Historic District Research Articles

Trend Analysis of Contextual Design in New York City’s Historic District : Focusing on Remodeling, Extension, and New Buildings in Manhattan

Trend Analysis of Contextual Design in New York City’s Historic District : Focusing on Remodeling, Extension, and New Buildings in Manhattan

How Does Cultural Planning Empower Historic District and Urban Regeneration ----Case in the China Baroque Historical Street in Daowai District, Harbin

The historical culture of the city is the unique soul of the city. Facing the situation of "one side of a thousand cities" and the commercial and cultural blocks with serious homogenization in various cities, people began to re-emphasize and think about the protection of historical and cultural blocks. For the protection and development of historical and cultural blocks, it can not only promote the development of the urban tourism economy, but also benefit greatly the urban cultural atmosphere and urban regeneration, which makes urban residents feel more involved and belonging, and participate in urban cultural activities together. Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, China, has always attached importance to urban development through cultural planning empowerment. The planning department several times, sub-plots on the Daowai Chinese Baroque Historic District for scientific overall planning led to the protection and promotion of regional historical and cultural heritage, to create a unique historical and cultural space, promoting the development of urban tourism economy, while enhancing the city's cultural heritage and cultural soft power, creating a successful model for land planning for urban development. China Baroque Historical Street with rich and unique cultural resources, is a successful case to answer how cultural planning empower historic district and urban regeneration.

Research on Factors Influencing the Style of Chinese Historic Districts Based on the Mask R-CNN Deep Learning Model

With the rapid development of Chinese cities, the spatial pattern in historical districts has deteriorated due to a lack of protection measures. Indigenous communities have taken it upon themselves to expand certain spaces around the original residential buildings in order to meet the demands of modern life. However, this expansion has had a negative impact on the stylistic integrity of historical districts, leading to a conflict between cultural heritage and district protection. This study focuses on Tanhualin, a representative historical district in Wuhan. The study divides the district into 10 sub-areas, extracting a total of 4850 street views and selecting 6752 spontaneous spatial samples from them. Utilizing the Mask R-CNN model, the study uses computer-based deep learning to identify, summarize, and categorize the various forms and functions of these spontaneous spaces. The study also analyzes the negative impact of these spaces on the unity of the historical blocks’ interfaces, as well as their positive impact on cultural heritage and the creation of a distinctive atmosphere. Finally, the study proposes reconstruction and renewal strategies from both urban design and architectural design perspectives. These strategies aim to improve the quality of life for indigenous communities, establish a sustainable system for preserving historical imprints, protect the cultural atmosphere of historical blocks, and enhance the adaptability of these blocks in modern cities.

Wpływ pandemii COVID-19 na zmiany podejścia do zarządzania miastami historycznymi na przykładzie Florencji

Miasta historyczne zyskały w ostatnich latach na atrakcyjności w oczach turystów dzięki modzie na krótkie podróże miejskie (tzw. city breaks) i dostrzeżenie uroków korzystania z przestrzeni historycznych dzielnic. Wzrost liczby turystów w historycznych przestrzeniach miast przyniósł zarówno pozytywne skutki (np. korzyści ekonomiczne, przyśpieszenie procesów rewitalizacji), jak i negatywne (np. pogorszenie jakości życia, rosnące zatłoczenie i ceny nieruchomości mieszkalnych) dla miast i ich mieszkańców. Kryzys wywołany pandemią COVID-19 i związane z nim ograniczenia możliwości podróżowania rozpoczęły dyskusję na temat przyszłości historycznych dzielnic i zmian, jakie powinny zostać wprowadzone, aby ograniczyć niepożądane przez społeczności lokalne oddziaływanie turystyki na śródmieścia miast. Korzystając z opracowań naukowych, danych zastanych i informacji pozyskanych z wywiadów pogłębionych przeprowadzonych przez autora w 2022 r., analizie z tej perspektywy zostały poddane przemiany oraz polityka miejska wobec historycznej dzielnicy śródmiejskiej Florencji, miasta wpisanego na Listę Światowego Dziedzictwa UNESCO. We Florencji w trakcie trwania pandemii była kontynuowana debata dotycząca pożądanych kierunków zmian w podejściu władz miasta do jego historycznego centrum, czego efektem było m.in. wypracowanie wspólnie z mieszkańcami nowego planu zarządzania obszarem UNESCO. Problemy funkcjonowania zabytkowej dzielnicy wyeksponowane przez pandemię stały się motorem napędowym do zainicjowania procesu zmian. Część proponowanych rozwiązań jest już obecna w lokalnych dokumentach miejskich i jest sukcesywnie wdrażana. Kwestią dyskusyjną pozostaje jednak skuteczność wprowadzonych przez władze lokalne instrumentów zarządzania dzielnicą śródmiejską i możliwość ich rzeczywistego wpływu na sposób funkcjonowania historycznego centrum miasta w postpandemicznych warunkach.

