslope terraces have a farmable frontslope with a 2:1 back slope (2 feet horizontal to every 1 foot of vertical drop).

Downhill slope is seeded to perennial grass.

Narrow base

Narrow base terraces have 2:1 slopes on both the frontslope and backslope. Both front and back slopes are seeded to perennial grasses.

Broad base

Broadbase terraces are flatter looking and are farmed on both slopes. This configuration will require a flatter land slope, normally less than 8 percent.

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overflow control

drainage conduct

Agricultural Terraces Service Walway swale

dike

plow layer

Service Road

subsoil

dike wall

Agricultural Terrace Detail Section

Agriculture terrace structure

Irrigation System Cut and Fill Technique

Service Road

swale

swale

Service Walway

service walkway

service road

Agricultural Terraces Structure

Agricultural Terrace Section

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Wetlands To understand waste water purification processes for applying to Landscape Urbanism projects, some technique should be introduced.

Lagooning is one technique bases on ponds and lakes. Planted beds techniques are based on principle of reed beds. Subsurface disposal is an adapt ation of the principle of wetland. Several techniques coexist and distinguish themselves from one another by the mode of infiltration and circulation of the water: aerial, subsurface, vertical, horizontal or combined.

Natural lagooning

10 m2/ inhabitants. Time spent in the water: 50 to 80 days. As a variant aerated lagooning enables the process to work even in region like Alaska with a temperature of -45° C. Horizontal bed of macrophytes

2-5 m2 / inhabitats. Time spent in the water: 4 days.

Nill maintenance, sigle basin. Small municipalities or post-treatment in purification plants.

Vertical bed of macrophytes

2-5 m2 / inhabitats. Time spent in the water: 4 days.

Alternated percolation system with 2 to 3 stages.

The design guide lines for construction of a wetland comprises of 4 stages in order to find a effective proportion. The next step is to calculate the amount of waste water for wetland area for design proper size of wetland in different area.

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Wastewater was calculated and the wetlands areas correspond to the surface required to purify the volume of each catchment zone. The cleansing process starts with the first step in underground systems nearby the buildings, moving after to the second, third and fourth steps in the space of the wetland.

Water Purification Strategy

Water Purification Diagram

Wastewater and Area Required Calculation

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Transportation

The mobility Infrastructure is a integrating of transportation modes. From walking and biking trail to individual rapid transit and commuter trains.

New urbanization offers residents a variety of transportation modes with the overlapping of network, one can use a bike to bus stop or hub of transportation, park it and change transportation mode such as bus, or train to work.

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Typical Pedestrian Street Sections

Typical Road Street Sections

Low Density Building

Cycle Lane

Commercial Street

One way Road

Two ways Road

Highway

Large-scale Highway Commercial Street

Pedestrian Street

Walkways and street are not only channel of traffic but they is present as the connection of facility serving as a meeting point for urban area.

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