2018: L'ADC UNESCO-Chair "Sustainable Urban Quality" Series#5 (eng) Mountainous Human Settlements in Guizhou

The research presented in this book examines Guizhou ethnic minority settlements located in the eastern part of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, in the southwest of China. The specificity and the relevance of these settlements, therefore, refers to a combination of anthropological, architectural, environmental issues. Guizhou is a province of ethnic groups since thousands of years engaged in farming or semi-nomadic production. These ethnic minority settlements were self contained and balanced communities which gradually developed their own specific and unique culture of farming, settling and inhabiting. As many precious and valuable historical human settlements still standing around the world, whose architecture and urban features are not easily replicable for culture, skills, social and economic conditions, the Guizhou ethnic minority settlements are tangible architectural heritage  including intangible values experiencing high risks due to their unavoidable physical decay, demography, urban development pressure. Zhou Zhengxu grew up as a early-stage scholar in a very unique and outstanding academic environment, the Institute of Architectural and Urban studies of Tsinghua University, founded and raised by prof. Wu Liangyong, the most eminent living Chinese modern architect and scholar, gathering the most competitive scholars in the field of urban design and planning of China.   Contents Foreword by Anna Irene Del Monaco The endless and essential lesson from historical human settlements Chapter 1 A Review on Settlement and Architecture of Guizhou Mountainous Minority Groups 1.1 Review on Major Study Stages 1.2 Dwellings and settlements: two major research topics 1.3 Multidisciplinary Research on settlements 1.4 Reflections and attempts on the development of settlements of minority groups 1.5 Summary Reference   Chapter 2 Discussion on the Object, Method and Key Issues 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Sorting out entirety: what is the holistic space of the mountainous minority settlements in Guizhou? 2.3 Formation Exploration: temptation to reconstruct the history of the formation and evolution of settlements 2.4 Problem Consciousness: The constant focus on the core problems in construction of settlements in historical situation 2.5 Conclusion Reference   Chapter 3 Case of Buyi Settlements in Baishui Valley, Biandan - Mountain Area 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Prerequisites: huge survival pressure 3.3 Formation: settlement space in response to survival pressure 3.4 Evolution: the development and adjustment of settlement space 3.5 Conclusion Reference   Chapter 4 Case of Miao Settlements in Taoyao Valley, Leigong - Mountain Area 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Migration and settling down 4.3 Construction of Settlement Space corresponding to the livelihood mode of the mountainous rice-cultivation agriculture 4.3 Miao ethnic group settlements in the Taoyao River basin 4.5 Conclusions and Discussion Reference   Chapter 5 Case of Dong Settlements in Duliu Valley, South - Dong Area 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Survival, Migration, and Site Selection 5.3 River Valley Plain Settlements: Establishment of the Basic Pattern of mountain-water-paddy field-woods-village 5.4 Mountian valley flat and mountainside slope settlements: transformation, shifting, and optimization of the basic pattern 5.5 Research Results and Discussion Reference Afterword by Anna Irene Del MonacoPost-rural south. Countryside s.h.i.f.t. [Silicon. Heritage. Immigration. Food. Transports]. A brief research proposal for Southern Italy.