Applying the Historic Urban Landscape Approach to the Conservation of Historic Cities in China

Abstract

This paper explores the comprehensive perspective of Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) through the evolution of cultural landscape theories as well as World Heritage cultural landscapes. It analyzes the adaptation of HUL in Chinese cultural, political and social context. In particularly, it proposes a thematic framework for the application of HUL in historic cities in China. The framework consists of three main themes and several sub-themes embracing dimensions such as perception of landscape, land-use, ways of life, spiritual or social-economic associations with landscape, and tools which can be used for identification of value. The research attempts to highlights the contribution that the HUL approach could make to the existing planning and management system for the conservation of historic cities in China.