The idea that an evolutionary process is inherent in the sequence of building types that characterizes an area has been pursued in Euro-America, especially by Italian architects. It has hitherto attracted comparatively little attention elsewhere in the world. Findings on the history of residential building types in the Chinese city of Guangzhou and its environs are examined in relation to this idea. Though the history of building types is very different in China from that in Euro-America, an evolutionary process is shown to have occurred in the Guangzhou area. The principal rural building type in the nineteenth century – the sanjian lianglang house – and an early urban building type – the zhutongwu – are steps in the development of a number of later building types.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.