Author: Jie Liu

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

In the past few decades, while China's rapid urbanization has swept across most metropolitan areas, a large number of traditional settlements are facing social and architectural crisis. Previous economic strategies can no longer support regional economies. Traditional settlement forms and building heritages seem to become an obstacle in the development process. For most metro cities metropolitan centers, appropriate economic transitions make cities able to grow and change along with changes in society. However, small-scale patterns, restricted space and traditional building styles have limited the economic structure of small settlements. Farming has existed as the principal livelihood for traditional settlement for a long time, but it can no longer meet the local economic and social demand. Building heritage conservation has been variably practiced in traditional settlements. Inappropriate renovation and illegal extension are not able to mitigate conflicts between the old and the new, but have a negative effect on the overall appearance of traditional settlements. Appropriate economic transitions, at this stage, seem to be inevitable, otherwise traditional settlements might be destroyed in the fierce social competition. According to the current development situation, tourism is nowadays widely regarded as the appropriate economical industry that could lead the development of traditional settlements. From my point of view, tourism, at this stage, could help with the economic transition of traditional settlements to contemporary viability, but related tourism programs have to be introduced conditionally. This report will take Guming village as an example to discuss old settlements' contemporary relevance and their spiritual inheritance, and analyze how tourism can contribute to the local economic transition.