Abstract
In China, rural villages and towns have gone through rapid changes in the process of urbanization. Many rural settlements have evolved with long histories and are closely related to local natural environment and adjacent urban developments. Rapid changes, however, have led to different needs for protecting the natural environment and cultural heritage, and there is also a need to improve the built environment for daily life and to develop new job opportunities. This paper studies the methods that Natural England uses to assess the local environment in the Yorkshire region of England. Their guidance documents aim to protect natural landscape, retain the distinctive character of the place and the sense of history, and to encourage new developments that maintain the interplay between rural and urban characteristics in the region. The study then focuses on a case study of a World Heritage Site, Saltaire in Yorkshire. Saltaire was built as a successful textile production urban village during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century when the rural communities of previous centuries were superseded by urban townships and cities. The settlement experienced cycles of prosperity and recession over its history, with revival after the start of new cultural activities in the 20th Century. The paper studies changes during the last 150 years in Saltaire that reveal complicated influences from architectural design, social, cultural, and economic changes that affected long-term and short-term development of the place. This will provide useful information for planning strategies for contemporary development.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Protection and Development of Chongqing's Historical and Cultural Villages and Towns under the Multi-dimensional Perspective |
| Publisher | Huazhong University of Science and Technology Press |
| Pages | 134-156 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2018 |
