CONSIDERATIONS ON NEIGHBOURHOOD UNIT IN THE OLD CITY OF BEIJING- An Analysis of Qianlong Jingcheng Quantu, Map of the Capital City of Qianlong Period (1750)

摘要

Qianlong Jingcheng Quantu, the oldest map of Beijing drawn in the Qianlong period (1750), depicts various institutional facilities and courtyard houses known as siheyuan in the Inner City of Beijing. This paper, referring a literature written in Japan, discusses the hierarchical organization of the neighbourhood structure and then studies the relationship of residential block and hierarchic units of neighbourhood with the distribution of community facilities. This paper will further show the validity of our earlier proposal on the basic model of a residential block. It will also analyse the transformation process of the Beijing courtyard residences. The paper illustrates the formation and historical transformation of physical environment of the residential quarters of Beijing, which may serve as one important basis to formulate guidelines on the conservation and development of the historic environment of Beijing.