Study On Nanjing Platanus Acerifolia Willd And City Merory

City memory,as a critical concept to study space,history,culture and psychology,is a subjective and internalized image formed in residents’ mind after they participated in urban life,experienced urban environment and comprehended the history of the city together.City memory adds meaning and value to city space,while city space restores and represents city memory.With the roaring development of China’s economy and rapid process of urbanization,there emerge a multitude of colossal and assimilated cities that keep producing meaningless large space,and globalization and standardization continuously jeopardize the characteristics of local regions.As a result,the space that once born people’s memory of their city is gradually damaged and citizens’ identity crisis has more become a severe issue.People can no longer feel the sense of belonging and secure in their residence.That is why the protection of city memory and the shaping of urban characteristics have gradually become an issue of common concern.City memory is not a certain objective that never changes,but a dynamic process that undergoes consistent construction and selected.As to the selection of city memory and the ways to construct it,they can be influenced by the factors as the space’s shape and functions,major events that have taken place within as well as local history and culture.Street landscape plays a core role in the formation of city memory.Platanus acerifolia Willd was the first to be planted in Nanjing as street trees,initiated by "Capital Planning",the earliest modern city planning in modern China.The trees were mainly planted along the two sides of China’s first modern road Zhongshan Avenue(namely today’s Zhongshan Road),and the ages of the existing oldest trees now can possibly reach above 80.The street landscape lined up with Platanus acerifolia Willd so far has covered almost all the key streets of the old area of Nanjing,serving as the framework and "green blood vessels"of the city,and playing an important role in the expansion of city space.The trees,large in quantity and proper in size,not only provide residents with beautiful sceneries for them to enjoy and space to rest and communicate,but also beautify the traffic and have remarkable ecological benefits,performing as a material environment for vigorous life in the neighborhood.In addition to its benefits to people’s daily life,Platanus acerifolia Willd of Nanjing witnessed many great events like Nanjing being built as the capital of the Republic of China,Nanjing Massacre,the birth of New China,tightly interwined with China’s history and fate,and has alreay become a "living" historical and cultural heritage.The landscapep fetured with lines of Platanus acerifolia Willd is also a symbol and name card of Nanjing,which carries city memory,represents the city’s history,and brings people a sense of belonging,recognition and pride.That can be fully exemplified by the disturbance caused by the Platanus acerifolia Willd in 2011,which proved the importance and value of Platanus acerifolia Willd in people’s heart.This thesis,from the perspectives of history,functions,culture,psychology,combined with the methodology and research results of historiography,sociology and environmental psychology,expounds the contructing process of city memory centered Platanus acerifolia Willd by clarifying the planting,cultivation and developing process of the trees in Nanjing,elaborates on the connotations and meanings of the city memory and explores its unique cultural value.This thesis aims to protect the urban space for Platanus acerifolia Willd in Nanjing and preserve the city memory to inherit the city’s culture and soul in the sebsequent tide of urbanization of Nanjing.