A Study of Beijing's Suburban Residential Areas

This paper is an analytical study of the planning techniques of the new residential areas in Beijing's suburbs at the turn of the 21st century, including the scale, structure, road network, green system and public building arrangements of a housing program. Its purpose is to reexamine the assumptions for the planning techniques of modern residential areas, recheck the legitimacy of these techniques, and reconsider residential areas as a proper residential model for modern Beijing. The paper evaluates three issues related to the modern residential areas: the controversies associated with super residential areas, the relationship between pedestrians and automobiles, and urbanization and mix-use communities.