1. Purpose of research
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the regulatory effect of the Chinese government’s Examination System for Store Renovation on the conversions of stores and the problems existing in landscape preservation. Wudadao Historical District in Tianjin City was selected because Tianjin has a consummate examination system on renovation of stores and historical architecture.
2. Methods
We grasped the structure of this examination system, and the actual work accomplished, through interviews with the relevant government departments. During November and December 2017, we grasped the impact on landscape conservation by doing a field survey of the current status of the renovation of stores. We tested the effectiveness of the system by comparing the compliance status of the stores in 2013 and 2017 on four examination items. For stores that were out of compliance in 2017, we distributed questionnaires to the operators to explore the causes of the anti-regulation renovation. Their replies confirmed the reasons for installing conversions such as vertical signboards, lanterns, and temporary advertisements that the government prohibited.
3. Results and Discussion
The effects of the examination system are as follows: compared with 2013, the pass ratio for signboards and renovation of exterior walls saw an increase, and renovation greatly hindering landscape conservation were not found. As a result, the examination system is believed to be effective to some extent. However, on the setting of criteria and actual operation of the system, some problems relating to landscape preservation still exist.
The system, focusing on the downtown area, neglects the Western style and the protected architecture in Wudadao district, thus leading to disorder of the landscape and discordance of styles. Current standards alone are insufficient. Depending on the characteristics of the district’s landscape, such as Western style, setting of a district-specific standard is necessary.
The examination of renovation of protected architecture is limited to physically conserving the designated range; as a result, the architecture is transformed by signboards, gates, walls, and additions on exterior walls. In the future, a mechanism is needed to review not only the main architecture renovation but also the acts of renovation on the entire site.
Numerous store operators expressed great dissatisfaction with the prohibition of temporary signboard-setting and promotion of unified signage through government coercion, which triggered the negative effect of setting up temporary signboards. How to mesh standards with the will of the people is another important project of the examination system.
The Tianjin case is representative because, like all of the examination systems, it is based on the units of stores; the mechanism to coordinate disparate stores in the same architecture has not yet been incorporated in the regulations. In the future, it is necessary for a method to review and evaluate the renovation on an architecture basis at the same time.
