Mathematical Method to Assess the Yin-Yang Balance of Commercial Complexes’ Entrances

Shopping malls are important landmarks of modern and sustainable cities as they are substantial business and investment by themselves, and as they also facilitate the social activities of communities. Entrances to shopping malls provide a first impression to customers, thus affecting the business performance of the malls. This paper presents a method to assess the entrances of modern shopping malls by applying traditionally qualitative Feng shui practices quantitatively with an innovative mathematical model. The assessment is based on the manipulation of the yin-and-yang concept applied to the layout of Ming tang (bright court) as the focus of consideration. By applying this novel approach to three shopping malls in Guangzhou, China as a pilot study to match their commercial performance, our hypothesis appears workable. The ideology of balancing yin and yang may be practically meaningful to urban planning and the successful measurement of such balance could shed light on future studies.

Heaven, Earth and Humans: Concept and Processes of Urban Vertical Regeneration

<p><b>Rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, and capitalist developments have changed human values to be driven by materialistic developments instead of ecological developments. This has caused ecological and social crises visible in the urban fabric. There is an urgent need for us to address the question of how can we develop lifestyles that are truly holistic and able to regenerate well-being of humans and it's environments without external helps.</b></p> <p>This thesis explores the interrelationships of feng shui and regenerative development. It attempts to show the recognition of feng shui as an integral to regenerative development that can regenerate urban environment and achieves humans' well-being and harmony with nature. The thesis believes it will need to first remedy urban areas in order to regenerate the rest of the earth. It will explore the process of regeneration from micro to macro levels using feng shui and regenerative development, where it seeks to regenerate the city holistically as a whole.</p> <p>I propose that feng shui becomes an intrinsic model for regenerative development. This discipline is able to solve ecology degradation issues, to provide awareness and realisations of the intrinsic values of cities, and act as a paradigm shift towards achieving regenerative development. This thesis also propose that medium-rises compact city model, which integrate regenerative development and feng shui principles, as a better solution to solve densification of urbanisation compared to building high-rises and skyscrapers.</p>

Heaven, Earth and Humans: Concept and Processes of Urban Vertical Regeneration

<p><b>Rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, and capitalist developments have changed human values to be driven by materialistic developments instead of ecological developments. This has caused ecological and social crises visible in the urban fabric. There is an urgent need for us to address the question of how can we develop lifestyles that are truly holistic and able to regenerate well-being of humans and it's environments without external helps.</b></p> <p>This thesis explores the interrelationships of feng shui and regenerative development. It attempts to show the recognition of feng shui as an integral to regenerative development that can regenerate urban environment and achieves humans' well-being and harmony with nature. The thesis believes it will need to first remedy urban areas in order to regenerate the rest of the earth. It will explore the process of regeneration from micro to macro levels using feng shui and regenerative development, where it seeks to regenerate the city holistically as a whole.</p> <p>I propose that feng shui becomes an intrinsic model for regenerative development. This discipline is able to solve ecology degradation issues, to provide awareness and realisations of the intrinsic values of cities, and act as a paradigm shift towards achieving regenerative development. This thesis also propose that medium-rises compact city model, which integrate regenerative development and feng shui principles, as a better solution to solve densification of urbanisation compared to building high-rises and skyscrapers.</p>

Study on Feng Shui (Geomantic) Suitability Evaluation of Mausoleums in Nanjing City Based on GIS

Taking the mausoleums in the main urban area of Nanjing city as the study object, with the support of GIS technology, this paper extracts eight influencing factors (surface roughness, elevation, surface cutting depth, surface peaks, outfall, river system, slope, and aspect) corresponding to geomantic elements (“Long”, “Sha”, “Shui”, and “Xue”) in the geographical environments of mausoleums. The AHP is applied in the correlation weight method to calculate the weights of the eight influencing factors, while the information content method is applied in the grading method to calculate the numerical index of each factor. The feng shui (geomantic) suitability of the mausoleums in the main urban area of Nanjing is evaluated using the AHP-weighted information content method and by combining expert knowledge and experience with mathematical statistical techniques. According to the feng shui (geomantic) suitability evaluation results obtained for the mausoleums in the study area, the relatively low-suitability area accounts for 14.55% of the entire study area, the low-suitability area accounts for 25.40%, the suitable area accounts for 29.13%, the relatively high-suitability area accounts for 22.00%, and the high-suitability area accounts for 8.92%. Finally, through a sensitivity analysis of the model, a verification analysis applied using random mausoleums and a feng shui (geomantic) analysis of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, the feng shui (geomantic) suitability evaluation results obtained for the mausoleums analyzed herein are found to be consistent with the actual distribution of the mausoleum sites. The research shows that the AHP-weighted information method based on GIS is suitable for evaluating the feng shui (geomantic) suitability of mausoleums.

A Comparison Review of Kevin Lynch’s Urban Theory with the Chinese Cosmography of Feng Shui in the Heritage Area, Case Study: Pasar Baru, Jakarta

Jakarta is facing the reality of becoming one of the megacities in the world. As a megacity, Jakarta will continue to face critical problems, including environmental issues that occur not only in Jakarta but also in the surrounding areas. The research area is Pasar Baru, the oldest shopping area in Central Jakarta established in 1820. Naturally, this area should have a high historical value for the development of the City of Jakarta. This study explored the “shopping arcade” corridor from Kevin Lynch’s urban theory of “The Image of The City” to strengthen the implementation of re-planning the Pasar Baru in the future. This study aims to find how the view of The Image of The City can support the idea of re-planning the Pasar Baru from a tangible point of view, physically visible, and an intangible point of view through the spiritual approach of Feng Shui cosmography. The research uses qualitative methods supported by collecting data in literature reviews, surveys and analyzing them. The study found that the concept given by Kevin Lynch can help decision-makers of a city to be more responsible in making policies in designing a sustainable city to carry out conservation actions, not only political goals.