A cultural perspective on the typo-morphological approach: A planning proposal for Hehua Tang, China.

Hehua Tang once was a lively historical dwelling settlement in the inner fringe belt area of Nanjing. For decades, it was ‘forgotten’ during the rapid urbanization of the city. Nowadays, streets in Hehua Tang, which act as the main collective space for residents, are facing the enormous threat of losing their precious vitality due to controversial conservation and restoration schemes driven by local government. This paper uses typo-morphology analysis to extract the characteristics of Hehua Tang. It also cat- egorically defines the streets in this area in terms of a setting of street culture, with traditional customs, historical inheritance. The study also covers the multifaceted reactions of urban planning policies, and awareness and requests of residents. The analysis details the current situation of street system and form at two urban scales: the neighborhood and block scale; building scale, includ- ing building types, facade continuity, height-width proportion, plan rhythm, distribution of living units, and density. This study not only provides a detailed graphical analysis, but also demonstrates a cultural per- spective for reading and understanding the Chinese street. In particular, it is of use in seeking possible strategies to balance the preservation of Hehua Tang’s street vitality and improvements of living-environment quality.