The author first examines the origin and development of the international Citta Slow movement, and points out that the growing Citta Slow movement in China can be understood as a New Ruralism Movement for urban residents and the vision of Citta Slow in China is a romantic ideal of the Beautiful Countryside. The article then argues that slowing cities which operate at a moderate speed can create more pleasant and livable environments through the smart use of space, an energy-saving development, and harmony between man and nature. Finally, in the critical period of Beautiful China Construction and the new stage of China’s urbanization, five principles are proposed for designers and developers to apply into planning and design of slowing cities.
The Urban Metabolism theory makes it possible to quantify design methods and strategies for sustainable urban design based on analysis of urban resource flows. Aiming at improving the urban environment, this paper takes four types of urban resources closely related to residents’ lives (i.e., water, energy, organic waste, and food) as evaluation objects and their flow rates as the evaluation indicators, and operates with design scenario models as the core to establish the decision-supportive framework for urban design, which consists of four basic parts: urban status analysis, design scenario setting, design alternatives, and design evaluation. This framework could quickly present design proposals and evaluate their expected performances, providing a basis for decision making in design practice. Then, China World Trade Center area in Beijing is taken as an example to interpret the practical value of the framework by providing guidelines for urban design practices of this area. Finally, the paper points out that instead of showing the optimal design strategy, the final output of the framework just provides decision makers an intuitive understanding of a specific design proposal and the impacts the design intervention would bring to the urban environment.
The article points out that the urban homogenization and social atomization status may lead to corresponding social problems including isolation, segregation, and inequality, and critically reviews their intrinsic consistency with urban development stages and the correlation between mental health and urban diseases. Based on the review of ideas such as Socially Restorative Urbanism and Socially Restorative Urban Design Model, the authors summarize a Socially Restorative Urban Design Model with five planning strategies — group size reduction, place-making, nature-based restoration, walkable system construction, and responsive city establishment — to realize human-human, human-space, human-nature, human-mobility, and humandata connections through taking planning as a tool of empowerment. In addition, the article reflects on the urban problems caused by the past urbanization process in China which pursued quick achievements and examines cases that could guide the new stage of Urban Remediation and Ecological Restoration, giving the same weight to social restoration as physical space improvement and ecological restoration.
Inspired by the fast take-up of data analytics and modelling in urban planning and design in Chinese cities, this paper aims to address a serious knowledge gap in terms of using data to deliver better policy outcomes rather than technical outputs. Such a knowledge gap is discussed in the wider context of smart city development where technology deployment failed to deliver the expected policy benefits. Lessons thus can be, and should be, learnt from early experiments to prevent the data revolution in planning and design in Chinese cities from repeating the same failure. One of the key arguments is that, in order to leverage the potential power of data and analytics for the urban planning and design industry, a wider theoretical framework is required for rethinking the core role as well as core competence of the planning profession in China. It entails a diversion from the purely technical discourse and the disciplinary / professional silos, towards a sociotechnical perspective. A series of propositions are proposed to evoke more critical discussion about the digital agenda for urban planning and design.
Urban greenways play a key role to a city’s nonautomobile commuting and help alleviate traffic congestion. Currently, China’s greenway planning research and practice focuses mostly on suburban areas where greenways provide ecological, historical, cultural, and recreational services, while fewer studies explore urban greenways that serve citizens’ daily non-automobile commuting and recreational needs. Compared with suburban ones, urban greenways often face more spatial limits in the built-up areas and need to respond to more challenging demands. Supported by multisource data and the rise of big data technologies, this research explores the methods of urban greenway route planning that are underpinned through GIS spatial analyses (potential evaluation on spatial construction conditions of greenways) and big-data-based user behavior analyses (of citizens’ daily use of greenways). Demonstrating the authentic planning case for Haidian District, Beijing, the research proposes a series of construction strategies to urban corridors of roads, waterways, and railways, respectively, which integrate green spaces with non-automobile system, in order to improve the services of linear spaces in cities.
Cities have suffered from long-time waterlogging problems. A review of English and Chinese literature on “urban waterlogging” can help analyze the research progress and further explore methods and approaches to alleviate such problems in Chinese cities. By examining the literature from the Web of Science Core Collection database and CNKI database with CiteSpace, a Mapping Knowledge Domains tool, this paper aims to scientifically review the disciplinary structure, major research interests, and research hotspots of the issues of urban waterlogging. Through data analyses, it concludes that: 1) urban waterlogging is a hot topic that has been studied in a great number of subjects, with interdisciplinary studies and a continuous growth in Urban and Rural Planning, Geography, Landscape Architecture, etc. in recent years; 2) the research on waterlogging in representative subjects varies; 3) English and Chinese literature explores stormwater management and control measures from the perspectives of planning concepts, infrastructure, drainage systems, spatial regulation, management methods, and micromeasures; 4) research hotspots cover the concepts and measures of waterlogging control, hydrological processes and patterns, causes of waterlogging, and risk assessment and management; 5) the existing research mainly focuses on micro scales, and there is an absence of studies on ideal spatial patterns and planning approaches at macro and medium scales, or on the correlation between urban hydrological processes and waterlogging formation mechanisms with spatial deployment of stormwater regulation approaches. Finally, according to existing research limitations, the paper proposes that: 1) future theoretical studies should explore the backgrounds, objectives, and application scenarios of various waterlogging control approaches; 2) studies are expected to explore spatial patterns and planning approaches at macro and medium scales; and 3) scholars should expand the territory of research by integrating with Hydrology.
