Local peasants have created unbelievably magnificent terraced landscapes using simple tools through cultivation, self-sufficiency, water conservation, and awe for the God of Earth. Before large machinery became the standard for industrial civilizations, the landscape had been shaped using only simple tools and had lasted for over thousands of years. This was benefited from simple technologies that maintained a harmonious relationship with the land, even if it was forced to. Industrial civilization, however, has created an antagonistic relationship between humans and land, brought about by consumerism. The excessive use of industrial machinery has also caused irreversible harm to the land. If these conditions are not changed, the landscape — an objective presentation of subjective thinking — will surely move beyond redemption.
The trend of global urbanization has put the contemporary cities in identity crises by accelerating place transformations, particularly in the thriving ground of China. This paper explores ways of conceptualizing place identity in relation to rapid urbanization in contemporary China. After a revisit of the main theories and studies on place identity from both the social sciences and design professions (in China and the West), the paper asserts a philosophical concept of place identity as a pluralistic and temporal construct. Drawing on this philosophy, the paper provides further observation and critique upon place identity construction praxis in China through three case studies. These cases together approach a holistic reading of the complexity of place identity construction in China today. Taken as a whole, the paper argues that construction of place identity in China’s urbanization should account for its pluralism and temporality in identity claims, multiple scales, and transformation of identity through time. The study of place identity issues in China’s urbanization leads to a critical reflection on not only the rapid urbanization of the recent past, but also that taking place now and likely to occur in more than a thousand small towns and villages in the future.
In this article, art works as unconventional landscape interventions are introduced, showing the interdisciplinary practices in responding to social and ecological issues brought by the rupture of global activities and local geographies. Started from natural geology and ecology, these public art works emphasize the close connection between individuals and the global system by coupling social, cultural, and economic phenomena with the physical foundation of the earth. In these practices, site-specific art is functioning as a tool to create intermediate spaces between mind and function, where questions, critics, manifestos, and actions, take forms through site interventions. The openness of these practices stimulates more dialogues among multiple industries about the sustainability of localization.
This interview centers on the urban development issues faced by most Chinese cities. Yan Meng, Principal Architect and Co-founder of URBANUS Architecture and Design, shares his perspective on cities, and discusses what kinds of cities are dynamic, lively, and healthy by taking urban village in Shenzhen as an example. Besides, as one of the curators, he hopes that the 2017 Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture can offer an opportunity to break boundaries, foster communication and exchange, and explore new urban development pattern in the future. Meng also believes that architects’ roles as an observer, a thinker, and a researcher could allow them to better respond to the unique context and cultural characteristics of a site as a designer.
This interview is centered on the practice of earth architecture in rural West China, starting from introducing the post-earthquake reconstruction project in Guangming Village, Yunnan Province, as an outstanding example of the practice of the “One University, One Village” Rural Sustainable Development Assistance Program. Li Wan, the interviewee, explains the differences of design consideration and the difficulties in practicing earth architecture throughout China, while giving her prospect on its future application. Through a further introduction on the operation and project procedure of the Program by Wan and her team, the interviewee addresses that architects should take their responsibilities on solving social issues, with a hope that, through their site-based efforts, the Program could provide a global paradigm to similar earth architecture practices in other regions, rousing designers’ awareness of localization.
In a time of global challenges, cities are critical not only as vehicles for progress, but also as centers of diversity and resilience. Confronted with intensifying climates, and social, ecological, and economic issues, McGregor Coxall focuses on the stories people tell in making their cities. Our projects accept and challenge these stories which underpin city-making: the engine of economic progress, the marketplace of cultural production, and the myth of our separation from “nature.”
The success of contemporary city is built on a paradoxical relationship with two pressures: global development and environmental impacts. To address these crises, McGregor Coxall works at two scales, simultaneously, on all of our projects: in the large-scale realm of regional economic development and ecosystemic operations, and at the scale of the person, the street, and the neighbourhood. The systemic understanding provides the contextual basis by which projects perform, economically and environmentally, while our understanding of communities makes each project a genuine product of its time, place, and culture.
As a pilot project of water treatment in Zhejiang Province, the Puyangjiang River Corridor project has remediated the polluted river course into a popular ecological and recreational corridor. The project restored the aquatic ecosystems and improved the water quality by introducing a constructed wetland system which purifies the irrigation water and the tributaries of Puyangjiang River. Under a concept of Sponge City construction and a minimal intervention strategy, the design not only enhances the flood resilience, but also minimizes the disturbance to natural ecosystems of the site. In addition, the existing agricultural, water-conservational, and cultural heritages have been preserved and partly reused as recreational structures and facilities, contributing aesthetic and educational values to the site.
To respond to the urban problems and to increase forest areas in the city, an urban forest reflecting Bangkok’s former landscape was designed and constructed. To create diverse forest ecology and stimulate plant growth, Miyawaki’s ecological method to reforestation was implemented, and local tree species were used for pioneer planting as they had once established territorial populations around Bangkok. The layout of the species was carefully grouped, and planting locations were also carefully selected. The skywalk and observation tower were designed to minimize disturbance of the burgeoning forest and allow close-up views of the maturing canopy. This project is distinguished by strong design gestures that are well integrated into the landscape by using Bangkok’s design language, creating a space truly to inspire public awareness of urban forestry and the importance of environmental stewardship in Thailand.
Increased efficiency in the design and construction of standardization is often accompanied by a loss of perception of the site. L’enfance du Pli (The Fold’s Childhood) is a sculpturelandscape, monumental and elongated in Boudines, Geneva. In a form of interpretating the force that spawned landscapes of the Jura Massif (Jura folds), the project challenges the principle of modern architecture and responds to the ignorance of the pre-existing landscape that presided over the realization of the Meyrin Park.
In times of radical change, we need to look into cities as laboratories. A sheer unlikely candidate for such an urban laboratory is the city of Sarajevo. Yet, the city’s turbulent past of alternating periods of construction and destruction and the variety of social, cultural, and political layers in its built environment reveal challenges and potentials relevant to the state of many contemporary cities around the globe. Sarajevo’s discontinuous political, social, and historical development has created a bricolage city. By highlighting the existing local socio-cultural and ecological systems, the Urban-Think Tank’s “Reactivate Sarajevo” project aims not only to contribute to a post-war revitalization of the Bosnian capital but also to produce, from the experience of this extraordinary city, lessons of wider, possibly global significance.