首页  /  发现   /  读书   /  正文

  • 《景观设计学》2019年第6期

    作 者：
    尹荦懿（YIN Luoyi），徐磊青（XU Leiqing），言语（YAN Yu）等
    类 别：
    景观
    出 版 社：
    高等教育出版社有限公司
    出版时间：
    2019年12月
    购买

俞孔坚•“仙境”是个慢地方——《景观设计学》2019年第6期“主编寄语”

Wonderland Is a Slow Place, By Yu Kongjian


在离我家乡浙江金华不远处有一座名山——烂柯山，传说晋时樵夫王质到山里砍柴，见二童子对弈，便在一旁观看。一局未终，发现斧柄已烂，便匆匆回家，但见屋舍早已坍塌，家人及同辈皆已不在，听闻村民言数十年前曾有村民王质进山砍柴不归，才知自己曾误入仙境——“天上一日，世上千年”。类似的仙境故事在中国古代文学作品中屡见不鲜，最典型的当数陶渊明笔下的桃花源，其中的人们“乃不知有汉，无论魏晋”，生活怡然自得。中国人心目中的仙境其实是现实世界中人类欲望的集成，包括对健康、长寿、和谐社会，以及最为理想化的优美山水的憧憬[1]——仙境本质上正是一个“慢地方”，在那里，“慢”是衡量事物价值的标准，例如《西游记》描绘的仙境中的蟠桃树，长得越慢，桃子品质越高。在现实生活中，文人雅士们陶醉于曲水流觞，即让筵席缓慢而诗意地进行；哲人们对时间的流逝发出“逝者如斯夫”的喟叹。其实，对“慢”的仙境的向往并非中国文化所独有，据我所知，“慢”也是西方世界所描绘的“天堂”的重要特征，只因为现实世界太快了！

所以，尽管我们还不确定工业革命以来的科技发展和城市化对人类来说是祸是福，但可以确定的是，它们让一切都变得更快了。“速度快”成为衡量事物先进程度乃至社会发展水平的重要标志之一，诸如日起一层楼的建设速度、渠化后直排的河道、不断缩短的食品生产和加工过程等，都意味着这种发展模式和生活方式让人类离其所憧憬的“仙境”越来越远，这是何其巨大的悖论！

终于，人们发现，快速高效的基础设施在服务于快节奏的城市社会的同时，却使得自然系统被切割、被毒化；在快速扩张的城市阴影下，是拥堵不堪、雾霾笼罩的街道；用化肥和激素生产的食物，背叛了人类对自然和健康的向往。随之，人们对“慢”的追求开始被唤醒。首先在西方，1986年反对快餐的“慢餐运动”在意大利罗马被美食专栏作家卡洛·佩特里尼点燃。随后，作为“慢餐运动”的延伸扩展，第一届“慢城”大会于1999年在意大利奥维多召开，“慢餐运动”在欧洲悄然兴起，并于21世纪初开始进入中国。2010年11月，江苏南京高淳的桠溪镇被国际慢城组织认证为第一个中国“慢城”，我和我的团队有幸参与了从规划到实施的整个过程。如今中国已有7个“慢城”正在进行认证。尽管中国的“慢城”更多的是地方政府为推动当地发展提出的噱头—与原始的“慢城”内涵相距甚远，甚至南辕北辙—但也在一定程度上说明中国开始了对“慢”的觉醒。在中国过去40年间“大干快上”的城镇化背景下，“仙境”仅存在于那些远离城市的乡村中。所以，中国“慢城运动”的实质是当代中国城市居民的“新上山下乡”运动，中国的“慢城”愿景则是那个没有被城镇化的“美丽乡村”。遗憾的是，当今许多乡村建设仍然是“快”的牺牲品：快速路网从城市延伸到乡村，正在抹却乡间漫道；快速的硬质排水设施正在摧毁几千年来形成的民间水利系统；快速的建造技术正在毁掉质朴的村落建筑和街巷；快速催熟的牲畜和作物正在取代自然生长的有机畜牧和农耕……

然而，烂漫的乡村“慢城”毕竟只能是逃离“城市病”的短暂避难所，我们还是需要整理当代生产生活的主阵地：城市。于是，更广泛意义上的“慢城市”概念在这里被提出，它既不同于前文所述的浪漫而休闲的“慢城”，也不同于“绿色城市”“智慧城市”等概念；其强调城市应在保持令人适意的运转速度的同时，营造空间高效利用、能源节约、环境优美、人与自然和谐相处的理想人居环境。在建设“美丽中国”的关键时期以及中国城镇化迈入转型提升的重要阶段，设计师和建设者有必要认识到“慢”的深刻内涵，用“慢原则”去规划、设计我们的城市。这些“慢原则”主要包括以下几个方面：

