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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Earth Sci.

Sec. Geoscience and Society

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1551117

The Evolution and Construction of Shan-shui Cities: Evidence From the Ancient City of Hangzhou from the Sixth to the Twenty-first Century via Geographical Information Systems and Space Syntax

Provisionally accepted
Yue Huang Yue Huang 1Yuhao Huang Yuhao Huang 2Yile Chen Yile Chen 3*Junxin Song Junxin Song 4Shuai Yang Shuai Yang 5Lu Huang Lu Huang 1*Liang Zheng Liang Zheng 3Yike Gao Yike Gao 6
  • 1 Hangzhou Vocational and Technical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 2 Faculty of Innovation and Design, City University of Macau, Taipa, Macao, Macao, SAR China
  • 3 Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao, SAR China
  • 4 Institute for Research on Portuguese-speaking Countries, City University of Macau, Macao, Macao, SAR China
  • 5 Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 6 University College London, London, England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    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.

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