Landscapes and human desires are inseparable: from survival and physiological needs, to the sense of belonging and identity, and self-actualization, all of which arise from landscapes. In other words, the landscape is the tangible representation of human desires. However, human’s desires are endless. They would lead to the unrestrained creation and change, or even irreversible damages to the landscape. Eventually, human beings may bury ourselves in the abyss of desire. Fortunately, such a doom could be avoided if humans can wisely utilize the ecosystem services (landscape services) obtained from nature, instead of immoderately consuming natural resources, to maintain the harmonious relationship between human (desires) and nature (landscapes). This can not only meet human’s primary needs like survival and safety, but also realize higher-level desires.
The analysis of desire related to subjectivity is one of the subjects of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis theory is frequently cited by the theorists of design criticism, but there are few works introducing the cartographic tools used in psychoanalysis and the later developed schizoanalysis. This paper makes an intertextual correspondence between the developments of design theory and psychoanalytic cartographies, and proposes its philosophically diagnostic essence and the theoretical promotion from psychoanalysis. It is concluded that the interdisciplinary influence between psychoanalysis or schizoanalysis and design criticism has witnessed over 4 stages—which are also the primary application categories of psychoanalysis and schizoanalysis—including: 1) metaphors in literary criticisms; 2) analytical tools in ontology; 3) genealogical narrative tools in ecology of systems; and 4) synthesis operators for interdisciplinary research. The process from dualism to pluralism and the process from metaphorical representation of mirror to interdisciplinary synthesis operator experienced by psychoanalytic cartographies are consistent with the history of professional discourse and criticism paradigm development, and in fact are an epitome of philosophical theory in the second half of the 20th century. The design theory is also a part of the shift, so the graph of desire could be a way to represent the very discourse of critical history and relevant text. Lastly, possible applications of psychoanalytical and schizoanalytic cartographies in the design theory discourse are proposed.
Existing large-scale urban green spaces in a low distribution density can hardly meet citizens’ diverse and growing needs for convenient access and sharing modes, especially to those living in old communities. Compared with formal green spaces, informal green space (IGS) is a new urban green infrastructure contributing to the city’s coconstruction, co-governance, and co-sharing. This study was conducted based on a typical old residential community in the historic city center of Beijing, namely Beitaipingzhuang Neighborhood, acquired residents’ opinions, evaluation, and willing to participate in IGS governance, and investigated their preference of IGS renovation, activity, and the positive / negative perception of IGS scenarios through virtual renovation proposals upon the real scenes. According to the survey result, most residents have been aware of the existing IGS in communities as well as the advantages and disadvantages, and shown their support to IGS cogovernance; residents’ preference of IGS renovation scenarios is significantly affected by environmental factors—residents prefer the green spaces with a higher plant richness, a larger crown size, and a more complete leisure facility system. Therefore, residents’ positive perception can be enhanced through enriching plant species, adjusting green space ratio, and introducing proper planting patterns and facility types. Finally, the authors put forward several research interests for following up so as to provide targeted guidelines for the optimization of urban living environment.
As one of the frequently used green spaces of urban residents, residential green spaces have a positive effect on people’s mental health status. In order to understand the impact of residential green spaces on citizens’ mental health during the COVID-19 epidemic, this study collected the sociodemographic data of 556 residents from 15 residential communities in Hefei New Municipal and Culture District, Anhui Province, China in March, 2020 through online questionnaires, then adopted the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10 Scale) to evaluate the residents’ mental health status, and used GIMP Grid to quantify the green view index of residential green spaces outside the windows. Besides, a multiple linear regression model was used to explore the correlations between residential green spaces and residents’ mental health status. The findings show that green coverage ratio, satisfaction of the landscapes of green space, green view index outside the window, and green viewing duration of the residential green spaces have positive effects on residents’ mental health status. The study verifies the benefits of residential green spaces to promoting resident’s mental health status under COVID-19, providing a scientific guidance for the future practice of urban construction.
In the early 20th century, zoning, restrictive covenants, deed restrictions, and federallysponsored real estate maps that directed bank loans operated at multiple levels to perpetuate spatial patterns that separated whites from Blacks, Asians, and other non-Anglo ethnics; homeowners from renters; and single-family dwellings from multi-family units. The obvious overtly racial biases of those systems are socially unacceptable today but their underlying purposes have since been augmented by new tools that mask further discrimination. This article presents a critical examination of the relationship between historic preservation, open space easements, and farmland preservation practices to reveal how these regulations support racial and social discrimination in American land-use practices. Existing literature presumes that history, nature, and farming, preserved by these practices are cultural, environmental, and public positives. An examination of the underlying forces shows how these goals are achieved by restrictive instruments that create exclusion and protect privilege by controlling development and establishing and maintaining social norms that exclude certain groups while welcoming others. Using documentary evidence, this paper establishes historic preservation’s origins as an instrument of racial and ethnic exclusion in Charleston, South Carolina and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania of the United States, and the subsequent evolution of historic districts into gentrified, white neighborhoods. Two case studies in the New York metropolitan area, chosen for their use of historic preservation with farmland preservation (Cranbury Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey), and historic preservation with open space easements (Town of Bedford, Westchester County, New York) as resistance to affordable residential development, demonstrate how enclaves of exclusion and privilege were created. This article further establishes how these tools commodify history and landscapes into transactional entities that attain value in today’s neoliberal wealth-focused environment.
