Papers by Gerardo Semprebon
Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, 2022
Heritage tourism in Chinese historic sites has gained importance and has become a widely adopted ... more Heritage tourism in Chinese historic sites has gained importance and has become a widely adopted development strategy that uses architecture and urban ensembles to sell cultural experiences. These sites, immersed in heritage settings or traditional ambiences, embody an extraordinary dimension of Chinese tangible and intangible culture, which call for in-depth studies and critical understanding. This paper discusses how a condition of fragility has materialized under the aegis of economic boosts. The impact of cultural tourism on historic sites is assessed by considering two similar water towns expressing exceptional cultural values, Zhujiajiao and Liantang. The methodology envisaged ethnographic tools to highlight how development strategies have altered local communities, discussing the consequences on physical authenticity and sociocultural equilibriums.
Architecture, 2022
Countryside development is receiving paramount attention in China, where political and cultural a... more Countryside development is receiving paramount attention in China, where political and cultural agendas promote rural revitalization as the core campaign to mitigate rural–urban disparities. The driving idea is that the rural can emancipate from its agricultural dependence to embrace more complex and integrated cycles of activities, such as leisure, health, productivity, market, and cultural services. The momentum reached by rural development in China has opened a new di-mension for contemporary design culture, where the countryside has materialized as a frontier of architectural research. The paper synthesizes research by design experience carried out between 2017 and 2020 against the backdrop of the development program for a rural settlement of the Fujian Province, China. From the site reading to the experimental transformation proposal, the different phases offer sparks and arguments to put forward new understandings of designing in transitional rural contexts.
In Folio, 2021
The main obstacle to alleviating inequalities in China remains the urban-rural divide, formally c... more The main obstacle to alleviating inequalities in China remains the urban-rural divide, formally constituted by the Household Registration System, that splits the population into two groups: urban-recorded and rural-recorded residents. Such discrimination has generated a tireless migration flow from one realm to the other, exacerbating spatial segregation. This paper discusses the transitional condition of the Chinese countryside, conceived as an experimental field forging a new type of rurality. Alongside problematic design-related themes, promising arguments emerge, whose outcomes challenge the conventional notions of rural and urban.
AGATHÓN - International Journal of Architecture, Art and Design, 2021
Although the circular economy has occupied a crucial place in the development agendas of industri... more Although the circular economy has occupied a crucial place in the development agendas of industrialized countries in recent years, the construction sector still seems far from a mature understanding of the cultural dimensions related to the notion of circularity since, until now, its focus has been mainly on improving technological solutions. However, the circular economy opens up new operational frontiers beyond the scale of the construction detail. It embraces more complex social and cultural fields that ultimately question the changing relationship between man and inhabited space. The article assumes this perspective and examines the possible implications of circular logics’ spatial organizations at larger scales that have a great impact on settlement forms, proposing a critical comparison between two case studies characterized by two built fabrics with different densities. The first one is the regeneration of the Ilot de l’Arc de Triomphe district (high density and compactness), and the second one is the transformation of Contrada Bricconi (low density and rarefaction). The two design experiences ensure a second life to inhabited artifacts and soils.
OFFICINA, 2021
https://issuu.com/antefermaedizioni/docs/33officina_web.
The text summarizes the notion of “Ecolo... more https://issuu.com/antefermaedizioni/docs/33officina_web.
The text summarizes the notion of “Ecological Civilization”, the core ideology adopted by Chinese leadership to frame national economic development and mitigate rural-urban inequalities. The current debate on the future of rural areas, involved in a critical phase of transition, and some recent revitalization experiences set architectural design into a new cultural dimension. The paper synthesizes an extended literature review and the results of the on-field surveys carried out between 2017 and 2019.
