Cite as:
Whitehand J W R, Gu K, Whitehand S M, 2011, "Fringe belts and socioeconomic change in China" Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 38(1) 41 – 60
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Fringe belts and socioeconomic change in China

J W R Whitehand, Kai Gu, Susan M Whitehand

Received 23 August 2009; in revised form 4 February 2010; published online 4 October 2010

Abstract. The fringe-belt concept, though much studied by urban morphologists in the West, has been largely uninvestigated in the markedly different cultural environments of Eastern Asia. After an outline of the concept and considerations relating to its investigation in China, a fringe-belt study is carried out in the Chinese city of Pingyao. Comparisons are made with the findings of previous fringe-belt studies. The major fringe belt that has developed in Pingyao has features characteristic of fringe belts in the West but others that reflect a succession of different policies by authoritarian Chinese governments in the course of the twentieth century. The need for thorough morphological investigations as a basis for sound conservation planning is highlighted.

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