Research On Spatial Renewal Mode Of Xi’an City Blocks Based On The Concept Of Dense Road Network Of Small Blocks

With 40 years of rapid industrialization after the reform and opening-up,Xi’an has become a modern city with impressive historical accumulation.Modern urban transportation is developed and the infrastructure is complete,but at the same time,it is plagued by many urban diseases such as traffic congestion,poor air quality,unlivable living environment,indifferent interpersonal relationships,social class differentiation and so on.From the perspective of the urban development and evolution of Xi’an,the morphological characteristics of “dense road network of small block” has been formed since the North Song Dynasty,namely,the traditional neighborhoods established with walking as the activity scale and the spatial scale and size adapted to People’s Daily life,which creates a space dynamic and safe for walking and communication and also presents the characteristics lacking in modern urban blocks of “sparse road network of large block” under the “car-based” planning ideas.In February 2016,the State Council issued a document “to optimize the road network structure of urban blocks” and “to promote the block system”.Five years later,Xi’an was identified in “the first batch of national pilot cities for urban renewal” in November 2021,and required to “transform the urban development and construction mode and promote urban structure optimization“.Under the above realistic background,the study of this paper is launched around the following content.First of all,by means of comparative study of the differences in block spatial scale and road network density between the two “opposite” renewal practices of China’s small open block and Spain’s super block,the author initiates the reflection on the nature of urban block space.Then,from the perspective of “daily life”,it is revealed that the essence of urban block space is a living space unit that meets people’s basic needs of daily life and communication.Thereby,the concept of small block dense road network is an externalized reflection of living space units created from the “daily life world” of residents,and an attempt to solve the space problems of urban blocks in Xi’an today.Studying the environmental psychology,the architecture phenomenology,the urban morphology,the urban renewal theory,the postmodern theory of city planning,etc.,the paper interprets the subject(person,crowd)and the object(space,environment)from different perspectives,dimensions and levels of city blocks to build the theoretical foundation on which the concept,analysis,evaluation,renewal and empirical research of urban street space are based.Secondly,based on more comprehensive,profound and correct cognition of spatial nature of urban blocks,systematical characteristics and internal and external motivation of development,the paper analyzes both qualitatively and quantitatively the immutable internal factors in the dynamic development of city street space,and thus constructs the living space unit adapted to people’s daily life and behavior.It is suggested that the block space size be determined by walking as yardsticks,the block architecture layout be designed to meet the basic needs of life as the criterion;the spatial scale and spatial organization structure of blocks be decided depending on residents’ acquaintance and neighborhood relationship and that the hierarchical sequence of block space be established following the territory nature of man.Thirdly,on the basis of sorting out the historical evolution of Xi’an urban block space and summarizing the general development law,the paper analyzes systematically the influence of the external factors variable in the dynamic development of urban block space on Xi’an urban block space.In terms of social culture,the evolution of spatial system and form and other relevant regulations is analyzed from three aspects of macro social structure,cultural concept and institutional norms.As far as economical and technological factors are concerned,the status and causes of Xi’an city block space are studied about economic development and scientific and technological progress.In the case of the regional environmental factors,the traditional neighborhood space with regional characteristics in Xi’an is explored from three aspects of block architecture,spatial organization structure and environmental quality.Based on “the living space unit”(immutable basic space),a method of urban block space construction is thus put forward,including “two dimensions(spatial form and environmental quality)and three levels(micro level,medium level and macro level)”.Moreover,under the guidance of the macro goal of urban block space renewal“organic composition in the urban system” and the micro goal of “people-oriented living space unit”,the paper analyzes and sorts out the status quo and problems of Xi’an urban block space.Based on the progressive,categorical,holistic and systematic renewal principles and the theory of living space unit,this paper puts forward the idea of “comprehensive evaluation--renewal mode--implementation strategy” to construct the block space renewal mode suitable for the urban development of Xi’an.Comprising the comprehensive evaluation of urban block space and the decision of renewal mode,the comprehensive evaluation system is highly viable for the decision makers to quickly and carefully select optimal objects in the process of practice,and the designers to comprehensively recognize the status quo of block space.According to the decision made by renewal mode of comprehensive evaluation,the “renewal and reconstruction”spatial models are established respectively for working-unit courtyards and residential quarters,and the “preservation and upgrading” spatial model for traditional street blocks are proposed,with the corresponding implementation strategies under the guidance of classified update mode.Finally,based on the research results above,an empirical study on the spatial renewal of urban blocks in Xi’an is carried out.Typical large-scale block spaces inside Xi’an third ring road are selected according to the principles of full coverage of geographical division,full coverage of ring road division and full coverage of plot type division,and the comprehensive evaluation and renewal mode decision are made on the sampled blocks by using the comprehensive evaluation system of urban block space.Comparing the target block space with living space units,the empirical design is guided by the renewal mode with implementation strategies.From the perspective of “daily life”,an immutable basic space is built to meet the needs of basic living conditions of urban residents,on the basis of which the chaotic state of the current urban block space caused by complicated and altering external factors,is studied to put forward a practical and feasible spatial renewal mode of Xi’an urban block and provide research ideas and basic design for the future renewal of block space in Xi’an and other cities.