Frontiers of Architectural Research
In the period between the idealistic vision of the 'Reshaping society' and Thatcherism, in the so... more In the period between the idealistic vision of the 'Reshaping society' and Thatcherism, in the socalled 'Swinging London', the second wave of modernism is facing the demands and the quantities of bombed cities. The architects of that season, moved by political ideals and interpreting the cultural ferment, have been responsible for shaping the city on the collective dreams and aspirations of the society and for forging the identity of London as unique experience in the international panorama. This paper focuses on the spatial relations between city and home, how they raised in that specific historical context, in which form they realized, and what are the architectural implications for current design culture. The methodology, based both on the literature review and on the graphic comparison of six case-studies, is articulated in four steps. First, the six case-studies are selected according to specific criteria. Second, the sociohistorical background is reported. Third, the cases are shortly introduced using text descriptions and graphic tools. Fourth, the cases are compared. This process leads to the definition of four transversal architectural items: the density, the settlement pattern, the basement, and the threshold, intended as elements able to raise connections between past and contemporary design culture.
Środowisko Mieszkaniowe
With the turn of the millennium, Chinese central government issued arrays of policies targeted to... more With the turn of the millennium, Chinese central government issued arrays of policies targeted to promote virtuous cycles of vitalization in rural areas, mitigate the socioeconomic gap with urbanised regions, and face the problem of food security. The current transition is leading China to have an ever-saturated land where the boundaries between human settlements are elusive and blurred, shaping what is scholarly labelled as an urban-rural continuum. The settlement's schemes realized over the last years, that consists of small or medium size towns as the result of natural villages relocation or new agglomerations, intercepts the call for urbanity, and its related amenities in terms of infrastructure and services-or, in aword, the desire for ahouse in the city-emerging from the marginalized rural citizens. The authors found that such controversial practices are shaping the new Chinese countryside which, conceived as aform of sustainable development by national programs, turned out to impact significantly on the people lifestyle as well as the built environment. Based on several months on-field observations and recent literature, the paper reveals atwo-fold degree of resilience: weak about the real production of space for dwelling and robust about the intangible culture composed by indigenous beliefs and symbolism entangled with the concepts of home and family
The Plan Journal, 2021
The essay critically addresses several solutions and strategies for tackling urban inequalities t... more The essay critically addresses several solutions and strategies for tackling urban inequalities to uphold the recent “right to the ‘healthy’ city” spatial paradigm based on early social science works by Emily Skinner and Jeffrey R. Masuda (2013) and then developed as a urban planning component by the interdisciplinary research group Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (2019). The authors propose a transdisciplinary approach in dealing with city renewal-regeneration and the safer use of its spaces. The interrelation between urbanism and architecture, including environmental design, mobility, and social relations, among others, would merge to imagine a more ecologically and socially balanced urban milieu. The paper analyses four specific case studies assumed as proper approaches in dealing with the pandemic, critically reflecting on the application of “Superblocks,” “Tactical Urbanism,” and “15-minute City” concepts by illustrating and comparing their application in three global cities (respectively Barcelona, Beijing, and Milan). In a nutshell, the authors demonstrate that these policies have their crucial feature in being effective applications formulated for different contexts, proposing successful strategies to overcome health, environment, and mobility issues in all the contemporary global cities.
Proceedings of the 1st ICONA International Conference on Architecture. “Creativity and Reality: the art of building future cities”, 2020
Rural settlements in China face different critical challenges in the current civilisation course,... more Rural settlements in China face different critical challenges in the current civilisation course, which aims at drastically alleviating poverty and building a prosperous, harmonious and beautiful nation. Indeed with the turn of the millennium, the Chinese central government started promulgating arrays of policies targeted to promote virtuous cycles of restructuring in rural areas, which culminate with the recent Five-year Strategic Plan for Rural Revitalization (2018-2022) and situate the countryside renaissance as one of the top priority of Beijing’s agenda. However, the dramatic frictions between the urban and the rural are far to be narrowed, remaining the main obstacle to inclusive nationwide development. In the countryside, the transition from a planned to a market economy is coupling with the production of new architectural forms and spatial aggregations which are reshaping the rural territories. Taking two villages in Fujian Province, the paper compares the spatial implication of their spontaneous and planned land-use transitions. Indeed, the selected villages represent a compelling sample of current policies implementation, since one has just been the object of re-developmentwhile the other is in the process of. The purpose is to investigate the quality and intensity of their patterns of change. The methodology includes both fieldworks, based on several months of on-site surveys and deskwork, with the implementation of graphic elaborations. The results identify and describe three patterns of development, providing an overview about contemporary phenomena of land-use transition taking place in Chinese ruralities. The paper concludes highlighting the weaknesses and potentialities embedded in the showed rural fabrics, questioning their values in the pursuit of local development.
