
95% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Geoscience and Society
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1551117
The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The "Shanshui City" is an ideal living model that has emerged recently. The spirit and concept of traditional Chinese mountain and water culture run through it, reflecting the continuity of the historical culture of harmony between humanity and nature. This study takes the ancient city of Hangzhou as a representative case. Through the translation of old maps, combined with space syntax analysis and historical satellite image analysis, this study discusses the evolution of the urban form in four periods of the ancient city of Hangzhou: the Sui Dynasty to Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period(581-979), the Song Dynasty to Ming Dynasty (960-1644), the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China(1644-1949), and since the founding of the People's Republic of China (1949 to present). This study reveals the following: (1) The integration of the ancient city of Hangzhou evolved from local centralization in the Sui and Tang Dynasties to spatial expansion and improved integration in the Southern Song Dynasty, followed by differentiation and weakening from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China and, finally, to comprehensive optimization and balance in the modern era. (2) The evolution of the morphological understanding of the ancient city of Hangzhou reflects its adaptive adjustment to social needs, natural conditions, and functional optimization in different historical periods. From the compact concentration in the Sui and Tang Dynasties to the diversified integration in the Southern Song Dynasty and then to the spatial fragmentation and optimization reconstruction in modern times, the evolution of spatial morphology in different periods reflects the interaction between the historical process and planning wisdom. (3) From the perspective of historical land function changes, the architectural functional zoning of the ancient city of Hangzhou has evolved over time, showing a trend from simple to complex and from single-to multi-function areas, reflecting the different development needs and trends of the city in terms of defense, administration, residence, commerce, and other aspects. (4) Overall, the ancient city of Hangzhou has experienced a dynamic process of building city walls, demolishing city walls, and integrating the city into the landscape, fully demonstrating the concept of a landscape city.
Keywords: Shan-shui Cities, Morphological structure, GIS technology, space syntax, Urban evolution, Ancient city, Hanzhou
Received: 24 Dec 2024; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Huang, Chen, Song, Yang, Huang, Zheng and Gao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yile Chen, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao, SAR China
Lu Huang, Hangzhou Vocational and Technical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Research integrity at Frontiers
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.