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.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
A comprehensive analysis of the history and devel- opment of rural settlement in both the developed and developing worlds. Complete with detailed case studies and fully illustrated, this is essential reading for all geographers and archaeologists.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
In this book, Michael Smith offers a comparative and interdisciplinary examination of ancient settlements and cities. Early cities varied considerably in their political and economic organization and dynamics. Smith here introduces a coherent approach to urbanism that is transdisciplinary in scope, scientific in epistemology, and anchored in the urban literature of the social sciences. His new insight is 'energized crowding,' a concept that captures the consequences of social interactions within the built environment resulting from increases in population size and density within settlements. Smith explores the implications of features such as empires, states, markets, households, and neighborhoods for urban life and society through case studies from around the world. Direct influences on urban life – as mediated by energized crowding-are organized into institutional (top-down forces) and generative (bottom-up processes). Smith's volume analyzes their similarities and differences with contemporary cities, and highlights the relevance of ancient cities for understanding urbanism and its challenges today.
*Includes pictures *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading ..".the ever present menace of inundation." - Sir John Marshall, 1931 What is a city? A simple definition is a "largely constructed landscape," and through inferences and comparisons with modern states, a successful ancient city is generally said to have a number of defining characteristics: evidence of political hierarchies; a centralized authority that is simultaneously dependent on the accumulation of resources and the suppression of competitors; the maintenance of continuous negotiation, alliance building, and occasionally costly and risky investments such as warfare; specialized crafts; a hinterland supplying food; and monumental statements of central planning and communal effort, such as the Mesopotamian ziggurats. Mohenjo-daro was the largest city of the Indus Valley Civilization, one of the most advanced civilizations to have ever existed, and the best-known and most ancient prehistoric urban site on the Indian subcontinent. It was a metropolis of great cultural, economic, and political importance that dates from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE. Although it primarily flourished between approximately 2500 and 1500 BCE, the city had longer lasting influences on the urbanization of the Indian subcontinent for centuries after its abandonment. It is believed to have been one of two capital cities of the Indus Civilization, its twin being Harappa located further north in Punjab, Pakistan. Mohenjo-daro is an enigmatic settlement, which confuses simple definitions of what a city consists of. It has revealed little evidence of palaces, contains few definite religious buildings, and appears to have never been involved in any external or internal military conflict. The inhabitants' writing has not been deciphered, and little is known about their religious and post-mortuary beliefs. Nonetheless, the city's importance is epitomized by its monumental buildings and walls, enormous manmade platforms, innovative architectural techniques, and evidence that they engaged in trade over vast distances, with high-quality artifacts sent from the Indus Valley as far as Mesopotamia and even Africa. Of particular note was their ingenious drainage system -one of the earliest means by which sewage was drained out of the city. No other urban site of similar size had a hydraulic network as complex and effective as that of Mohenjo-daro, and it would only be surpassed thousands of years later by the network of aqueducts in Rome during the third century CE. For centuries this city was believed to have sprung into existence suddenly and without precedent, with a highly standardized system of urban development, art, and architecture that is emulated in contemporary settlements across the Indus River Valley in a phenomenon known as the "Pan-Indus system." Although this view has changed over the last few decades, there exists no definitive hypothesis as to how they grew such a complex urban society so quickly. Fittingly, the city has an equally intriguing and mysterious narrative that explains its decline and eventual disappearance, a tale that gives the site its name: the "Hill of the Dead." The Indus Valley Civilization was forgotten for millennia, until 20th century archaeologists rediscovered and began excavations at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Today only foundations remain, but the site's importance is represented by its UNESCO World Heritage status, awarded in 1980 for being a site of outstanding cultural importance to the common heritage of humanity. Mohenjo-daro: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Settlement of the Indus Valley Civilization looks at the history of the site and the archaeological work on it. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Mohenjo-daro like never before.
Heinrich Schenker: A Research and Information Guide is an annotated bibliography concerning both the nature of primary sources related to the composer and the scope and significance of the secondary sources which deal with him, his compositions, and his influence as a composer and theorist.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