Cultural continuity and change in Kudus Kulon: the urban heritage trialogue

Physical changes to built heritage are usually a major cause for concern when reviewing approaches to conservation and adaptation to the historic built environment. The hictorical area Kudus Kulon has witnessed significant changes in its environmental conditions, not only includes physical transformation, but also involves the social and economic dynamics that develop around it. Physical changes to built heritage are usually a major cause for concern when reviewing approaches to conservation and adaptation to the historic built environment. This study aims to reveal the changes and continuity of the Kudus Kulon historical area in the context of heritage preservation. This qualitative research employs a case study approach, focusing on Kudus Kulon as a single case. Through observations and interviews with key informants, the aim is to present an unbiased perspective on the intangible aspects. The findings in this study will enrich cultural theory through its ability to dialogue value systems, activities, and artefacts in the context of change and continuity in the historic district of Kudus Kulon. The result shows the continuity of fundamental aspects in the value system (belief, norm, and local wisdom) underscores the resilience of the system and its ability to navigate the complexities of time without compromising the integral values that define its cultural identity. This research provides a strong foundation for future studies to explore the intricate dynamics between core values, societal development, and adaptations on heritage site in urban area, with a specific focus on tangible aspects like artefacts and activities.

A study on the block pattern and spatial characteristics of gara in Surat, India

Surat is a major port and trading city in the northwestern state of Gujarat, India, boasting a rich multicultural background where colonial, religious, and commercial cultures coexist. Field research conducted on the historical districts of Surat indicates that the traditional residential buildings in Surat are not havelis; rather, their planar features bear a remarkable similarity to shophouses in Southeast Asia. The urban formation, spatial pattern of historical blocks, and architectural characteristics of Surat were thoroughly analyzed at three levels: macro, meso, and micro, using methods such as the examination of historical maps, reading historical literature, gathering oral histories, and conducting field investigations. The analysis of the political culture of Asian port cities reveals that Surat has been involved in cross-cultural exchanges in Asia. Through document analysis, the study delves into the formation process of Surat City and the spatial pattern of its historical blocks. To gain a comprehensive understanding, an exploration of the types of planes and profiles of the existing gara cases was carried out, along with a study of the spatial characteristics and evolution of gara. Finally, a comparative analysis between gara and the local architecture haveli was conducted, examining the factors for gara formation from multiple aspects, such as politics, religion, and policy. It can be concluded that the formation of Surat’s city and architecture was not only influenced by the spread of Asian culture at that time but also integrated with local traditional characteristics.

Effects of Urban Landmark Landscapes on Residents’ Place Identity: The Moderating Role of Residence Duration

Landmark landscapes, as visual representations of cities, are readily identifiable to urban residents. Observing and visiting these landscapes fosters a cultural connection and identity with the locale, enhances urban character, and promotes tourism. A place’s identity is instrumental in urban development and improvement. Urban planners and managers should thus prioritize fostering residents’ place identity within city environments. In this study, we explored the influence of landmark landscapes on the place identity of residents in Nanjing—a rapidly urbanizing city with both historic and modern districts. Our methodology included on-site surveys and the application of a structural equation model to discern the relationships between various landmark landscape elements and place identity. The findings revealed the following: (1) landmark landscapes positively influence residents’ construction of place identity; (2) the characteristics, function, and historical–cultural importance of these landmark landscapes contribute to place identity formation; and (3) the duration of residence moderates the relationship between historical–cultural importance and place identity. These insights elucidate the role of landmark landscapes in shaping place identity, which in turn enhances urban characteristics and bolsters residents’ sense of belonging. The strategic planning and design of landmark landscapes are instrumental in building public consensus, fostering distinctive urban characteristics, and strengthening residents’ sense of identity, thereby catalyzing tourism development.

