Using Zhongshan Square in Dalian city in northeast China as a case study, this thesis analyzes the historical development of the urban form of the public square from the Russian and Japanese colonial periods (1898-1945) and the market socialist period (1990s to the present, 2011).
In the colonial period, Dalian was built as a Baroque city. Later, in the market socialist period, Dalian grew to be a modern city filled with skyscrapers. With the changes of social systems in China, Dalian uniquely combines the Baroque square and skyscraper typology simultaneously. This study explores how the urban form of Dalian, particularly the Zhongshan Square area, changed in terms of historical context (from colonialism to market socialism) and symbolic representation (from centralized to decentralized spatial power).
This study argues that colonialism shaped the Baroque urban form and market socialism promoted the skyscraper typology in the urban transformation of Dalian. The transition of economical and political forces from a colony to a market socialist city decentralized the original spatial power of Zhongshan Square and emancipated the subsequent architectural and urban design. In addition, this study argues for the symbiosis of historic preservation and urban development as a way to analyze the changing socio- economical, political and technological conditions of the city.