Architecture form has been one of the hot areas in the field of architectural design, which reflects regional architectural features to some extent. However, most of the existing methods for architecture form belong to the field of qualitative analysis. Accordingly, quantitative methods are urgently required to extract regional architectural style, identify architecture form, and to and further provide the quantitative evaluation. Based on machine learning technology, this paper proposes a novel method to quantify the feature, form, and evaluation of regional architectures. First, we construct a training dataset—the Chinese Ancient Architecture Image Dataset (CAAID), in which each image is labeled by some experts as having at least one of three typical features such as “High Pedestal”, “Deep Eave” and “Elegant Gable”. Second, the CAAID is used to train our neural network model to identify three kinds of architectural features. In order to reveal the traditional forms of regional architecture in Hubei, we built the Hubei Architectural Heritage Image Dataset (HAHID) as our object dataset, in which we collected architectural images from four different regions including southeast, northeast, southwest, and northwest Hubei. Our object dataset is then fed into our neural network model to predict the typical features for those four regions in Hubei. The obtained quantitative results show that the feature identification of the architectural form is consistent with that of regional architectures in Hubei. Moreover, we can observe from the quantitative results that four geographic regions in Hubei show variation; for instance, the feature of the ‘elegant gable’ in southeastern Hubei is more evident, while the “Deep Eave” in the northwest is more evident. In addition, some new building images are selected to feed into our neural network model and the output quantitative results can effectively identify the corresponding feature style of regional architectures in Hubei. Therefore, our proposed method based on machine learning can be used not only as a quantitative tool to extract features of regional architectures, but also as an effective approach to evaluate architecture forms in the urban renewal process.

Over the past decade, enhancing the quality of cities and building vibrant urban streets has become a hot topic in urban planning in China. Although there are many studies on how the built environment affects street vitality, the unique built environment of the street space in historic areas, as the core node of the city, has not been fully explored. This study constructs an association model between the street built environment (SBE) and street vitality in historic areas and evaluates the influence of SBE on street vitality by spatial analysis and statistical analysis methods using POI data, road network data, and Baidu heat map data, taking Wuhan, China, as an example. The results showed that (1) appropriate built environment development intensity, street width-to-height ratio, and facade ratio of historic buildings on the street frontage all can promote street vitality; (2) the spatial distribution of historic buildings converted to commercial functions in historic areas has a high consistency with the spatial distribution of street vitality, and the consistency is significantly higher than that of general urban streets; (3) historic buildings converted to residential functions and those in vacancy or under renovation in historic areas have a significant inhibitory effect on street vitality; and (4) the spatial distribution of transportation facilities and the spatial distribution of street vitality are mutually exclusive in historic areas. This study proposes a method for studying the SBE and street vitality in historic areas and initially explores the relationship between the influences of the SBE on street vitality in historic areas. Since the functional replacement of historic buildings can affect the street vibrancy in historic areas, our findings suggest moderating commercial renovation rather than simply repairing or maintaining the status for enhancing the street vitality. Moreover, the intervention of transportation facilities will reduce the street vitality in historic areas, which provides a basis for the strategy of renewing historic areas into pedestrian street spaces.

Cultural landscape heritage refers to the rare and irreplaceable cultural landscapes recognized by UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee. It is recognized as a “common works of nature and human beings” of outstanding significance and universal value, and is a type of world heritage. Dueto construction, land isincreasingly limited in urban and rural areasin the process of urbanization, and cultural landscape heritage faces a huge threat, especially larger culturallandscapeheritagelocated at the edgesof cities. However, most of the existing studies have mainly focused on the material protection of heritage but have not paid enough attention to the non-material aspects of heritage sites, failing to reveal the inseparable nature of heritage and land. Therefore, this study takes sustainable development efficiency as its analysis tool, examines two pieces of cultural landscape heritage (the Panlongcheng site and the Tomb of the King of the Ming Dynasty) in the urban edge area of Wuhan, China as examples, innovates and establishes a multidimensional evaluation method based on the GIS-DEA-Ml model, and compares the dynamic changes of the spatial development efficiency and non-spatial development efficiency of the above two cultural landscape heritage cases. The results show that: both the spatial development efficiency and non-spatial development efficiency of Panlongcheng from 2010 to 2019 are significantly higher than that of the Tomb. This method makes up for the deficiency of traditional subjective qualitative analysis. It can be used to study the development efficiency of cultural landscape heritage more objectively and comprehensively, and promote the overall sustainable development of material and intangible cultural heritage. It can provide the basis for early decision-making and post-implementation evaluation for the preservation and utilization of cultural landscape heritage under the background of urban renewal.