A Study on the Perception of Local Characteristics in Cultural Street Vending Spaces, Taking Xi’an Baxian Temple as an Example

The mode of urban renewal in China has changed from incremental expansion to a value-added stage, and the development of cities has increasingly focused on the human experience and quality improvement. However, Cultural Street Vending and the unique street spaces in the historic districts that bear important connotations to the city have shown a trend of rapid decline and even disappearance. Therefore, how to identify the characteristics and connotations of such street vending spaces, grasp the relationship between perception of locality and built environment elements in different states and formulate targeted protection and renewal strategies is presently an urgent problem to be solved. Many studies have now discussed in detail the identification of elements, street perception and preservation strategies for historic districts. However, the Cultural Street Vending space, which carries special urban memory connotations, has been neglected, especially the characterisation of this type of space in different time dimensions. This paper takes the Cultural Street Vending space as a research object and focuses on the perceptual differences between its market day and non-market day, aiming at grasping the perceptual characteristics and constituent elements of this type of street space in different time states, as well as the patterns of changes they undergo. This paper took the Baxian Temple, a typical Cultural Street Vending space in a historic district of Xi’an, as the research object and took 30 architecture students as the evaluators to score 33 pairs of adjectives and recall the elements of nine streets. This paper compared and analysed the differences in the structure of people’s psychological perception of the street in the state of market day and non-market day by SD method. It was found that the activities of the vendors obviously promoted people’s positive emotions, and three commonality factors including impression, vitality and morphosis were extracted through the factor analysis. Moreover, through the element recall method to understand the change in element perception on the market day, we found that the range of people’s perception was smaller on the market day and summarised the element map of the space and the element components of high, medium and low characteristics. The correlation analysis between psychological quantities and environmental elements revealed that people’s positive psychology has a positive correlation with vendors, goods and street components and a negative correlation with greening, colour and texture. This study can provide an important research basis for the development of conservation and renewal strategies for this type of Cultural Street Vending space.

Exploring historical cultural neighborhood conservation and revitalization based on the theory of urban resilience: A case study of Congshanfang in Zhongshan City

In the evolving landscape of urban development, the conservation and renewal of historical cultural districts play a crucial role in enhancing urban resilience. This paper focuses on the Congshanfang renewal project in Zhongshan City, analyzing the integration of urban resilience theory into historical district conservation to achieve sustainable urban development. By examining the comprehensive approach of the Congshanfang project, which includes architectural conservation, economic revitalization, and social structure enhancement, this study highlights the multifaceted aspects of urban resilience: infrastructural, institutional, economic, and social. The research underscores the importance of protecting not just the physical structures but also revitalizing the social and economic fabrics of historical districts. The study employs a qualitative assessment over a historical timeline to evaluate the impact of conservation efforts on urban resilience. Findings suggest that such integrated approaches not only preserve the cultural heritage but also contribute to the district’s adaptability and sustainability. Furthermore, this paper calls for continued exploration and innovation in enhancing urban resilience, particularly through community participation in placemaking and protection techniques for historic buildings. The Congshanfang project serves as a model for other historical cultural districts, offering insights into the dynamic balance between conservation, adaptation, and revitalization within the framework of urban resilience.

A Study on the Typological Evolution and Renewal of Residential Buildings in the Historic Center of Macao

On July 15, 2005, the 29th General Assembly of the World Heritage List was held in South Africa. The Historic Centre of Macao was inscribed on the World Heritage List by Criteria C(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi) of the Cultural Heritage Selection Criteria. However, the residential buildings located in the Historic Centre are mostly distributed in the buffer zone and are less studied. Most of the buildings in the Historic Centre are more than 40 years old, some even older, and many of them are facing architectural deterioration, lack of proper maintenance, and the phenomenon of unauthorized building structures. This paper will summarize the history of the development of residential buildings in Macao and provide recommendations for the renewal of residential buildings in the Historic District.

