Lijiang's Tourism Development - how the designers design Lijiang

This study intends to capture evidence of the tourism development of the Old Town in Lijiang of Yunnan province, Southwest China, after the 1980s. It explores how the traditional local houses and built environments have been perceived and constructed in the process of the development when the architects and other designers migrated into various roles in the market of the architectural service.

Confronting the rapid growth of the economy and the overwhelming influence from the West, architectural design and urban planning have gone through various transformations and changes. The development of the Old Town in Lijiang reflected the locals’ and the visitors’ understanding of the tradition and their expectations of the modern life. This study suggests that despite the pressure of the consumerism, various stakeholders managed to generate a new aesthetics of cultural plurality.