Introduction
The Chinese urban planning is based on a long history that can be traced back from the Ming Dynasty. For several years, the place has been famous for its architectural style that continues to attract many people across the world. One of the landmarks of the ancient Chinese architecture within Beijing is the Forbidden City (Hongkui 8). The Forbidden City housed the traditional Chinese emperor and empress from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. The old city of Beijing was first erected during the Yuan Dynasty and developed during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The place boasts of eight centuries of urban development and still the classical example of ancient Chinese tradition and architecture. The place still enjoys a prominent position in the world history and the urban development. It is still being preserved as the traditional center of Chinese.
Over the years, the building has undergone functional renovation and the spatial re-organization to cater for the needs of the changing regimes. For example, the expansion of the Tiananmen Square shifted the symbolic focus of the building (Hu 51). Therefore, the changes in the political regime in addition to the changes in socioeconomic conditions of the Chinese have instigated some changes in the spatial pattern of the Forbidden City. Despite the changes, the central axis of the Forbidden City have been given much focus. In this regard, it represents both the physical carrier of recalling the traditional urban life and the ancient Chinese landscape in full vigor.
The planning within the city illustrates the well-organized social orders and stands as related to the traditional Chinese social governance (Zhe 1). Therefore, it is worth determining how the ancient Chinese urban planning affected the people’s lives. Later, the Forbidden City was under the control of the Japanese. However, previous research has not fully established the impact of Japanese on the Forbidden City.
For several years, the Forbidden City was beyond the reach of the public. However, its name has been changed to Palace Museum and visitors are currently allowed to visit the facility. Therefore, it will be better to determine the current state of the Forbidden City within the past one decade. Due to the proposed urban planning changes, it is worth knowing how such changes would affect the change on the Forbidden City.
Research Aims
The research project aims to assess the proposed changes in the Chinese urban planning and their potential impact on the Forbidden City. In addition, the study aims to assess the previous and the current government efforts of reconstruction and their impact on the Forbidden City. Finally, the study aims to assess how urban planning affects the people’s lives.
Literature Review
Forbidden City is situated in Beijing, the current capital city of China, and it served as a palace of the Chinese emperors. The Forbidden City is recognized as the largest ancient city in the world. It was the emperor of Ming Dynasty, Yongle, who ordered the construction of the Forbidden City of China when he moved the capital city of China from Nanjing to Beijing (Hongkui 3). It took constructors 14 years to build the city because it started in 1406 and it was completed in 1420. The city covers an area of about 178 acres, and it includes 90 palaces, 980 buildings, and about 8,700 rooms. The city was surrounded by a wall that measured 26 feet high. Every corner of the city has a tall tower used to guard the palace.
The history of ancient Chinese urban planning dates back the Yuan Dynasty, during the development of the Dadu city (Zhe 1). Traditionally, the urban Chinese designers determined the location of the central axis based on the water systems with imperial grain transport capacities. From a keen analysis, it is evident that the Forbidden City was designed and developed to realize the ideal city plan that can respond positively to the needs of the Chinese people.
The Chinese Urban planning is currently characterized by extensive urban development and extensive urbanization due to their top down approach. The changes in governance and economic policies have instigated multiple transitions that have seen a massive shift in urban planning. The current urban planning in Beijing is driven by the need to encourage strategic economic development and wealth creation.
Forbidden City was designed according to the traditional Chinese rules of design because all the main buildings were aligned in a line from north to south. The city had the inner and outer court where the outer court was used by emperors to conduct ceremonies while the inner court housed the emperor and his family. The Forbidden City is associated with some Chinese symbolism and philosophy (Smith 15). For instance, the main buildings were facing south, which is a sign of holiness and the roof contained yellow tiles that are associated with the ultimate power of the emperor (Hongkui 4). The city can still be found in Beijing, and it was transformed into Palace Museum.
Having been located at the centre of Beijing, the Forbidden City illustrates the indigenous planning in the ancient Chinese tradition. This traditional planning illustrates the philosophical respect for nature and the environment as part of their urban planning. The planning demonstrates that mutual existence between the man and nature is an important component of urban planning. The physical location of the central axis demonstrates the traditional Chinese urban planning principles.
According to Smith, the traditional Chinese urban planning is mainly influenced some ancient Chinese ideologies (41). First, they tend to create harmony between man and nature by observing the heaven and earth. Such value is also linked to the Chinese observation of the divine rights of the emperors. In addition, the traditional Chinese urban planning is influenced by the ritual system such that the plan is done in accordance with the ranking system.
Despite the fact that some features of the Forbidden City have remained intact, the increased population of Beijing city and some changes in the society has affected the traditional layout of the city (Hu 8). To enhance the smooth flow of people and vehicles in the Beijing, city planners have continuously demolished the high walls of the Forbidden City. The inner and the outer walls of the Forbidden City were demolished to pave the way for the development of modern infrastructures that can facilitate smooth movement within Beijing (Hu 8).
New developments have been seen around the Forbidden City as part of government reconstruction (Wang 23). New architectural materials have also been used to replace the ancient architectural materials to resolve the issue of limited space. Concrete buildings have been encouraged in the city to solve the problem of limited space, and the city planners have adopted the development of high buildings to replace the wide courtyard of the Forbidden City. Increased population in Beijing led to the transformation of the Forbidden City.
