Typo-morphology in the Cognition of Traditional Landscape Region—Case Study of Urban Design Project in Changting Town, China

Abstract Typo-morphology can be seen as the research perspective and methodology of urban morphology. The terms typo-morphology are typological and morphological because they describe urban forms according to the detailed classification of building types, emphasizing the relationship between building types and overall form in the evolution of urban morphology. In order to better integrate urban morphological research with practice to identify traditional landscape region, it is worthwhile to apply the perspective and method of typo-morphology to deeply recognize the traditional landscape characteristics of the old town based on local types. This study examines the characteristics of GIS platform on the basis of the tradition of Conzen and Caniggia through the case of our urban renewal projects in Changting Town, a historic town in the south of China. First of all, investigation and learning of local building types with traditional characteristics are the tools to understand the basic unit of urban form preliminarily. Secondly, presenting traditional landscape characteristics from two aspects including characteristics of building composition and spatial perception, and doing some simple data overlay analysis helps us to clarify more scientific traditional landscape areas. Finally, we have determined the reasonable traditional landscape region by combining the discussion of other historical information in details. The paper concludes that the term typo-morphology are meaningful in delineating traditional landscape region, which makes an important contribution to the renewal and protection of old town in China.