Awaking the old street of liberation : historic streetscape study of Jie Fang Street in Baise city, Guangxi province, China

Abstract

In 2019, the Baise (百色市, translated as “the city of a hundred colors”) Municipal Government proposed and implemented a work plan called “Historic Town Restoration" in order to deeply explore the historical and cultural connotations of the city and highlight its culture, restoring and conserving the historic sites and buildings of historical value in the Jie Fang Street (解放街，translated as “Liberation Street”), as well as continuing the historical context of the old town and re-injecting humanistic vitality. In this context, this dissertation takes the excavation of the heritage elements of Jie Fang Street as an entry point to analyse and conclude conservation methods to further enhance the vitality of the street. The method to do so is by means of first identifying the significance of the heritage properties and the historic streetscape of Jie Fang Street, followed by mapping the street’s cultural heritage elements that give the place its distinct character and identity. The dissertation covers the cultural, economic and social aspects of Jie Fang Street revitalisation project to arrive at an understanding of what has worked and what has not, so that there will be better clarity on the way forward. The cultural aspect of Jie Fang Street pays emphasis on the expression of the traditional commercial and humanistic environment, which has great significance in building the cultural tourism brand of the old street, enhancing the identify of Baise city and passing on the regional culture. Whereas the economic aspect will be conducive to the businesses and tourism support needed by the street to sustain the revitalisation. However, it is in the social aspect that the author wishes to emphasize on. This is because as the spirit of place in Jie Fang Street is being gradually reshaped through changes introduced by revitalisation, it will be important to raise the awareness of local cultural identity so that the cultural heritage assets of the place will be protected and maintained so as not to lose the cultural tourism attractiveness of Jie Fang Street. Such a sustainable outcome would perhaps be the best long-term result one can hoped for in the revitalisation of historic urban places.