To challenge the stupefying homogeneities produced by dense and fast urban environments, designers should offer a range of experiences to create a “slowing city,” which first relies on the understanding of the character and range of “slow experiences,” then requires an empiricallydriven approach to attain it. Phenomenologically, slow experiences can be social or solitary; both are discussed. The former comes from “event” experiences that facilitate meaningful interactions among people, while the latter promotes a shift into “being mode” which can help replenish human’s attention. Using findings in psychology and neurocognition, this article suggests that architects, landscape designers, and urbanists adopt a scientifically-grounded phenomenological approach to designing healthy urban environments where people can flourish. More attention is required to investigate people’s experience of surfaces and textures, and of compositions with varying levels of patterned complexity, as well as the changeability of design features and approaches to combat habituation.
Driven by unprecedented urbanization and everchanging applied technologies, urban planners and designers are exploring how to create comfortable living experience in fast-paced cities, thus rises the concept of “slowing city.” By reviewing years of design practices of Sasaki Associates, this article is focused on the core idea of “slowing city,” i.e., “making good use of local resources,” and its application into a number of urban regeneration practice. Further, by taking “user demands” as a critical reference, the article discusses how to coordinate the interests of a wide range of user groups and then facilitate cooperation among the government, citizens, and designers to ensure the long-term benefits of construction projects. Finally, critical thoughts are given to how the emerging technologies could contribute to urban construction and life quality, and the new opportunity that they may bring to the planning and design industry.
Haikou is a coastal tourist city in Hainan Province of South China with beautiful natural landscapes. During the rapid urbanization in the past decades, the role of natural rivers as city’s water ecological infrastructure has been long-time neglected, resulting in a sharp deterioration of urban ecological resilience and security. Fengxiang Park, sitting at the middle reaches of the Meishe River, is a key ecological node in the watershed, which however had suffered from severe ecological problems. In this demonstrative project, the site was envisioned as an urban park which mitigates urban flooding and water pollution and provides citizens a quality waterfront with pleasant, slow living environment through a substantial ecosystem improvement with means of Design Ecology.
Techniques of green sponge construction and the reinforced constructed wetland system deployed in the park have effectively slowed down the flow of water and nutrients, restored habitats for fauna and flora, and increased biodiversity; the introduction of a diversity of slow traffic system has brought vitality to the city by encouraging green traffic modes among citizens and tourists, creating a new tourism, recreational, and cultural destination for the city. More importantly, in view of increasingly severe issues such as water pollution and shortage around the globe, this project shows an obvious reference significance to other practices in urban water quality improvement, flooding control, and the creation of public spaces to provide social and cultural services.
The Great Wall is a world cultural heritage and a treasure of human civilization. In 2017, the Government of Datong, Shanxi Province proposed to build a cultural heritage corridor of the ancient Great Wall. Based on deep investigation and meticulous analyses, the planning team envisioned a heritage corridor with a length of 258 km, covering a total area of 186 km2, in which the slow-traveling facility system, as an important component that integrates the construction, operation, and management of related heritage sites, provides sightseeing, recreational, and educational services. This article discusses the strategies to develop the slow-traveling facility system in the cultural heritage corridor, which adopts a low-interference structure according to the spatial distribution of heritage sites along the Great Wall, and applies the minimum cumulative resistance model and other scientific methods to analyze development suitability and ecological environment conditions of the project site. Based on the evaluation results, the slow-traveling facility system and the service node system are adaptively planned and designed, combined with a low-intervention interpretation system. Finally, the scales of facilities are designed based on an estimation of tourist amount to control the impact of construction on heritage sites and natural environment. As such, the balance between heritage conservation and tourism development is achieved.
Recently completed, The Block was constructed over a seven-month period along the Dubai Water Canal in Dubai Design District, providing a much-celebrated public park for the people of Dubai. Through their re-purposing of seven hundred 30-ton concrete blocks left over from the canal construction, landscape architects, desert INK created countless play features for children, outdoor exercise areas, and food and beverage outlets. Breaking all public park stereotypes and incorporating an unconventional approach to design, The Block stands out as one of the most unique and innovative landscape designs in the Middle East, if not the world. With a clear brief to attract a diverse range of new visitors to d3, desert INK set out to create an extraordinary park which would attract children and families to this otherwise design-industry focused district so that different lifestyles could co-exist and the community could thrive.
This article highlights the urgencies and challenges in interpreting slow fashion in Indonesia to join the global movement. The term “slow fashion” as technical production was never familiar in Indonesian society despite a slow process is an integrated part of Indonesia cultural heritage — especially in producing the textile craft practice and repairing clothing to the tailor. The term “slow fashion” as a modern lifestyle philosophy is totally a new thing in Indonesia. When this term was brought to develop exhibition by IKAT/eCUT Project, Goethe-Institut in 2017, the biggest challenge was to map the fast fashion landscape and to explore the practice of this philosophy in Indonesia. This list of urgencies will highlight the realistic way to adapt the concept of slow fashion in the country. Since western fast fashion products are not massively occupying major Indonesian market, the parameter of counter must be slightly shifted into a contextual one. The term slow fashion then should be interpreted in a broader way than what has been set in the West, including extending the principle pillars to fit with Indonesia situation and context.
The article focuses on the undesirable binary between the rural and the urban and uses Company Drinks as an example of a reverse ruralurban relationship, where an inner city population migrates temporarily to the countryside, which is relevant to the hop-picking tradition (“hopping”) practiced by working-class families from London’s East End. In this case, a working-class community has developed its own rural practice, moving between rural and urban settings on a regular basis. Company Drinks is a new model cultural enterprise that uses the collective memory of hopping as a starting point to rethink and reintroduce an adaptive collective production cycle into East London everyday life. With various successful activities being held, going picking has been far from an East End tradition and become a universal activity recognized and appreciated across different cultures and landscapes. The author believes that rural-urban link cannot be controlled from a distance. Rural society offers knowledge and resource that can empower urban communities, and can test and provide conditions for alternatives to urban lifestyles.