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLIV-M-1-2020, 2020
Chinese rural settlements face different critical challenges in the current framework of rapid tr... more Chinese rural settlements face different critical challenges in the current framework of rapid transformation. Tangible and intangible elements related to the traditional spatial organisation of siting and living are threatened by a socioeconomic transition which appears to be indifferent to local specificities. Such aspects express and shape the rural built fabric, which shows no resistance to the pressures of both planned and spontaneous development. The few exceptions are mainly represented by the survived vernacular architectures, whose function goes beyond practical uses, such as the ancestral halls. Their spatial principles persisted in the malleable rural patterns, making such buildings the physical carrier of local traditions. This paper takes a rural village in the Fujian Province, China, as a paradigmatic case study to explore the settlement pattern's degree of resilience. The data collected in two years of fieldworks allows authors to assert the prominent role played by the fifteen ancestral halls of the village. After introducing the current patterns of change, with a focus on the phenomenon of rural hollowing, the paper emphasises both the spatial rules and the contextual relationships of vernacular buildings. In the conclusions, we remark their importance against the backdrop of current land use development, suggesting to reconsider the vernacular buildings as an alternative approach for more conscious and sustainable development.
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLIV-M-1-2020,, 2020
Hmong vernacular dwellings are an indispensable and essential branch of traditional Chinese archi... more Hmong vernacular dwellings are an indispensable and essential branch of traditional Chinese architecture, which bears the profound history of the integration of minority culture and Han culture for thousands of years. As a typical representative of the Hmong settlement in China, the Hmong Village in Huayuan County, western Hunan Province, has the distinct characteristics of respecting nature and making good use of terrain in the construction of vernacular dwellings, which embodies the unique regional, historical, cultural and national character. Firstly, the article analyzes the influence of terrain, landform, climatic environment, historical culture, and social structure on the layout, shape, and materials of the rural homes of the Hmong people in Huayuan County. Secondly, by analyzing the elements of the courtyard space, the layout characteristics of the courtyard, and the organization mode of the courtyard group, the overall spatial characteristics of the residential courtyard are analyzed. At the same time, from the perspective of a single residential house, to sort out the characteristics of its type as well as the floor plan, building structure, material colour, and detailed decoration. Finally, it emphasizes that the Hmong vernacular dwellings in Huayuan County, embody the distinctive cultural connotation of the Hmong nationality, and show the unique aesthetic and romantic sentiment of the Hmong vernacular architecture to the world.
Techne - Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment, 2019
The vertical dimension in the urban structure of Chinese megacities is the unique key that has al... more The vertical dimension in the urban structure of Chinese megacities is the unique key that has allowed to cluster millions of people in highly concentrated areas. The exponential growth of Chinese cities since the ‘80s of the last century has been possible thanks to social and land policies in support of urbanism developed through models of constructions that have favored the vertical dimension alone. The essay, after having retraced the history of vertical urbanization in the Chinese metropolis, puts a critical emphasis on the typology of the Chinese condominium.