According to Chen, the desire to transform the many urban centers in China has affected the ancient Chinese (42). Due to limited space that has come with increased population, the high-rise structures have been erected in many urban areas, which have interfered with the traditional skylines of Chinese cities. The high-rise buildings that now dominate many urban centers in China have affected the visual effects of the historical features of China like the Forbidden City (Chen 12). The urban planning in China primarily focuses on environmental pollution and traffic jams, but it has neglected some of the social factors that are valued by the Chinese. Modernization and materialism have led to the destruction of some historical sites to erect modern housing, and many traditional houses have been replaced by high-rise building to conserve the limited space (Chen 8). However, there are some urban planning policies that are aimed at protecting the Chinese heritage. The city plan of Beijing that was drafted in 1993 protected the historical and cultural sites (Wang 4). The seventh chapter of 2004-2020 Beijing city plans is also deliberately put in place the historical sites of the city. Therefore, despite the need to reconstruct the city, city planners are keen to maintain the historical and cultural sites in various Chinese urban areas.
The significant reconstruction of the Forbidden City started during the era of the People's Republic of China, where there were some proposals that were formulated to change the city into a public park (Zhe 2). Some of the proposals were made to change it into a transport hub or entertainment site. Consequently, the Forbidden City was reconstructed by demolishing Hall of Middle Harmony, and some of the gates were also destroyed. However, a lot of reconstruction took place when a decision was made to change the Forbidden City into the Palace Museum. In 2005, Chinese Government came up with a plan to restore and reconstruct the Forbidden City (Zhe 2). The government has redesigned the interior of the city to make it appealing to the visitors. The gardens of the city that were destroyed in 1923 due to the fire menace have also been rebuilt. Also, the government has also constructed some commercial areas in the city where some trade can take place and some places where photography takes place.
The new city built by Japanese poised a security threat on the treasures that were stored in the Forbidden City and the people that were living in it. As a result, the local were forced to evacuate the treasures that were kept in the city of Nanjing. The evacuation of the treasure made the city less attractive; it was left empty without treasures and the number of people living in the city also reduced. The invasion by Japanese made the city to be deserted due to security threats because they targeted the treasures kept in the Forbidden City (Hongkui 3).
Research Plan
General Methodology: The assertion by Lynch (Linda & Wang 57) provides a good demonstration how architectural research. He draws his arguments from the perception, city planning, and methodology to shape his research plan. Lynch is more concerned with the orientation and perception literature as the knowledge of the city planning and methodology is embedded in the work. According to Linda and Wang, the subjective image of the city is can produce a community of people that communicates a lot than the physical objects (58). Therefore, a proper back and forth interaction of the researcher between the audience and facts is the key to the successful architectural research. These illustrations are shown in the diagram below.
As stated earlier, this study utilizes the idea gained from the literature review as a conceptual domain that provides the necessary genetic links to the research questions. Without historical literature, the researcher would find it challenging to make connection with the current state of affairs (Griffiths, Camic, & Hutton 675). Therefore, the literature review helps to uncover various connections that give confidence to the problem situated in the conceptual framework.
Since this research is exploratory in nature, it will apply the use of qualitative research methodology to help gain understanding of the insights, opinions, and underlying reasons related to the research questions and objective. The qualitative research methodology would enable the researcher to engage respondents directly and to provide a naturalistic inquiry to the study question (Kielborn 54).
This research will utilize the primary and secondary sources to help answer the research questions appropriately. The primary sources that will be used in this research is contemporary under the period of the study and they help to give credibility to the secondary sources (Kielborn87). Interviews will only be conducted to relevant persons in relation to the study. The main sources of primary sources will come from interviews while the secondary sources will come from books, journals, reports, magazines, among other relevant publications.
The interview questions will be administered by the researcher in relation to the research questions. The people who will be conducted will include the government officials, urban planners, the workers at the Forbidden City and other city residents. The interview will target a population of 100 persons. After conducting the interviews, the data from the interviews will be analyzed by thematic analysis. The data will then be presented in graphs, tables, and figures.
Research question: How does the urban planning change in the capital of China affect the change on the Forbidden City (reconstruction)?
Resources Required: One of the significant resources that will be extensively used in this research is the internet. On the internet, there are vast amounts of literature from books, journals, popular magazines as credible organizations that will help in the research.
Works Cited
Chen, Xiaoyan. "Monitoring and evaluation in China’s urban planning system: A case study of Xuzhou’." Unpublished case study prepared for the Global Report on Human Settlements (2009).
Griffiths, K. Camic, P.M and Hutton, J.M. Participant Experiences of a Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy Group for Cardiac Rehabilitation. Journal of Heath Psychology. 14(2009)675. Sage Publication,
Hongkui, Jim. "The setting of the Forbidden City and its protection." (2005): 1-10.
Hu, Xiao. "Preserving the Old Beijing: The First Conflict between Chinese Architects and the Communist Government in the 1950s." James A. Rawley Graduate Conference in the Humanities. 2006.
Kielborn, Summer. Characteristics of Qualitative Research. EDRS. 2001. Print
Linda, Groat & Wang, David. Architectural Research Methods. Wiley. 2013. Print
Nicholls, Chris. The Advantages of using Qualitative Research Methods. Alexander Technique College. 2013
Smith, Michael E. "Form and meaning in the earliest cities: A new approach to ancient urban planning." Journal of Planning History 6.1 (2007): 3-47.
Wang, Mengjia. "Historical Layering and Historic Preservation in Relation to Urban Planning and Protecting Local Identity: City Study of Nanjing." (2015).
Zhe, Lao. “The Forbidden City's Demolition, Overridden” (2010). Retrieved from http://english.caixin.com/2010-11-08/100196808.html
