The research presented in this book examines Guizhou ethnic minority settlements located in the eastern part of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, in the southwest of China. The specificity and the relevance of these settlements, therefore, refers to a combination of anthropological, architectural, environmental issues. Guizhou is a province of ethnic groups since thousands of years engaged in farming or semi-nomadic production. These ethnic minority settlements were self contained and balanced communities which gradually developed their own specific and unique culture of farming, settling and inhabiting. As many precious and valuable historical human settlements still standing around the world, whose architecture and urban features are not easily replicable for culture, skills, social and economic conditions, the Guizhou ethnic minority settlements are tangible architectural heritage – including intangible values – experiencing high risks due to their unavoidable physical decay, demography, urban development pressure.

International openness is one of the fundamental characteristics of the DiAP Department of Architecture and Design, which sees its members active in 57 bilateral collaboration agreements (without counting the Erasmus agreements) with countries in which today there is a demand for architectural design that looks at Italy as a model, not only for studies of historical architecture, but also for contemporary architecture designed in the existing city and for the new building, including complex landscape and environmental systems.

The Scientific Society Ludovico Quaroni was founded in Rome in 2010 as a tribute to Ludovico Quaroni, the Italian Master of Urban Architecture. Its purpose is “the study of the contemporary and historical city and architecture; the study of the design and theoretical works of the leading architects and scholars of architecture, the city and the territory”. To achieve these goals, the Scientific Society Ludovico Quaroni has founded the present electronic review, “L’architettura delle città – The Journal of the Scientific Society Ludovico Quaroni”. The title is a reminder of Ludovico Quaroni’s earliest book entitled L’architettura delle città (Ed. Sansaini, Rome 1939).

The city of Durban is one of the most intriguing for architects and urban designers, due to its cultural and economic diversity on one the hand and its political evolution since its colonial formalisation, apartheid influences and its post-apartheid evolution, on the other. It is a city that expresses complex narratives in architectural form and expression, seemingly chaotic, yet within and upon a cogent overall structure. Perhaps, it is that very cogency in urban structure which facilitated its complex evolution, or perhaps not. This paradox forms the crux of the studies and applied research part of this book, and which defined the sites of focus for a collaborative studio workshop. Durban is a modern city which expresses the complex dynamics of an African city emerging from a historically colonial foundation. This provided an interesting context for engagement of the UNESCO Chair for Sustainable Urban Quality and Culture, notably in Africa. The institutional agreement between the UNESCO Chair, Sapienza University of Rome and the Durban University of Technology (DUT) was formalised in the year 2013, prior to an international workshop in China and the UIA 2014 in Durban, South Africa. The focus of the Chair and the curriculum outcomes of DUT, with regard to urban culture and the evolution thereof, created a mutually opportune association, with the possibility for contribution to the UIA 2014 conference in Durban. After deliberations and the necessary paperwork, the UNESCO Chair, in Association with DUT, were granted official space on the UIA Programme for presentation at the conference. This was received with much enthusiasm, which drew further interest and participation from students and Professors of Sapienza University of Rome and Tsinghua University of Beijing in China. Further representation of academics from Manipal University in India, School of Architecture University of Florida and Hosei University in Japan added much value to the collaboration in Durban.

This book is about mountainurbanology grounded in Southwest China, where mountain is a typical landform for many towns and cities. From the multi-disciplinary perspective in a dynamic changing context, it presents a comprehensive framework including the location of mountain city, planning, design, building, transportation, disaster, aesthetics and governance in building up mountain cities based on investigation of natural, social and economic studies. The book also emphasizes ecological planning method based on topography in mountainous area through the lens of teaching and practice on urban planning for over half a century in Southwest China. It is a highly informative book providing academic insight for senior undergraduates, graduate students, lecturers, research professionals and decision makers with an interest in urban planning, ecology, planning and design in mountainous region development. Prof. Guangyu Huang is regarded as Founding Pioneer of mountainurbanology in China, a sub-discipline of urban planning.

From the earliest museums established by Western missionaries in order to implement religious and political power, to the role they have played in the formation of the modern Chinese state, the origin and development of museums in mainland China differ significantly from those in the West. The occurrence of museums in mainland China in the late nineteenth century was primarily a result of internal and external conflicts, Westernization and colonialism, and as such they were never established solely for enjoyment and leisure. Using a historical and anthropological framework, this book provides a holistic and critical review on the establishment and development of museums in mainland China from 1840 to the present day, and shows how museums in China have been used by a wide range of social, political, and state actors for a number of economic, religious, political and ideological purposes. Indeed, Tracey L-D Lu examines the key role played by museums in reinforcing social segmentation, influencing the economy, protecting cultural heritage and the construction and enhancement of ethnic identities and nationalism, and how they have throughout their history helped the powerful to govern the less powerful or the powerless. More broadly, this book provides important comparative insights on museology and heritage management, and questions who the key stakeholders are, how museums reflect broader social and cultural changes, and the relationship between museum and heritage management. Drawing on extensive archival research and anthropological fieldwork, as well as the author’s experience working as a museum curator in mainland China in the late 1980s, Museums in China such will be of great interest to students and scholars working across museology, heritage studies, tourism studies Chinese culture and Chinese history.