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.