Computational Modeling and Environmental Adaptation Analysis of Heritage in Historic Districts

Computational Modeling and Environmental Adaptation Analysis of Heritage in Historic Districts

Research on Design Strategies for Surrounding Environment in the Protection of Architectural Heritage in Historical Districts

Research on Design Strategies for Surrounding Environment in the Protection of Architectural Heritage in Historical Districts

Заглавия романов «Каирской трилогии» (1956–1957) Нагиба Махфуза как интерпретационный материал

The article studies the novels of The Cairo Trilogy written by the famous Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006, Nobel prize 1988), which is considered one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century and the prime work by the author. The titles of the books Bayn al-Qasrayn, Qasr ash-Shawq, and as-Sukkariyya, which literary mean ‘Between two palaces’, ‘Palace of desire’, and ‘Sugar street’, are taken from the names of actual streets situated in the old quarters of Cairo. The novels follow the life of a Cairene family ‘Abd al-Gawwad living in a historic Cairo district; the titles point at the streets where the family’s houses are located. The principle of entitling the books may seem simple – by location. Regarding titles as a special type of texts, sometimes called frame texts, the article examines the following questions: is it true that the titles of the novels do not point at anything except geography? Do the texts meet the reader’s expectations created by the titles? The article concludes that the locations named in the titles not only highlight the national character of the novels but also prioritize the space of the family’s universe that survives a massive transformation during the first half of the 20th century. The novels show how the social changes ruin all the hierarchical family relations. The first title conveys the idea that the ‘Abd al-Gawwads ‘hang between’ two historic periods; the subsequent books show that the family does not cope very well, and there reigns corruption, illness, and lack of morality. From this point of view, on the one hand, the titles fulfil the reader’s expectations because the characters are shown to prefer ‘forbidden desire’ and alcohol to family life and honest business; on the other hand, there is a contradiction with the expectations created by the third title as this lifestyle does not bring any ‘sugar’ to their lives.

Study on Protection and Renewal Design of Commercial Space in Furong Street Historical and Cultural District of Jinan

Study on Protection and Renewal Design of Commercial Space in Furong Street Historical and Cultural District of Jinan

Strategies for Integrating Historic District Preservation and Modern Functions in Urban Renewal

Strategies for Integrating Historic District Preservation and Modern Functions in Urban Renewal

Comparative Study on the Vitality of Typical Historical Districts in Beijing from the Perspective of Scene Theory

Comparative Study on the Vitality of Typical Historical Districts in Beijing from the Perspective of Scene Theory

Sustainable Urban Planning and Genius Loci: A LDA-Based Analysis of Recreational Landscape Imagery in Hangzhou’s Qiaoxi Historic District

Amidst the impacts of urbanization and commercialization, the cultural and historical essence of neighborhoods is undermined, paralleled by the diminishing Genius Loci. This research explores the previously under-researched area of how urban leisure districts’ spatial design influences tourists’ experiential imagery perceptions and the Genius Loci, aiming to elucidate their dialectical relationship. Leveraging LDA topic modeling and TF-IDF text analysis, we distill behavioral and cognitive imageries from tourist reviews to forge a perception framework of the Genius Loci, bifurcated into spiritual and directional imagery dimensions. Secondary dimensions emerge through TF-IDF keyword extraction. GIS technology further analyzes the spatial distribution of emotional imageries and the spatiotemporal dynamics of emotions, highlighting its significance in sustainable urban development. The findings reveal the multidimensional experiential imageries of tourists in leisure neighborhoods and their impact and feedback on the Genius Loci, offering a new perspective on the interaction between tourists’ emotional spatial experiences and the Genius Loci. It is discovered that tourist perceptions mainly concentrate on “environmental psychological perception dimension” and “spatial orientation perception dimension” with the spatial distribution of tourists’ emotional experiences showing significant temporal dynamics. These results underline a complex interaction between tourists’ experiential imagery and the Genius Loci, suggesting that tourists’ feedback could play a critical role in shaping the evolution of these cultural spaces, emphasizing the need for integrated approaches in urban planning and heritage conservation.

