ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of this transition and evaluates some of its causes. It also introduces six case studies of renewed/new courtyard housing projects in Beijing and Suzhou to offer a basis for the empirical findings. The chapter consists of four sections: changes in family structure, changes in house ownership, conservation of courtyard form, and construction of new courtyard housing. The China's population more than doubled between 1953 and 2010 the family structure has decreased from extended to nuclear families, a trend echoed elsewhere in the world. Housing prices in China further increased after commercialization in 1998, making it almost impossible for ordinary citizens to purchase a home with their wages. Meanwhile, 340,000 households in inner Beijing were required to leave their traditional homes in 2002-2007 as the authorities cleaned up the city for the 2008 Olympic Games.
