Contemporary urban design in China seeks to resolve the issues that have emerged from increasing demands for environmentally responsible development within the context of traditional townscapes. That is, with China rapid development, the importance of sustainable design and green technology is now beginning to be emphasized. While a lot of effort is being put into promoting sustainable development, a large number of rural villages are still being wiped out and replaced by new development. There has been a transformation to an urban look with large blocks and multistory apartment buildings with a great number of farmers becoming urban residents every day. It is, therefore, obvious that the Chinese need to integrate sustainable design with the local vernacular architecture and physical layout. Local factors and identities need to be preserved and enhanced while development occurs. It is not necessary to build new development from scratch. Instead, it is possible to create urbanized versions of rural villages. In this research, the author uncovers relationships between Chinese traditional urban design principles and contemporary ones, and then proposes a set of sustainable design principles for the urban villages of China.
The results of the research are, first, a set of sustainable design principles for China. Then, one urban village is designed using the proposed principles to display the concepts and visualize the results.