A Quantitative Analysis Towards Interim-Reuse of Urban Voids: An Ecological Treatment Guideline with Regenerative Approaches

According to the United Nations declarations in 2019, cities, as humanity’s primary living habitat, will accommodate 68% of the world’s population by 2050. The more people settle in urban centres, the more severe the impacts are on ecosystems and the climate. Due to rapid urbanisation, the number of unused and under-managed urban spaces or “Urban voids” is rising. However, regenerative approaches can turn urban voids into assets to combat climate change and environmental issues. The regenerative design promotes ecological systems to regrow by allowing every urban component, like houses, workplaces, and neighbourhoods, to flourish ecologically. This research starts with reviewing related terms for urban voids beside a fundamental approach towards utilising them, “Interim re-use.” With these in hand, the research’s methodology mapped 577 urban voids in its “Balat and Fener” case study, two juxtaposing historical districts in Istanbul, Turkey. The study goes on to classify the mapped urban voids into six distinctive types. The classification of urban voids is done using a decision tree model with five features that are assigned binary values. The features are as follows: “Ownership,” “Debris,” “Economic activity,” “Seal,” and “Leisure facilities.” The next phase evaluates each parcel based on ecological criteria; each void is rated through a Likert scale in terms of “Vegetation,” “Permeability,” “Ruggedness,” and “Enclosure,” and thence, receives an ecological identity. After each parcel is classified and assigned its ecological identity, a two-phased treatment approach composed of twelve solutions is applied. Suppose the subject lacks the fundamental prerequisites, such as a permeable surface. In that case, proper land preparation solutions will be applied, and based on their ecological identity, they then receive the second phase’s applications. In conclusion, following the guidelines proposed in this paper, the decision-makers can treat urban voids to become more ecologically thriving and enhance their ecological performance.

Assessment of the impact of a high-rise building on the stress-strain state of the foundation and structures of existing buildings in dense development

One of the most progressive problems of modern urban planning is the gradual decrease in areas suitable for construction, especially within the historical districts of cities. This prompts developers to increasingly develop sites in difficult engineering and geological conditions, which are often located within dense buildings.
 Today, the construction of multifunctional residential complexes combines the construction of high-rise residential sections and commercial real estate buildings with multi-level parking lots, which are often located in close proximity to each other. Often, the sequence of construction of these buildings is stretched over years or even decades, for example, due to an unfavorable economic climate or the instability of the political situation in the country, which leads to the commissioning of only certain stages of construction. The subsequent resumption of construction work requires taking into account the mutual impact of new construction and observations of previously constructed buildings during the construction of new structures.
 The execution of deep pits at the stage of laying the foundations of new buildings, as well as the substantial weight of high-rise buildings, causes a change in the stress-strain state of the adjacent soil massif, so designers face the task of determining the impact of such construction on the adjacent buildings.
 This article presents the results of a study of the change in the stress-strain state of load-bearing structures and foundations an existing building, taking into account the mutual impact of an adjacent high-rise section of a residential complex.
 The calculations were performed in two independent software systems Plaxis 3D and LIRA-FEM, in the spatial formulation of tasks, for a comprehensive assessment of the SSS of the system "soil base-foundation-superstructure".
 The zone of impact of new construction on the adjacent buildings, the values and character of additional displacements of foundations of adjacent structures are determined. The regularities of changes in the calculated forces in piles are shown, which indicate a decrease in axial forces in piles up to two times at the interface with the foundations of the new building and an increase in the load on the piles of the central zone by up to 17%. The obtained results show a tendency to redistribute stresses in the foundation slab from the bearing zones to the span zones, as well as in the bearing vertical structures of the lower floor of the existing building.

Assessing fire resilience of historic districts: An approach combining space structure and tourists’ behavior

The fire risk of historical districts is a huge challenge faced by all countries in the world when protecting historical and cultural heritage. As the historic districts are transformed into commercial districts nowadays, increasing tourists and businessmen start to visit and move into these districts, it is more urgent to deal with the fire risks with the growing demand of fire and electricity. Accurate assessment of the fire resilience and targeted implementation of resilience improvement actions are considered to be an effective way to solve this problem. However, the existing research has not fully considered the complex effects of space structure, tourists' behavior and the interaction between them on fire resilience. Therefore, this study constructed a fire resilience assessment framework combining space structure and tourists' behavior, and considering the spatial-behavior interaction. The results revealed that the space structure of commercial historical districts and the behavior of tourists show different characteristics and regulars in our study area, such as the categories of shops using open fires, the location of open fires and the periodicity of tourists ' behavior over time. By taking an experimental verification in Ciqikou Historic district, Chongqing, China, this assessment framework showed a flexible scale of application with strong operability and versatility, which also evidenced that space structure and tourists’ behavior must be taken into account simultaneously to improve the fire resilience of historical districts. At last, we proposed targeted strategies to improve the fire resilience from the aspects of space structure and tourists' behavior, respectively.