Urban Construction Administration System And Its Impact On Public Space In Modern Shanghai

Since Shanghai's Opening to foreign trade, a rather complete Urban Construction Administration System has been developed in the foreign settlement. It was based on the political system and economic system, including the Urban Planning Administration System and the Land Use System. During the development of the settlement, Urban Planning has its own evolution, although influenced by theories in western town planning to some extent. It's evolution was represented in the Roads Planning in the International Settlement. Urban Planning was a technical support to the Urban Construction Administration System. However, its realization was based on the system whose key is the institution about Eminent Domain. In such a mechanism lied the reason for the evolution of public space. Thus, an "organic" and gradual changing way became the identity of the public space of the International Settlement.This dissertation is a research on the institutional factors in the urban constructions and the influence they had on the evolution of public space. The research focused on the period from the Opening to the 1930 , and on the area of International Settlement. Some comparisons are made among the municipal councils of International Settlement, the French Concession, and Chinese Territory.The dissertation consists of three levels: institutions, urban planning as technical support, and public space cases. The first two chapters are about the political and economic system and the development of the Urban Construction Administration System, including the Urban Planning Administration System, Land Use System, and some explorations on Zoning theories. The third and fourth chapters focus on the technical elements: planning on the Roads and Parks and open spaces. They are two different types of public space; each has its special meaning in the settlement's history. Chapter five is a comparison research on several modes of Urban Construction Administration System and ideas of Urban Planning. Chapter six is a case study of public space on medium scale. The epilogue is a summarization of the relationships among the institution, the planning and the public space, and some inspires will be found.