To all kinds of design, the negotiation between the expression of designers’ idea and the representation of users’ desire is a typical internal tension of design. Particularly, the balancing of the internal tension of the design for children requires sophisticated solutions, because the needs of the actual users are often (mis-)represented by the desire of their parents. Therefore, in addition to satisfying social needs, the designers should also recognize the collective unconsciousness of adults who express on behalf of children. Taking the studies in Developmental Psychology and Anthropology as reference, this article focuses on playing, instead of knowledge acquisition, and discusses the balancing of the internal tension of the design of playing spaces for children, especially for the preschoolers. This article aims at revealing the role of games to children’s psychological and intelligence growth, as well as their game playing mechanism, by answering two questions: why do children play games and how do they play? By illustrating a case study on the playground design of the COBY Preschool in Japan, the proposed concept of “design to not design” is expected to inspire the design of children’s playing spaces.
Urban green infrastructure is a fundamental physical structure that supports the construction of resilient cities based on nature. Currently, the conventional design paradigm oriented by deterministic control is not conducive to promoting urban resilience, and the design paradigm of green infrastructure is in urgent need of transformation. Based on literature review, this article discusses the establishment of resilient design paradigm: first, it proposes the common ground of the resilient design paradigm by establishing a framework for the resilience mechanism of urban green infrastructure; then it summarizes the resilience driving mechanism to provide the key basis for the resilience design paradigm; and finally, this article devises the resilient design paradigm based on adaptive approaches and proposes the whole-process dynamic cyclic model to guide the configuration optimization of urban green infrastructure. The establishment of the design paradigm relies on the shift in mindset, concept, design procedure, project management, quality inspection, etc., which requires the joint efforts by designers, engineers, researchers, decision makers, and the public. This article is expected to provide references not only to the construction of green infrastructure to support the high-performance of urban resilience, but also to the theory development of resilient city and the resilient design paradigm of landscape design.
Over the last 50 years, 370 large cities worldwide have severely depopulated, or shrunk, by at least 10%. Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is the third fastest U.S. shrinking city. Primarily a victim of deindustrialization, Johnstown faces severe decline issues related to depopulation, including social disorder and lowered quality of life. This project develops a framework for urban design for shrinking cities, integrating permanent functions into high development potential areas but temporary functions into declining areas. This approach allows for future development to occur through time as the city recovers. Using a GIS-based weighted overlay model to assess the threat level of decline, 4 sites were identified and strategies for each were developed. Master plans to retrofit new functions integrating residents' desire and demands into vacant / abandoned properties were then generated for each site. Rather than chasing hefty attempted quick-hitting developmental incentives, this approach will bring new long-term economic engines and lifestyles to the city due to a diversity in the economic base; it also pays attention to the social dimension of urban regeneration by providing a structured way to promoting social justice and equity in shrinking cities.
While the current urban public space pays more attention to the physical construction for the promotion of public health, systematic and specific studies on mental health is insufficient. Through the selection of a specified group of users and the analysis of their mental desire, this article explores the possibility of promoting urban mental health by spatial design. The "Tokyo Loneliness Tree Hole Plan" project suggests reconsidering and reshaping the positive perception of loneliness based on the Salutogenesis Theory and proposes a design guideline for tackling urban loneliness. The project utilizes a scenario-based research method to conceive a systematic strategy for establishing an urban "spiritual infrastructure," which offers the lonely individuals a chance to get along with themselves, the space, and the feeling of loneliness. As the new typology of urban public space with publicity and privacy simultaneously, "Urban Tree Holes" create empathy
about solitariness between natural landscape elements and humans in oriental design aesthetics, in order to mitigate the urban loneliness and respond to the mental desire. "One Person Park" as an alternative form of future landscape investigating the concept of "private-public space," which might fulfill the new desire of using public space in a post-pandemic era.
Since the Battle of Okinawa and the end of World War II, Okinawa Island, one of the five main islands of Japan, has been a critical strategic location for the United States Armed Forces. Approximately 70% of the U.S. military bases in Japan are located on Okinawa Island. The bases cover one-fifth of the total Island area and expose Okinawa to various social–ecological vulnerabilities. Being unconstrained by the military base border, the social-ecological impacts of this highly militarized reality could be observed across the Island, and contaminates and disturbs ecological systems crucial for local residents and wildlife. Within the context of the ongoing debate over the military realignment on Okinawa Island, this study responds to the aforementioned challenges by proposing a landscape-based alternative realignment strategy. In particular, with the upcoming 50th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japan in 2022, this work outlines four strategies for establishing an ecological symbiosis between nature, the indigenous Okinawan, and the U.S. military bases, and strengthening self-sustainability on a militarized island landscape.