中国边缘地区及社会经济的变化.doc

Fringe belts and socioeconomic changes in China J W R Whitehand School of Geography,Earth and Environmental Sciences,University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT,England;e-mail:J.W.R.Whitehand@bham.ac.uk Kai Gu School of Architecture and Planning,University of Auckland,Private Bag 92019,Auckland, New Zealand;e-mail:k.gu@auckland.ac.nz Susan M Whitehand School of Geography,Earth and Environmental Sciences,University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT,England;e-mail:smwhitehand@hotmail.co.uk Received 23 August 2009;in revised form 4 February 2010;published online 4 October 2010 Abstract. The fringe-belt concept,though much studied by urban morphologists in the West, has been largely uninvestigated in the markedly different cultural environments of Eastern Asia. After an outline of the concept and considerations relating to its investigation in China, a fringe-belt study is carried out in the Chinese city of Pingyao. Comparisons are made with the findings of previous fringe-belt studies. The major fringe belt that has developed in Pingyao has features characteristic of fringe-belts in the West but others that reflect a succession of different policies by authoritarian Chinese governments in the course of the twentieth century. The need for thorough morphological investigations as a basis for sound conservation planning is highlighted. 1 Introduction Ideas about urban form tend to be grounded and honed in particular historical and geographical environments.Much can often be learned,however, by exploring such ideas in other periods and areas:both the ideas themselves and our understanding of other times and places can benefit. In this paper we consider the fringe-belt concept in a culture area very different from the one in which it was formulated. Hitherto the concept has been developed almost entirely in Western or strongly Western-influenced regimes have prevailed. Here it is investigated in China, a country characterised by authoritarian government throughout it