A comparative longevity study of traditional buildings between rural and urban areas in Pearl River Delta, China

Abstract

<p>The rapid economic development and urbanization in Pearl River Delta of China, have changed<br>the physical environment dramatically but also led to a crisis of the short life span of<br>contemporary housing. When the green building concept cannot help provide the appropriate<br>answer, many scholars turn to traditional buildings. Unlike in rural cases, traditional buildings in<br>urban area obviously exhibit diversity and long-term usage. However, most of current studies<br>focus on the preservation of historical features but do not analyze why and how such buildings<br>can last a such long time. Historical cases in both two areas might have a certain number of<br>common sustainable factors because they evolved from a similar prototype in history. For<br>a better understanding of their common features and why they have different performances,<br>theories closely related to the longevity and the “level” strategy will be introduced. These<br>theories aimed to increase the life span of buildings and pay more attention to the interrelation<br>between people and built environment in the temporal dimension. Within this framework,<br>several historical cases from the urban area and a traditional village will be compared and<br>studied by using the “level” division method, and abundant longevity evidence will be revealed<br>and analyzed. As part of a complex and consistent research aimed at constructing an evaluation<br>system, the results of this investigation will initially evaluate their long-lasting performances<br>qualitatively under the two different contexts.<br></p>