第一，让人流慢下来，通过将区域快速交通和局域慢行交通相结合，构建慢行交通基础设施。虽然发达的交通基础设施是一座城市保持活力的重要基础，但城市不应放任快速道路肆意蔓延，而应强调并保障行人和骑行者的出行空间，让儿童、老人、残障人士也能够安全、有尊严地出行。尤其不要让快速交通隔断自然与人之间的联系，避免沿城市滨水带、山麓和绿地建造的高速道路将城与山水割裂。

第二，让水流慢下来，构建与水为友的生态系统。在工业文明理念的影响下，当下的灌溉、施肥、排水等农业管理活动都以快速为目标。然而，只有让水流慢下来，植物才有时间吸收其中的养分（污染物），地下水才能得到补充，旱涝才能得到调节，土地才能得到有效滋润。慢的水流在景观中可以是蜿蜒曲折的溪流、植被茂盛的湖区、鸟儿驻足的河床、深浅不一的坑塘和湿地，它们是野生动植物的家园，也是诗意环境的生态基底。

第三，让营养流慢下来，打造循环流动的物质链。氮、磷、钾等元素是维持生态系统可持续性的物质基础，它们在土地、水体、作物及人类之间循环流动。工业文明下，营养流被线性化、被分离和提取、被加速地生产和使用，而制成的化肥被迅速送到农民手里，撒入田地，其中一大半通过渠化河道直接排入河湖，污染水体。将营养流循环重新建立并利用起来是修复和健全生态系统的关键。

第四，让建造慢下来，提高建造品质，留住独特的城市记忆。慢的建造意味着拒绝拆掉重来，意味着就地取材，意味着工匠精神。但这绝不是单纯的“修旧如旧”，不是回到过去追求风貌的统一，而是在创造适应当代人生活需求的环境的同时，留住乡愁。在新旧的拼贴与穿插中，让时间的脚步停留在交错的材料与空间之中，由此可以让人们在时间和空间的体验中流连忘返。

第五，让生活慢下来，倡导新的生活方式，营造新的城市空间体验。慢城市需要让习惯于忙碌的人们有机会、有心情去品尝慢慢成熟和加工出来的有机食物；有时间和空间去读书和品味艺术、聆听清晨的鸟鸣、观察墙角织网的蜘蛛，以及欣赏从树梢飘落的枫叶。

“人民对美好生活的向往，就是我们的奋斗目标”[2]，同时，我们应该认识到，人们对美好生活的向往是分阶段的、带有时代局限性的，也是不断发展的。在“快”仍然主导人居环境建设的当下，我们切不可忘记人类的终极向往仍然是“仙境”和“天堂”，是永不过时的慢地方。

 

Not far from my hometown of Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province is the famous Lanke Mountain. Legends tell us that during the Jin Dynasty, a woodman named Wang Zhi went to this mountain to harvest firewood and was attracted by two boys playing chess. Before a round of game finished, his axe had been found rotten. Hurrying home, he was shocked that his house had collapsed and his family was no longer there, and then learned from the villagers that around ten years had passed in the world outside the Lanke Mountain, which meant that he had been to a wonderland by accident: one day in the wonderland, a millennium in the real world. Such wonderlands are commonly seen in ancient Chinese literature, among which the best known one is the Peach Blossom Land described by Tao Yuanming. In that place, people lived in happiness and peace, even did not know the alternation of dynasties. In fact, the wonderland is a representation of human desire in the real world, including health, longevity, a harmonious society, and idealized landscapes[1], and essentially a “slow place” where slowness is greatly valued. For example, planted in the wonderland in the Journey to the West, the slow-growing peaches are of higher quality than the fast-growing ones. Besides, the ancient Chinese literati pursued a slow and poetic life and sighed the passing of time. Yearning for the “slow” wonderland is not unique to Chinese culture — desires for the paradise with “slow” as an important quality also exist in western culture. The common aspiration for “slow” reflects a fact that the life pace in real world is too fast!

Technological development and urbanization since the Industrial Revolution can be considered both a blessing and a curse, but modernization has undoubtedly made everything faster. Fast speeds have become an important benchmark for measuring social development. Rapid-speed construction, river canalization, and shortened food producing and processing have meant that humans are far away from the wonderland they have dreamt about. What a huge paradox!