Vernacular & Earthen Architecture towards Local Development. Proceedings of 2019 ICOMOS CIAV & ISCEAH International Conference , 2019
Against the backdrop of the recent array of policies targeted to boost processes of revitalizatio... more Against the backdrop of the recent array of policies targeted to boost processes of revitalization in rural China, the small settlements are the object of a growing interest by scholars and institutions. Considering the controversial issues related to the countryside restructuring, among which the cultural losses determined by the phenomenon of rural urbanisation, the international debate arena is shifting its attention from development per se to sustainable development. From one side, it has already been acknowledged that being sustainable requires something more beyond being ecologically friendly. On the other side, we found there is a huge space for investigation in regard to the elaboration of practices of rural revitalization. In particular, we argue that context-related strategies of revitalization have to be defined considering what exists as a possible resource. With this perspective, we focus on fifteen earthen vernacular buildings of an ordinary rural settlement in Fujian Province, the last tangible witnesses of local traditional past. At present, most of these constructions are used only during rituals and in rare cases for living purposes, resulting in neglection and dilapidation. However, they still play a pivotal role in the rural fabric, in the way they establish spatial relations with the built form and the open space as well. These ancestral halls still influence local construction activities, by suggesting a non-written system of rules. Such a system can be read in the morphological pattern of the settlement whose backbone is still clearly recognizable. Despite it is not possible to label them as architectural heritage, they are something more than vernacular architecture. Recalling the concept of cultural heritage, they embody a complex system of values rooted in the traditional local society, combining housing, farming and rituals. This paper explores the architecture of these ancestral buildings, their current condition and their contextual relations. We found they represent a cultural asset crossing different ages, for both the rediscovery of past and the reorientation of future developments.
International Conference: Architecture Across Boundaries, 2019
Small settlements in countryside areas call for a growing number of challenges against the backdr... more Small settlements in countryside areas call for a growing number of challenges against the backdrop of global rural-urban transition. In this paper, we focus on the processes of depopulation and building abandonment in rural areas of China and Italy. We consider two similar experiences taking place in different contexts, and suggest useful design tools for strategies of architectural requalification. In China, we study a small village in Fujian Province as a paradigmatic example of the well-known phenomenon of “hollow villages.” The word hollow refers to the emptying of dwellings in the central parts of rural settlements, while, paradoxically, their fringe areas are the object of
residential land expansion. This notion was coined in the early 1990s to describe the spatial, social and economic consequences of the combination of a rural exodus and a rampant urbanisation. In Italy, we consider a case study in the Province of Trento, where the evacuation of village central cores follows the sprawling towards the village’s outskirts. Even though the recent trends show that the demographic haemorrhage away from the village is declining, the abandonment of old houses in favour of the construction of new ones seems relentless. Such issues gather a growing interest by cultural, political and academic institutions. Never the less, little attention has been paid to the similarities of architectural experiences across national boundaries. Aiming to bridge this gap, we compare the results of our studies on the architectural requalification of rural settlements in both China and Italy. Our methodology embodies a graphic representation of our fieldwork, examines the relationships between the built form and its natural framework and analytically assesses the physical condition and use level of the existing buildings. Despite local specificities, there are significant overlaps from which these and other cases can gain insight. We observe that similar transnational issues can be stimulated by global transition processes driven by local forces and context-related patterns of spatial transformation. More specifically, the intensity and the extent of hollowing of Chinese villages stimulates the broad testing of a spectrum of methodologies and knowledges. These can be both inherited from other contexts or experimented with as innovative approaches. From this perspective, the Italian experience, where the abandonment dates backwards in time, is a fruitful source of comparison.
Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Built Heritage Studies (BHS 2019) “Built Heritage Conservation in Rural Vitalization", 2019
This manuscript focuses on the spatial change of housing production in post-reform rural China. S... more This manuscript focuses on the spatial change of housing production in post-reform rural China. Suggesting context-related design strategies, authors propose an investigation methodology based on on-field observations. Rural settlements face different critical challenges in the current framework of rapid transformation. In fact, cultural traditions and social values are threatened by the endless urbanization and controversial practices of land development. In particular, authors show how Chinese countryside is facing a paradoxical condition, consisting of a shrinkage in terms of agricultural land, rural population and abandoned buildings and in a simultaneous process of soil consumption. All this modifies deeply and shockingly the cultural and physical landscape developed over centuries of relative economic and social stability. An ordinary village in the Fujian Province has been chosen as an appropriate case-study to test new investigation methodologies for assessing the intensity of such phenomena and their implications on the built environment. Based on fifteen months of fieldwork, the collected data includes an on-site survey of almost three hundred housing buildings. The dataset is framed according to six parameters: age, height, technology, lineage, condition, and use level. Two patterns of change in housing construction – spot and diffusive – are analyzed. Even if the results portray a severe condition, some opportunities, rising from the availability of under-sued structures, emerge against the backdrop of a long-term vitalization process. The paper concludes highlighting such potentialities as important assets for the implementation of a context-related design strategy.