Britain's colonial cities benefitted greatly from town planning practices that originated in the mother country. Hong Kong, one of many British colonial cities, grew from a small fishing village to an international metropolis. Urban development in the colony from 1841 to 1941 was continuous and systematic but ended abruptly with the Japanese invasion in World War II. The period was marked by rapid urban growth which brought with it many problems for the colonial management. This paper reviews the urban history of Hong Kong over the 100-year period from 1841 and explores the development motives of the colonial administration. The colonial government appointed British professionals for specialized roles and their services were apparent in significant milestones in the city's town planning and construction. The paper highlights the contributions of a few significant personnel: A.T. Gordon, C.G. Cleverly, Osbert Chadwick, David J. Owen and Wilfred H. Owen. By describing the works of these British colonial professionals, the authors hope to illustrate their impact on the development of Hong Kong, linking history to the present and filling gaps in the study of Hong Kong's early town planning. Both archive research and on-site study were employed in the preparation of this paper which is expected to complement other studies of colonial city planning in Asia and Africa.

When deciding on and creating their own settlement environment, humans’ relationships with water resources have evolved. From the earliest times when they observed water and learned about its characteristics and laws to create artificial rivers, to the gradual development and use of water resources to create water plants and pumping stations, to the management of water resources to set up customs and dams to prevent and manage water hazards.To lay the groundwork for more sustainable development of the relationship between humans and water in the city, it is important to understand and summarize this state of change. Wuhan, known as the “City of a Thousand Lakes”, is a typical case of studying the traditional relationship between Chinese people and water, and can better provide modern cities with the value of historical experience in sustainable development. Therefore, this study takes the Hankou town of Wuhan from 1635 to 1949 as the research object, uses historical maps and written materials as data sources, and creates a database of historical information based on the water system of Hankou and the sites of artificial settlements such as buildings and streets. It takes quantitative analysis and map visualization techniques of the GIS platform from the perspective of quantitative historical research. Firstly, it creates a database of historical information based on the water system of Hankou and the sites of artificial settlements such as buildings and streets. Secondly, it gives the quantitation about the human–water relationship in Hankou by applying the spatial analysis methods of buffer analysis. The study’s findings demonstrate that from 1635 to 1864 there were an increasing number of artificial settlement sites that were distributed along the water system, keeping a reasonable distance from the water; from 1684 to 1905, people constructed dikes to prevent flooding, which resulted in an increase in urban space; and from 1905 to 1949, the development of Hankou shifted toward the Hanjiang River and the Yangtze River. The procedure shows a change in the relationship between avoiding water and subsequently managing water and using water. The results of the study indicate the following: (1) Water is essential for the environment of human settlements. (2) Human activities have an impact on the structure of water systems. (3) There is a high degree of coupling between the Hankou urban water system and the sites of artificial settlements. It proves that the relationship between humans and water is very close in the process of modern urbanization in Hankou. In building a traditional habitat environment to regulate water, it is consistent with the ancient Chinese concepts of “harmony between man and nature” and “the best place to live is close to water conservancy but also avoid flood.” This paper is helpful for re-examining and establishing the harmonious relationship between humans and water to encourage sustainable urban growth and reshape the urban spatial environment with Chinese characteristics. It also provides a method based on quantitative analysis for studying the evolution history of urban settlement environments.