Exploring China’s Urban Transition in the Republican Period: the Development of Garden Suburbs

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the underlying reasons and influences behind the transition of the residential built form in China from the traditional Chinese style to the Western garden suburb style during the Republican period. In order to achieve this objective, existing resources were examined regarding Chinese history, traditional Chinese built form, Western garden suburbs, Western urban morphology and conservation, and Chinese urban morphology and conservation. Two case studies were also carried out in Nanjing and Guangzhou respectively, first studying their social, cultural and economic background during the era of change; and then using typomorphological concepts to analyse the observed aspects of change in the chosen historical residential areas. The findings of the research show that it is social and political influences that caused the most dramatic changes to urban form, even in areas previously resilient to change. The changes in residential form in Nanjing, the political centre of China (during the Republican era), and Guangzhou, the economic centre, provide strong evidence to support this theory. Keywords: Urban morphology, Garden suburbs, Urban landscape character, Heritage conservation, China