Proceedings of the Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning, 2019
With the turn of the millennium, Chinese central government issued arrays of policies targeted to... more With the turn of the millennium, Chinese central government issued arrays of policies targeted to promote virtuous cycles of vitalization in rural areas, mitigate the socio-economic gap with urbanised regions, and face the problem of food security. The current transition is leading China to have an ever-saturated land where the boundaries between human settlements are elusive and blurred, shaping what is scholarly labelled as an urban-rural continuum. The settlement’s schemes realized over the last years, that consists of small or medium size towns as the result of natural villages relocation or new agglomerations, intercepts the call for urbanity, and its related amenities in terms of infrastructure and services – or, in aword, the desire for ahouse in the city – emerging from the marginalized rural citizens. The authors found that such controversial practices are shaping the new Chinese countryside which, conceived as aform of sustainable development by national programs, turned out to impact significantly on the people lifestyle as well as the built environment. Based on several months on-field observations and recent literature, the paper reveals atwo-fold degree of resilience: weak about the real production of space for dwelling and robust about the intangible culture composed by indigenous beliefs and symbolism entangled with the concepts
of home and family
studies in History and Theory of Architecture, 2019
This paper focuses on the connections between politics and the design culture in London during th... more This paper focuses on the connections between politics and the design culture in London during the postwar era. In the period between the end of World War II and the defeat of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a significant part of the architectural production in London can be attributed to the social policies of the central government. On one side, the state-driven approach fuelled the development of the Welfare State promoting the most important facilities and services, including housing. On the other side, a deep interest by local architects in the exploration of both innovative settlement patterns and formal systems nourished by political ideology, social aspirations, cultural fervour, and technological progress turned this period into a significant moment of reinterpretation of the tenets of modernism. The authors focus on the ambiguity of public and private realms to explain the connections between policies and architecture. The experimentation of innovative settlement patterns, hybridization of traditional ones, and the reinterpretation of principles of modernism were applied to re-shape society.
Środowisko Mieszkaniowe - Housing Environment , 2019
With the turn of the millennium, Chinese central government issued arrays of policies targeted to... more With the turn of the millennium, Chinese central government issued arrays of policies targeted to promote virtuous cycles of vitalization in rural areas, mitigate the socio-economic gap with urbanised regions, and face the problem of food security. The current transition is leading China to have an ever-saturated land where the boundaries between human settlements are elusive and blurred, shaping what is scholarly labelled as an urban-rural continuum. The settlement’s schemes realized over the last years, that consists of small or medium size towns as the result of natural villages relocation or new agglomerations, intercepts the call for urbanity, and its related amenities in terms of infrastructure and services – or, in aword, the desire for ahouse in the city – emerging from the marginalized rural citizens. The authors found that such controversial practices are shaping the new Chinese countryside which, conceived as aform of sustainable development by national programs, turned out to impact significantly on the people lifestyle as well as the built environment. Based on several months on-field observations and recent literature, the paper reveals atwo-fold degree of resilience: weak about the real production of space for dwelling and robust about the intangible culture composed by indigenous beliefs and symbolism entangled with the concepts
of home and family
Frontiers of Architectural Research, 2018
In the period between the idealistic vision of the ׳Reshaping society׳ and Thatcherism, in the so... more In the period between the idealistic vision of the ׳Reshaping society׳ and Thatcherism, in the so-called ׳Swinging London׳, the second wave of modernism is facing the demands and the quantities of bombed cities. The architects of that season, moved by political ideals and interpreting the cultural ferment, have been responsible for shaping the city on the collective dreams and aspirations of the society and for forging the identity of London as unique experience in the international panorama. This paper focuses on the spatial relations between city and home, how they raised in that specific historical context, in which form they realized, and what are the architectural implications for current design culture. The methodology, based both on the literature review and on the graphic comparison of six case-studies, is articulated in four steps. First, the six case-studies are selected according to specific criteria. Second, the sociohistorical background is reported. Third, the cases are shortly introduced using text descriptions and graphic tools. Fourth, the cases are compared. This process leads to the definition of four transversal architectural items: the density, the settlement pattern, the basement, and the threshold, intended as elements able to raise connections between past and contemporary design culture.
