Typological Drift (Paperback)

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 13 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.

Shiqiao Li is Weedon Professor in Asian Architecture, School of Architecture, University of Virginia, where he teaches history, theory, and design of architecture, and directs PhD in the Constructed Environment Program. He studied architecture at Tsinghua University in Beijing and obtained his PhD from AA School of Architecture and Birkbeck College, University of London. Prior to joining University of Virginia, Li practiced architecture in London and Hong Kong, and taught at AA School of Architecture, National University of Singapore and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Some of his design research and teaching is featured in Kowloon Cultural District (Hong Kong: mccm creations, 2014, co-edited with Esther Lorenz). His research contributes towards an understanding of architecture as it is situated in indigenous cultural contexts. His books include Understanding the Chinese City (London: Sage, 2014), Architecture and Modernization (Beijing: WaterPower Press, 2009, in Chinese) and Power and Virtue, Architecture and Intellectual Change in England 1650-1730 (London and New York: Routledge, 2006).  

Esther Lorenz is a licensed architect and academic, and Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, University of Virginia. Her research explores the connections between architecture and culture, from the study of new urban formations to cultural and spatial practices in relation to built form, to investigations of the intersections between media and architecture.