Negotiating land with water reclamation settlements and landscape formation in Pearl River Delta

Abstract

This dissertation examines the shift in the geographic pattern of the Pearl River Delta over time, taking into account the extensive land reclamation that took place from the late-fourteenth to the early-twentieth century. It discusses landscapes and settlements that developed on the reclamation land with the landfill itself while identifying various prototypes of landscape formation. The dissertation seeks to understand why and how the landscapes are shaped and explore the logic and mechanisms underlying the morphology. The argument demonstrates that the physical appearance of the Pearl River Delta is not the result of the domination of a single power but is rather the outcome of competition between human agency and natural forces, as well as shifts in the idea and perception of the relationship between land and water. The dissertation also considers how the environmental and geographical differences of land and water influenced the pattern of human migration. The argument advanced here proposes that the geomorphological characteristics of the delta determine the subdivision of the reclamation settlements and landscapes. Further, this work scrutinizes the impact on cultural and technical communication and how technological progress and differences in the reclamation mechanism result in various built environments. Through a feedback loop, the latter has reshaped the relationship between land and water. The dissertation contains six chapters. The first two chapters attempt to illustrate the origins of the research and establish a macro-framework background for the Pearl River Delta’s geography, society and ecology through three key points of land-water, migration and technology, which also serve as central issues. The third to fifth ones are the main chapters that discuss different types of reclamation landscapes and settlements and are organized in an implied chronological sequence. The final chapter returns to the three key cross-cutting issues. It concludes by placing the three types of reclamation landscapes in a current and contemporary context, examining their delineation, transition, and re-expansion.