Research on sustainable development of immovable cultural heritage in the inner city of Changsha, China

Changsha（长沙）, as a famous historic city in the midland of China, bears a long history of urban development and has experienced twists and turns in conservation of immovable cultural relics. As a result, a number of immovable cultural heritages have remained. In recent years, just like other major cities in China, Changsha has been brought into a critical moment when its urban renewal threatens the existence and prospect of immovable cultural heritage, especially in the inner city. Seemingly, sustainable developments in the urban and in the conservation of immovable historic relics are incompatible. Based on the understanding of the background concerning the territory, the context and the basic related information to conservation, this thesis has made a survey of the status including entities that perform conservation, objects and main measures of conservation for immovable cultural heritage in the inner city of Changsha. Combined with the understanding of sustainable development and application of its theories in conserving immovable cultural heritage, the materials from the survey are analyzed, from the perspectives of conservation methodologies, urban planning and other significant issues. The thesis tries to bring up several proposals on strategies concerning the sustainable development of immovable cultural heritage for the specific case of inner city of Changsha. Finally it is mentioned in the conclusion that, in Changsha, to fulfill the sustainable development in urban growth and cultural heritage conservation, the cultural resources shall be preserved and exploited at maximum in an active and adaptive way. In this phase of society development, conserving immovable cultural heritage shall make efforts in sustaining in economy, society and environment and even contributing to them, yet it absolutely needs supports from the city in these three aspects.