JWACA2025-035: Introduction to the Column“Listening to Your Words”

Abstract

This column introduction outlines the three-stage evolution of China's urban heritage conservation system since 1949, framed within the tension between rapid modernization and cultural preservation. The first stage (1949-1982) explored the protection of monuments and ancient cities. The second stage (1982-2016) saw parallel development along three tracks: cultural relics, Historic and Cultural Cities (HCC), and World Heritage, leading to more diversified planning. The third stage (2016-present) focuses on integrating conservation into the national territorial spatial planning system. The column, through interviews with leading scholars and practitioners, aims to document the collective memory and localized wisdom developed over four decades of practice.