A Study On Cultural Structure Of Urban Space With The Case Study Of Cities In Southwest China

"Cultural Turn"in Spatial Science and"Spatial Turn"in Social Science provide the multi-discipline view of this paper. The study tackles with the cultural issue of urban space. It studies the cultural structure of urban space, and tries to apply into urban planning practice. It notices the lack of cultureology in the contemporary urban planning theories in China, and devotes into their intersections. As a new perspective to urban planning and design theory, this dissertation provides an alternative to investigate analysis, evaluate and build a cultural structure of urban space. It follows the steps of identifying the specific research problems, reviewing the existing literature, carrying the quantitative analysis, making an empirical study and recommending the strategies. Through comprehensive methods of literature review, comparative study, field study, qualitative and quantitative study, it forms the basic components.â‘ The study reveals the cultural essence of urban space, and raises the point of cultural structure of urban space (chapter 2). It studies the culture structure of urban space of different cities, especially of the mountainous cities in SW China. The structure is composed by inter-relationships among those varied urban space culture units, and unites are combined by urban culture elements. Cultural elements and units furtherly combine a collection of cultural function and value. They together, from elements to units to the whole, determine the culture quality of urban space. With the idea of culture structure of urban space, it has significant meaning to understand urban space in a deeper level and to improve urban planning standard (chapter 3).â‘¡The paper summarizes the culture value thinking of urban space, including culture development ladder point, culture fortune accumulation point, culture species ecology point, culture population contain point, culture product value point. It explores appropriate calculation method to culture value of urban space structure. It also sets up an evaluation system to urban space culture structure from various scales, layers and physical forms. It raises the point of culture index, culture density, culture consistency and culture structure evaluation curve, opens a new domain of analysis the urban space structure in perspective of cultureology (chapter 4).â‘¢The empirical study focuses on Chengdu, Dujiangyan, Langzhong, Lijiang and Chongqing cases in South-west China. It analyses and evaluates the culture structure in element, unit and holistic level. It reflects its value and structural problems (Chapter 5). Culture planning of the urban space is the reasonable product of culture structure research; urban space culture planning's content, procedure and pattern contribute an extensive guideline to urban culture planning. The paper gives some examples of urban planning practice based on setting up urban space culture structure (Chapter 6).This paper has some original contributions. Firstly,it reveals two-fold-Urban space ontology: urban space as culture carrier and urban space as culture proper. It raises the idea of urban space culture structure, discusses its analysis, evaluation theory framework and systematic method. Secondly, it points out series concept in urban space, for examples as cultural item, cultural unit, cultural stock and cultural increment, cultural density, cultural index, culture consistency. It discovers the adaptive calculation method of urban space culture value. Finally, it provides the concept of cultural planning of urban space and the planning operational system, which can deepen and enrich the content of spatial planning.This paper raises the issue of urban space culture structure; its evaluation method by various scales, layers and morphologies; in the physical-oriented urban planning context in China, this paper contributes its unique meanings. It would be helpful to solve some urban space culture problems in the urban development process.