Visual heritage in urban spaces: Traditional Chinese patterns as agents of cultural identity in modern landscape architecture

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has often led to the erosion of cultural identity in cities, making the integration of traditional Chinese patterns into contemporary landscape architecture an important means of sustaining heritage and symbolism within modern urban spaces. This article investigates the integration of traditional Chinese patterns into contemporary landscape design, emphasizing the importance of preserving cultural traces within urban environments. A convergent parallel mixed-methods approach was employed, combining quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (case studies, interviews, and visual analysis) data collection. Survey results highlighted how people perceive cultural identity and esthetic value, while case studies and interviews provided insights into the symbolic and design purposes of traditional patterns in urban contexts. Evidence shows that traditional forms, such as geometric motifs, lotus flowers, and feng shui principles, play a major role in reinforcing cultural identity and strengthening the sense of place amid contemporary urbanization. These practices have been widely embraced by society, fostering stronger connections to cultural heritage and contributing to the creation of esthetically pleasing and functional urban spaces.

Keywords

Traditional Chinese patterns / Urbanization / Feng shui / Geometric motifs / Nature-inspired designs / Urban planning / Cultural heritage

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to all individuals and institutions who contributed their time, expertise, and support to the completion of this research.

Funding

None.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author contributions

Conceptualization: Bowen Sun Investigation: Bowen Sun Methodology: Bowen Sun Writing – original draft: Bowen Sun Writing – review & editing: Intan Khasumarlina Binti Mohd Khalid

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethics approval was not required for this study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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