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| STUDY ON THE EVOLUTION OF CHINESE URBAN STRUCTURE BASED ON THE GENDER SYSTEM |
| HUANG Chun-xiao1, GU Chao-lin2 |
1. College of Geography & Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China;
2. College of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China |
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Abstract Feminist geography is one of the main approaches of geography in later 20th century and has significantly theoretical influences. According to the feminist theory, classic geography solves space problem by neutral or male standard based on male knowledge system and value evaluation, The distribution of space resources is very unfair between men and women, demonstrating clearly that women is subordinated by men. Feminist theory focuses on revealing and changing the essence of male system in geographic research area and tries to establish female geography to differ from present theories. Feminist theory changes the concept of space. Gender difference and gender culture become one of the essential thoughts of geography research, Feminist theory has widely been used in urban development in the West while little attention has been paid to it in China. From the viewpoint of gender development in China, this paper tries to "find" women in territory of both history and geography, aiming to find the relationship between gender system and urban structures. Compared with men, women's life has been restricted by social culture and social system since ancient China and had been changed greatly after 1949. But there are still many problems and differences in the evolution process of gender culture and urban space. Based on the evolution of gender system in China, this paper discusses women lives and urban structures in 4 history periods:in the ancient feudal era, it was the clan and man-powered society and city was Unitarianism; in the modern colonist era, influenced by both of the women's movement and traditional culture, city was dualistic; in the socialist planned economy era, gender equality had developed and city became more functionally mixed and levelly structured; in the contemporary consuming era, women and materialism have become the dominations in city restructuring. This paper concludes that urban structure is identical both with gender system and the development of consumer society, women can influence the urbanization processes and the urban morphology much more or much deeply.
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Received: 06 October 2008
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2009, Vol. 24 
