Description
Book SynopsisThe book examines the contemporary Asian city through the prism of urban design in assimilating new and established drivers of growth. This includes intensified forms of residential development, specialised commercial centres and technology parks, that drive the momentum of the contemporary city, while acting to restructure and reshape forms of capital investment. New spatial patterns are facilitated by tranches of urban expansion, redevelopment, regeneration and suburbanisation that have emerged as by-products of both formal and informal development processes. The book also examines the Asian city language embodied in the local morphology — the essential values of the street, block, temple precinct and monument, and how these can be incorporated as drivers of new urban identities that relate to the changing culture and configuration of city neighbourhoods. All of these continue to impose different levels of impact on the creation of livable cities and the quality of life for their inhabitants. In this way urban design can look to the future while respecting the past.
The book frames a perspective on the urban design challenges presented by the rapidly expanding and regenerating Asian cities, and how these can be shaped by memory, meaning and identity while meeting sustainable, resilient and community concerns.
Table of ContentsIntroduction 7 Ascendancy of the Asian City 15 Back to the future: Toward a new asian urbanism 49 The mutating city: Traditions in transition 75 Metrofitting the city 115 Regeneration as value added 151 Planning with the past 179 Dimensions of density in the Hong Kong SAR 215 Achieving sustainable urban design in the face of climatic challenges 253 The water margin 287 Spiritual heritage and sacred places 319 Acknowledgments 358 References and further reading 360
