The morphological study on heritage architecture: A planning proposal for the Left Street in Nanjing, China

China provides a unique context to explore heritage architecture within the current trend of globalization. The empirical focus of this study is heritage building in contemporary urban China, which has become targeted for a new round of redevelopment. Departing from previous studies that emphasized China’s urban policy reforms of land and urban development, this paper spotlights the role of heritage buildings in making contemporary urban China from morphological perspective. Through a case study of The Left Street area in Nanjing, this paper examines how heritage elements in built environment can be selectively recycled and inserted in the newly created urban space. It also demonstrates the possible of western morphological approach can be practiced in Chinese context.