Exploring a Regenerative Structure Integrating Conservation, Remodelling, and Development for Fenghuang Historic Rurban Landscape

China fast development has been recently turning towards villages and towns of the countryside, which in the last decade have been undergoing a spontaneous process of uncontrolled rurbanization. As the case study of Fenghuang Old Town shows, the protection measure of “Chinese Historic and Cultural Famous Towns and Villages”, attracting unsuitable touristic-commercial development projects, seems paradoxically to constitute another major threat. Despite China has developed a relatively complete heritage conservation system, the comparative analysis of regulations and protection plans shows ambiguities in defining object and contents of protection, over simplification of tools due to the lack of urban analysis, equivalence between enhancement and standardized touristic-commercial development, and the lack of consideration for rural landscape as a component of the town heritage system. Digging in the reality of built facts, interweaving material survey, type-morphological analysis, and topographical anamnesis the research has revealed a peculiar latent structure connecting the Heritage Street, recent rurban development and residual rural landscape, thus providing a basis to define a comprehensive regenerative structure for the protection, remodelling and enhancement of historical rurban landscape