Transporting transformations: A case study of built environment changed by transportation in rural China

The vast areas of the countryside in China undergo a series of radical changes, both socially and spatially. Changing transportation is one of the affecting factors. In this paper, an in-depth observation on a specific built environment in rural context, the Xiaqiao village, is conducted to illustrate how the changing system of transport triggers a chain reaction in architectural transformation. The methodology of settlement morphology is implemented in the research by examining the transformation process of a built environment from different spatial levels in order to study how the socio-spatial structure transforms and develops.