明清江南園林文化的興盛，並不能孤立於社會經濟的脈絡之外，而單純地被視為士紳階層與文人文化的產物。本文的前半部份，將園林重新放回明清的社會，發現明清盛行的築園風氣，在當時人的觀感裡，並不完全是正面的形象。而透過對蘇州一地園林文本的分析，則可看到士大夫和文人在社會觀感與壓力之下，如何自陳其築園的合理性；進而藉由文本的書寫，來建構他們理想的園林文化。此外，明清江南著名的園林有許多是位在城市或城郊關廂附近，這些園林和城市的經濟發展、百姓的日常生活，可說是關係密切。本文的後半部份即從城市史的角度出發，分析園林的位置和蘇州城市發展在空間上的關聯性。結果顯示蘇州園林的位置在空間上的分佈，與城市各個區位的機能發展息息相關。而私家園林的開放，不但逐漸影響了市民的生活，同時也形成市民對公共休閑空間需求的新觀念。於是有私家園林被廟宇與社會團體併購，而逐漸轉向成為公共化的休閑空間。

The richness of garden culture in the Jiangnan region should not be isolated from the social and economic context of the Ming and Qing periods-the gardens did not simply result from developments internal to literati culture. The first section of this article investigates the building of gardens from social and economic perspectives, finding that the garden building brought into vogue by the gentry and literati in the late Ming was not regarded with complete approbation at the time. An analysis of garden texts from Suzhou reveals how the gentry and literati, responding to critical views and social pressure, constructed an ideal garden culture through writing such texts. Many of the famous gardens of the Jiangnan region were located in cities and their suburbs, and are best understood in terms of their relation to urban economic development and the daily lives of the common people. The second section of this article thus explores the spatial relationship between the locations of gardens and the development of the city through the lens of urban historical analysis. I conclude that the spatial distribution of gardens in Suzhou reflected the development and functions of specific locations in the city. Furthermore, the gradual opening of private gardens not only influenced citizens' lives, but also led to new demands for public spaces. This in turn led to a tendency for some private gardens to merge with temples and other social organizations, which gradually created more open space for public leisure pursuits.