Boya Guo

This article examines the unique self-organised spatial and social structure of the Kat O coastal settlements in Hong Kong. By problematising the identity politics between built forms and landscapes, this paper analyses the village’s deep-rooted history within the land‒water dichotomies, which have been shaped by government survey methods and conservation-development policies. Specifically, it presents the peri-urban condition of Kat O’s coastal settlements as a departure from the traditional urban‒rural continuum perspectives. Empirically, the field documentation of the self-built additions presents critical perspectives into the static understanding of land ownership, addition and adaptation strategies and the building materialities embedded within the government survey methods and conservation-development policies. Theoretically, this study provides an understanding of these coastal settlements as cultural landscapes that are dynamically related to the environment, as well as the changing sociocultural relationships among different communities on the basis of their unique conceptions of habitation and living. By examining past and current conservation policies, this article advocates for a water-centric vision for countryside conservation in Hong Kong that transcends the commonly adopted terrecentric perspective.

The urban metabolism concept is crucial for understanding city–environment interactions. Yet, its use in urban design is limited, and the examination of diverse design hypotheses with the potential to influence metabolic activities is seldom undertaken. This research addresses this gap and aims to analyze how the concept of metabolism (1) Can be leveraged by professionals for making urban design hypotheses, and (2) allows for the assessment of each of these hypotheses to reduce adverse environmental impacts and inform urban design decisions. Focusing on Paris’ Champs–Elysées redesign, in collaboration with PCA-STREAM, an urban design and architecture firm, this research employs fieldwork observations, tenant/store owner interviews, and specific metabolic models for water, energy, and materials. The results demonstrate that while redesigning the avenue’s public space potentially impacts the whole Champs–Elysées metabolism, this impact remains relatively limited. Intervening on objects with higher metabolic activities and using more efficient technologies might be more fruitful in terms of adverse environmental impact reduction, at least in this context.

This chapter explores the contemporary Chinese architectural mimicry phenomenon with its spatial and temporal dynamics embedded in “copying from the West” and “copying from the past.” Chinese copying with its rich tradition is now receiving biased judgment grounded in the dominant modern Western ideologies of “authenticity” and “originality.” However, this chapter argues “authenticity” and “originality” are cultural constructions or invented traditions. Two case studies of recent Chinese architectural mimicry, Jackson Hole and W-town in Beijing, bring us to the formation processes of core cultural values and contemporary Chinese identity, which are embedded in the collisions between the mimesis tradition and creativity and between Western influences and its reciprocation under a Chinese context in the contemporary media-driven moment. Multiple temporalities have been created through copying and thus challenge a linear historical narrative. The chapter ultimately questions how Chinese copycat environments interrogate the “hegemony of modern preservation theories and practices” to further examine the notion of “modernity” in its general sense.