Finally, while serving the fast-paced urban life, the efficient infrastructure also undermines natural ecosystems. City streets are full of congestion and smog, while fertilizer exposure and hormone-producing foods have deviated from our desire for a healthy life. Then, initiated by the food columnist Carlo Petrini, a Slow Food Movement against fast food started in Rome in 1986. As a later version, Citta Slow was raised and its first conference was held in Orvieto, Italy in 1999, and soon spread across Europe and began to gain influence in China in the early 2000s. In November 2010, Yaxi Town in Gaochun District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province was recognized as the first Chinese Citta Slow by Cittaslow International — My team participated its planning and implementation process. Today, seven Chinese Citta Slow cities are under accreditation. While they have been more like a marketing buzzword used by local governments to attract investment and tourists, far from the original intention of the Citta Slow movement, they do demonstrate that China has been longing for the slow “wonderland” again, which has been, however, relegated to the countryside in the rapid urbanization over the past 40 years. Therefore, the Citta Slow movement in China can be understood as a New Ruralism Movement for urban residents, and the Citta Slow in China envisions a romantic ideal of the Beautiful Countryside. Regrettably, today many rural areas are still victims of fast development: new highways are replacing countryside trails; channelized water infrastructures are replacing historic civic water systems; rustic villages are torn down for new construction; and artificial ripening crops are prevailing in farms nationwide.

Citta slow in rural areas only offers a refuge to urban residents for a temporary relief from urban problems. We have to face the changing and challenging circumstance in cities. Therefore, the concept of the “slowing city” is proposed. Different from Citta Slow, “green city,” or “smart city,” the 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. 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. These “slow principles” are:

First, slow down the traffic by building traffic infrastructure that combines regional fast transportation with local slow one. Although the former is vital to a city’s mobility and vitality, cities should avoid unnecessary highways, emphasizing and guaranteeing safe spaces for both pedestrians and cyclists to insure that children, the elderly, and the disabled can travel safely with dignity. In particular, connections between cities and waterfronts, mountains, and green spaces should not be compromised by the pursuit of rapid transit so that the relationships between people and the natural environment would not be damaged.

Second, slow down the flow of water and build resilient ecosystems. Nowadays, agricultural activities including irrigation, fertilization, and drainage aim for higher efficiency. However, the flow of water needs to be slowed down so that plants can absorb enough nutrients or purify more pollutants, groundwater can be fully recharged, droughts and floods can be mitigated, and soil moisture can be adjusted. The slow flow of water can be in the form of a winding stream, a lush lake, a riverbed where birds could stop, or ponds and wetlands in varied depths. They are all homes to wildlife and the ecological base for a poetic landscape.

Third, slow down the nutrient flow and create a recycled material chain. Elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are the material basis for a sustainable ecosystem, and they circulate between land, water, and living species. During urbanization, these flows have been regulated, separated, extracted, and made to accelerate product and use. Manufactured fertilizer can be easily gotten and sprinkled on fields, running off and being discharged into channelized rivers then polluting water bodies. Re-establishing nutrient flow is key to restore and improve ecosystems.

Fourth, slow down the speed of construction, improve quality, and keep unique urban memories. This means resisting large-scale demolitions and using local materials, techniques, and craftsmanship instead. Slow construction does not mean always keeping the old, or returning to the past, but meeting modern needs while appreciating the importance of past practices. Between the old and the new, time stays interlaced with materials and spaces, creating experience where people can linger.

Finally, slow down the pace of life. We should advocate for new lifestyles and new models of urban space experience, encouraging people accustomed to fast-paced lives to enjoy well-cooked organic food, have time to read and experience art, listen to birds singing in the morning, observe spiders spinning webs in the corner, and appreciate the maple leaves falling.

“The purpose of China’s development is to improve the lives of our people.”[2] We should realize that people’s vision for a better life is limited by the times, and is constantly evolving. Under the background of rapid construction today, we cannot forget that wonderlands are still an aspiration and that the slow places never go out of style.

 

REFERENCES

[1] Yu, K. (2019). Ideal Landscapes and the Deep Meaning of Feng-Shui (Patterns of Biological and Cultural Genes). San Francisco: ORO Editions.

[2] Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee. (2014). Important Literature Selection since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Vol. 1). Beijing: Central Party Literature Press.

发表评论
您好，登录后才可以评论哦！

热门评论

相关图书

Cecile

最新发布