Compact Urban Development and Vitality: A New Vision for Guangzhou Central Area

As the largest vacancy in Zhujiang New Town Central Business District (CBD), Guangzhou, the Racecourse’s low-rise building and monotonous functions necessitate a more compact urban development. However, the current concept of compact in China is rarely associated with the block level, and the construction of the city central area often achieves high-density only in terms of compact form rather than concept. This thesis aims to explore how compact urban development can enhance vitality in high-density city central area and make the design research of the Racecourse complement and refinement the concept of compact on the block level. Through literature review and case studies, this design thesis firstly improves the characteristics of Western compact urban development to mitigate the negative impacts of high-density into appropriate medium to high-density and intensity, mixed land use, and highly accessible public space and transportation. Secondly, the Central Activities Zone (CAZ) ameliorates the weak urban vitality of the single business function in the CBD by expanding cultural and recreational activities. Thus, compact urban development can enhance urban vitality by aggregating diverse activities in the limited area. The compact urban development strategy for the Racecourse as a future CAZ includes urban form control, mixed land use, concentrated and scattered open spaces, vertical pedestrian-led public transportation, and block forms follow diverse activities. As the main outcome, the urban design of the Racecourse aims to create eco-healthy activities, sports and leisure activities, cultural and entertainment activities, and business activities at the general and block levels and to better reconstruct the Racecourse for citizens’ diverse needs through compact urban development of seven different types of mixed functional blocks. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the characteristics and connotations of compact urban development, which explore an ideal vision for enhancing vitality in the city central area that can be adapted to actual China’s urban development and citizens’ needs.