REVITALIZING HISTORIC URBAN QUARTERS THROUGH EVERYDAY URBANISM

HAORUI TIAN

In recent decades, the rehabilitation of old urban areas has been more popular worldwide as many cities aim to present themselves as rich multicultural destinations. Many elements of tangible and intangible history,1 such as planning patterns, historic structures, social networks, lifestyles, and traditional crafts, are preserved in historic districts. These come together to generate a unique arrangement that expresses the city’s identity and collective memory.2 There is an emerging consensus that historic districts can greatly benefit cities.3 However, with the rapid expansion of cities and the ensuing urban transformation, these areas tend to experience severe deterioration. The slow pace of development causes the loss of high- income local residents, which leads to a decline in economic vitality and a general deterioration of their living environment. Located in central city areas and facing mounting real estate pressures, these areas have been the focus of many interventions and formal planning processes in most countries of the world.4 Initially, some initiatives were primarily targeted towards conserving historical landmarks.5 However, urban conservation should not be restricted to preserving physical structures; it should also contribute to the long-term viability of social patterns. Thus, it is important to incorporate everyday urbanism strategies into the planning and design process, to consider how to keep cultural traditions alive and assist citizens in thriving under changing circumstances.

This research deals with examples of urban interventions in the historic districts in China, including the Nantou Old Town in Shenzhen and Tianzifang in Shanghai. I will scrutinize these projects from the lens of everyday urbanism to illustrate how spaces and social networks are intertwined in the production of urban life. When considering upgrading and other interventionist methods, how can the majority of residents effectively participate in the redevelopment process? How can these groups of residents be empowered, and how can community services be supported to meet their basic needs on the one hand while integrating with and enhancing their historic environment on the other? How can residents be protected from the side effects of regeneration? Through the study of the projects, this research discusses everyday urbanism as a possibility to enhance the local communities and the prospect of placing using traditional culture and everyday life as a catalyst for regeneration in historic districts.

Keywords

Historic District, Urban Renewal, Cultural Landscape, Everyday Urbanism, Community

Urbanisms

Everyday Urbanism.

Notes

1. El-Basha, Mona Saleh. “Urban Interventions In Historic Districts As An Approach To Upgrade The Local Communities”. HBRC Journal 17 (1): 329-364. 2021

2. Ibid

3. Larry Ford, “Historic Districts and Urban Design,” Environmental Review 4, no. 2. 1980

4. Steven Tiesdell, Taner Oc, Tim Heat, “Revitalizing Historic Urban Quarters”, Architectural Press, 1996

5. Ken Bernstein, “Top Ten Myths - Home | Los Angeles City Planning,” The Top Ten Myths About Historic Preservation, https://planning.lacity.org/ odocument/e315c7f3-e066-470d-be31bb05a01b0f42/Top%20Ten%20Myths_0.pdf.

Urban Ecology As Water Management

In February 2008, the Stratigraphy Commission of the Geological Society of London declared an end to the Holocene epoch and effectively announced the beginning of the next geological period, the Anthropocene.1 This brings a close to a period of environmental and climate stability and ushers in an age of unpredictable environmental instability accentuated by human development. As a response, ecological sustainability has emerged as the prevailing response to the destabilizing effects of short term-planning when addressing climate change and rising water levels in urban areas. Urban water management poses an immense challenge in many cities where outdated or insufficient infrastructure is not equipped to deal with these changes. As global temperatures get warmer, water levels will rise because of the melting ice caps and increased amounts of precipitation. Currently, stormwater infrastructure mainly contains engineered gray solutions which, although effective to some extent, are expensive to maintain, unequally distributed, and disrupt the natural ecosystems.

With the rise of sustainability as a viable solution to environmental issues, this paper investigates the ecological concept of “Sponge City” as an alternative utilizing green and blue methods opposed to gray infrastructure.3 Originating in China, this strategy seeks to address urban flooding through the use of an environmentally conscious urban model. The basis of this paper will seek to build a strong theoretical understanding of Sponge Cities by examining the agents involved, the underpinnings, and the method when designing these ecological models. This investigation traces how these strategies are funded and implemented, their ecological performance and effectiveness, and their viability as infrastructure in the contemporary urban context.

To research the ecological relationships within the Sponge City framework, this paper looks at the overall systems of the city and then, on a more micro-level, selects a specific instance within the city to further examine. The area of study will be the Gui’an New District, a relatively new city area and part of the first batch of Sponge Cities created. The study delves deeper on its unique geographical location, rainwater and flood systems, and governing/financing policies.5 Findings from this research can show how strategies can be adapted in similar cities and thus scale down gray infrastructure. This paper aims to situate urban design practice within the discourse of ecological design to create a symbiotic relationship between the human and the natural. How can we, as designers, further be critical of the impacts of infrastructure on the urban landscape?

Keywords

Geology, Anthropocene, Climate, Ecology, Sponge City.

URBANISMS

Ecological Urbanism

Notes

1. National Geographic Society. (2019, June 5). Anthropocene. National Geographic Society. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https:// www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ anthropocene/

2. Wong, T. (2021, November 11). The man turning cities into giant sponges to embrace floods. BBC News. Retrieved March 31, 2022

3. Yin, D., Chen, Y., Jia, H., Wang, Q., Chen, Z., Xu, C., Li, Q., Wang, W., Yang, Y., Fu, G., & Chen, A. S. (2020, November 5). Sponge City Practice in China: A review of construction, assessment, operational and maintenance.

4. Bélanger, Pierre. “Landscape As Infrastructure.” Landscape Journal 28, no. 1 (2009): 79–95.

5. Urban Water Cycle, Sponge City, Flooding, Water Management,Resilience