Neither derivatives of Western cities nor
isolated from them, Chinese cities in the past four decades are perhaps
best
captured in their characteristic complexity through a concept in
biological
evolution: drift.
Unlike mutation, adaptation, and migration, drift of
phenotypes takes place when chance events terminate some features and
allow
other features to flourish. The Chinese culture, structurally divergent
from
the common Indo-European civilizational roots of Western cultures, can
be seen
to function as a set of "chance events" in the normative processes of
urban
change. The consequences of these "bottlenecks" of urban evolution are
both
fascinating and instructive: Chinese cities, when studied with this
framework,
begin to acquire an entirely different order of significance, injecting
urban
theory and practice with fresh vigor and insights.
Through thirteen case
studies, more than 60 original maps and drawings, and extensive
photographic
documentation, the book reveals how three "drift triggers" - ten
thousand
things, figuration, and group action - have altered typological
development in
Chinese cities in recent decades.