Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 84).Due to rapid development of the city, Shanghai has become characterized by drastic juxtapositions of building typologies and urban forms. Entire sections of the urban center are being replaced with large scale developments while the city overall expands into the periphery, replacing farmland with gated superblock developments. The city may be said to be losing identity as large sections of traditional urban fabric are being replaced. It is presented in this Thesis, that preservation of this identity is feasible by the implementation of a plan for the transformation of urban fabric. This thesis investigates a methodology by which an appropriate stepped transformation of urban form arises out of the intense analysis and comparison of traditional and new development samples. The first part of this thesis is titled Context and traces the numerous levels of juxtaposition within the urban environemnt of Shanghai, based on observations during site visit and research conducted in the Fall of 2005 with the MIT research seminar, Sustainable Development in Shanghai. Elaborating on these observations and clarifying the distinct characteristics of each side being juxtaposed, the next section of this thesis is titled Analysis.(cont.) This analysis takes each sample set and extracts the essential components in order to form a resource data set, refereed to as the "kit of parts". The final section is titled Transformation and proposes a fabric that intends to preserve Shanghai's urban identity. Believing that factors of identity are embedded in the basic Lilong urban structure, an average model, representative of the Lilong form is used as the starting point for the transformation that follows. The fabric is arrived at by a designed transformation process of steps onto this initial average model, informed by the introduction of pieces from the kit of parts for both old and new developments. It is proposed that the final outcome of this transformation is inevitably tied to traditional urbanity while addressing modern standards of living as it's foundation is the average model of Lilong neighborhood and it's transformation is partially guided by elements of superblock development within the kit of parts.by Christine Caine.S.M
