Analysis of Chinese Ancient Urban Form Based on Climate Adaptability

Abstract

Ancient Chinese cities have a history of thousands of years. Different historical dynasties recorded different urban planning philosophy. Many of these ancient practices on urban planning and design can be used as references for today's urban planning. A study of the climate adaptability of ancient Chinese urban form is theoretically significant. It helps to guide the modern city design, to create and build a modern city with Chinese characteristics and to inherit and carry forward the local traditional culture. Moreover, such studies can enrich the current deficient knowledge in ancient city construction history. The current researches in ancient Chinese urban form mainly focus on historical geography, archeology and architecture. Morphology of ancient Chinese cities, considering the object, can be divided into three levels: research in the individual case of urban morphology; research in typological, regional and urban form in different historical periods; comprehensive study of Ancient Chinese urban morphology from a macro perspective. Most scholars mainly focus on city history while more or less neglect the climate adaptation of ancient urban form.