URBAN SPACE RESTRUCTURING TOWARDS A MORE SUSTAINABLE URBAN FORM - A STUDY OF CHINA'S WORK UNIT IN THE CITY OF WUHAN

Abstract

Taking the spatial restructuring of the existing urban areas as the main proposition for sustainable city making, the first objective of this study is to develop a practical approach for design professionals to manipulate spatial structures to make cities more sustainable. The physical accessibility measured by a set of origin-destination (OD) performances is proposed as the proxy for sustainable performance measurement of urban quarters and city’s spatial patterns. The empirical study is paid on China's contemporary urban space restructuring, using the city of Wuhan as a case. A particular spatial pattern--China's work unit (a self-sufficient pattern, where the workplaces, residential areas and social services are either closely juxtaposed or partly intermingled in proximity within one or several walled compounds) is specifically elaborated. Some implications are produced for researches and policy makers on spatial restructuring and sustainable city making.