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Papers by Gerardo Semprebon
The text summarizes the notion of “Ecological Civilization”, the core ideology adopted by Chinese leadership to frame national economic development and mitigate rural-urban inequalities. The current debate on the future of rural areas, involved in a critical phase of transition, and some recent revitalization experiences set architectural design into a new cultural dimension. The paper synthesizes an extended literature review and the results of the on-field surveys carried out between 2017 and 2019.
residential land expansion. This notion was coined in the early 1990s to describe the spatial, social and economic consequences of the combination of a rural exodus and a rampant urbanisation. In Italy, we consider a case study in the Province of Trento, where the evacuation of village central cores follows the sprawling towards the village’s outskirts. Even though the recent trends show that the demographic haemorrhage away from the village is declining, the abandonment of old houses in favour of the construction of new ones seems relentless. Such issues gather a growing interest by cultural, political and academic institutions. Never the less, little attention has been paid to the similarities of architectural experiences across national boundaries. Aiming to bridge this gap, we compare the results of our studies on the architectural requalification of rural settlements in both China and Italy. Our methodology embodies a graphic representation of our fieldwork, examines the relationships between the built form and its natural framework and analytically assesses the physical condition and use level of the existing buildings. Despite local specificities, there are significant overlaps from which these and other cases can gain insight. We observe that similar transnational issues can be stimulated by global transition processes driven by local forces and context-related patterns of spatial transformation. More specifically, the intensity and the extent of hollowing of Chinese villages stimulates the broad testing of a spectrum of methodologies and knowledges. These can be both inherited from other contexts or experimented with as innovative approaches. From this perspective, the Italian experience, where the abandonment dates backwards in time, is a fruitful source of comparison.
of home and family
of home and family
The text summarizes the notion of “Ecological Civilization”, the core ideology adopted by Chinese leadership to frame national economic development and mitigate rural-urban inequalities. The current debate on the future of rural areas, involved in a critical phase of transition, and some recent revitalization experiences set architectural design into a new cultural dimension. The paper synthesizes an extended literature review and the results of the on-field surveys carried out between 2017 and 2019.
residential land expansion. This notion was coined in the early 1990s to describe the spatial, social and economic consequences of the combination of a rural exodus and a rampant urbanisation. In Italy, we consider a case study in the Province of Trento, where the evacuation of village central cores follows the sprawling towards the village’s outskirts. Even though the recent trends show that the demographic haemorrhage away from the village is declining, the abandonment of old houses in favour of the construction of new ones seems relentless. Such issues gather a growing interest by cultural, political and academic institutions. Never the less, little attention has been paid to the similarities of architectural experiences across national boundaries. Aiming to bridge this gap, we compare the results of our studies on the architectural requalification of rural settlements in both China and Italy. Our methodology embodies a graphic representation of our fieldwork, examines the relationships between the built form and its natural framework and analytically assesses the physical condition and use level of the existing buildings. Despite local specificities, there are significant overlaps from which these and other cases can gain insight. We observe that similar transnational issues can be stimulated by global transition processes driven by local forces and context-related patterns of spatial transformation. More specifically, the intensity and the extent of hollowing of Chinese villages stimulates the broad testing of a spectrum of methodologies and knowledges. These can be both inherited from other contexts or experimented with as innovative approaches. From this perspective, the Italian experience, where the abandonment dates backwards in time, is a fruitful source of comparison.
of home and family
of home and family