The Urban Code of China / / Dieter Hassenpflug.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Backlist (2000-2014) eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Hassenpflug, Dieter,
• TeilnehmendeR: Kammerbauer, Mark.
• Place / Publishing House: Basel : : Birkhäuser, , [2012]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (176 p.)

Die Gestalt der chinesischen Stadt entschlüsseln Es geht in diesem urbanistischen Fachbuch nicht primär um bekannte Städte wie Peking, Shanghai oder Shenzhen, sondern um jene Formen, Strukturen, Zeichen und Botschaften, die das Chinesische der chinesischen Stadt ausmachen. Erst die Dekodierung der Sinität der chinesischen Stadt eröffnet die Möglichkeit, die Vielfalt der empirischen Eindrücke richtig zu gewichten und sinnvoll einzuordnen. So liefert dieses Buch auch einen Schlüssel zum Verständnis der aktuellen Hyperurbanisierung und der Vielzahl westlicher Städtebauprojekte in China.

When reading the Chinese city, which this book sets out to do, it is not the well-known cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi an that are in the focus of attention, but rather the essentially Chinese of the Chinese city, those characteristics or attributes that are more or less shared by all Chinese cities. The spotlight is on their spatial grammar, their syntax, in short: their code. Only by deciphering their common traits a view to the underlying structure of Chinese cities is opened, and we can begin to reasonably evaluate and classify the diversity of impressions. Deciphering the code of the Chinese city also enables the author to read new Chinese towns designed by Western architects. Thus, readers are provided with valuable insight on China s booming urbanization and urban development.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1. How to Read a city? -- 2. Transformations of Empty urban Space -- 3. Swinging lines and dancing dots -- 4. Closed Urban Space -- 5. OPEN URBAN SPACE -- 6. Urban Fictions -- 7. The compact city -- 8. The Chinese City as a semiotic System -- Summary -- Appendix -- Imprint