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| STUDY ON PLACE NARRATIVE AND ITS APPLICATION TO URBAN CULTURE CHARACTERISTICS AND IDENTITY' SHAPING: A CASE OF THE RENEWAL OF WATERFRONT HISTORIC SITES IN SHANGHAI |
| LU Shao-ming |
| School of Architecture, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China |
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Abstract Urban Cultural characteristics and identity are becoming extremely important during the process of urban renewal today, which are normally related to three elements, such as people, place and product. The paper focuses on place and its interrelation with urban culture via the method of narration. Although place is becoming one of main topics in geography, architecture, landscape and urban studies, the interplay of place-narrative in characterizing urban culture has not been addressed, particularly in these historic sites and memory places. Based on narrative language and strategies, it refines the cultural meaning and represents the historic information of a place to create place experience and make the identity of place. The body of this research explores several important strategies of place narratives with urban culture characteristics for the renewal of urban historical sites. The strategies could be summarized as follow:the first is to keep existing grids and activate thematic scenes dictated by historical information to create stages for free activities; the second is to cultivate old buildings with collective memories to show true and vivid urban culture with regional features; the third is to set props such as sculptures, distinctive furniture and materials with identical sign to shape features of urban spaces in the same cultural context; the fourth is to integrate different implicit natural landscape into open spaces accordingly to the degree of demonstrating community stories. These strategies can not only provide a critical framework for improving the humanistic qualities and cultural characteristics of urban space, communicating historical stories, recalling collective memories, but also offer district opportunities to inspire non-formal activities, promote social interaction and communication in the street level, and to construct identity of culture.
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Received: 19 January 2012
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2013, Vol. 28 
