Refining And Upgrading Of Urban Public Space

"Harmony but difference", urban harmony in the symbiosis, human development in the future has a common philosophy, but every city should have its own expression, belongs to its own color.

On the theme of "city" in World Expo, Shanghai, we are delighted to find that in the face of the common challenges in the development process, the future scenarios described by different cities in the world are so "harmonious" and the solutions to them are different.

Take public space as an example, many cities are opening up more space for people to get closer to nature and enhance communication. In Dusseldorf, Germany, Rhine built a Riverside Avenue on the Rhine river bank. Spain's Barcelona developed a large green space. Brazil's St Paul dismantled the original outdoor commercial advertisements.

The city is sick! The black and white short film on the wall of Mexico Pavilion in World Expo, Shanghai, repeatedly tells a story: the cities row upon row of buildings, like bamboo shoots, are rushing to advance, so that they cover the sky, and the breathless City smokes.

Mexico's "city acupuncture" fable is a common disease in cities around the world - buildings turn cities into cold reinforced forest jungle, dense traffic network and city people scramble for clean air; commercial invasion makes cities everywhere without advertisements, and the city is gone. Can you put a needle in a sick city? Let the trees come back, let the birds come back and let people communicate with each other. This prescription is "public space".

"Underground city" to make room for public space.

Traffic congestion, buildings blot out the sun, how do crowded cities make room for public space? "Underground city", a kind of attitude and boldness to public space.

In the Expo site, there is no shortage of big venues, such as the "barbed ball" of the British Pavilion and the "moon boat" of the Saudi Pavilion. When the World Expo Bureau delivered the stadium blocks to every country, it had dug up the foundation of 3 meters in advance. The Mexicans simply made use of the foundation to take the whole stadium to the ground, and became the only national pavilion in the Expo Garden to set the stadium on the ground floor.

On the ground, the roof of the Mexico Pavilion, is a large meadow. The meadow "flutters" 135 large "kites", the highest 13 meters, and the lowest 2.4 meters. The supporting pillars of kite are full of small holes, which will give out cool water vapor - a public space that can cover the wind and rain and cool the summer.

"Human society needs communication and communication between people. This is the life of a city." Edoardo Senedenel Avila, general representative of the Mexico Pavilion, reminded reporters that there is still a mystery on top of the kite, which is equipped with solar panels to collect electricity for a day, which can be used for lighting every night in the Mexico Pavilion. Mexicans want to express that although the "underground city" is only a concept, energy problems such as lighting can be solved in other ways. This concept may be realized in the future.

The future is too far, but the underground city has a realistic version. It is located in Dusseldorf, Germany, near Shanghai, China. A few days ago, Shanghai the Bund completed the road transformation, the driveway moved underground, and made more public space for the public. Coincidentally, World Expo, Germany and Dusseldorf carried out such a renovation in the 90s of last century. This is the Rhine riverside road project.

In the 60s of last century, the Dusseldorf port on the Rhine river was an important pier in the area. But the 50 thousand Lane four lane highway was cut off every day, and the old city and the the Rhine were cut off. In 1987, the Dusseldorf Municipal Council decided to return the public space along the Rhine River to the public. A 2000 meter underground tunnel was built on the ground instead of a 1.5 kilometer riverside Leisure Avenue. Hotels, bars and cafes have been introduced into the city, and the palms of the sunset are dancing among the citizens.

"Air Tree", public space incubator

Urban sprawl and new communities have been built one after another. The construction of community atmosphere is not completed overnight. How to create public space? Spaniards think of the "Air Tree" and the "regeneration" project of historical buildings.

There is an air tree at the entrance of Madrid Madrid case. The octagonal steel frame has a structure of about four storeys. The top of the tree is windmill turbine, which can be used for wind power generation. The hollow design of the trunk causes the air to flow back to form a "draught". At midsummer night, the "bark" made of black curtain can become the projection wall of the movie. People sit under the tree to talk about life and appreciate art.

In Madrid, "air trees" do have physical objects. They can not only play movies, but also act as "big trees". "With the continuous progress of urbanization, new communities have been rising around the city. Compared with the building, public space can not be built overnight, such as planting trees. Nino, director of the Madrid Pavilion, said that in the eyes of the Madrid people, the citizens would walk out of their homes and enjoy the public space.

But a hundred years' tree planting is far too far away. In Madrid, a large conical steel frame with a height of imitation trees has been produced, putting a tray of trees on the steel frame one by one, and from a distance to see a big tree. "After a few years, the small tree has grown up, and the mission of" the hatching tree "of the air tree has been completed, and then moved to the next new community. Nino, director of the Madrid Pavilion.

Barcelona continues the Spanish's distinctive attitude towards public space, "the quality of public space is the foundation of the city". In the case Hall of Barcelona, the abandoned historic buildings were reopened to serve the community residents. So the monastery became a library, the church became a cafe, and the old factory was transformed into a gymnasium.

"Historical buildings are proof of our generation's existence. Historical experience tells us that if they are abandoned for a long time, they will eventually escape the fate of being pushed down, but if we redefine the functions of these old buildings, they will not only give birth to old buildings, but also provide more public space for people." Isa, director of the Barcelona Pavilion, told reporters.

Bathing the city and liberating public space

Public space is not planar, but also three-dimensional. The "urban cleanliness act" of Brazil, St Paul, cuts the advertisement on buildings, which is the beginning of a public interest over personal interests.

When some cities are trying to move public spaces for the public, St Paul in Brazil has put their eyes on the sky. The commercial advertisements on the roofs, telephone poles, shop signs, and bloomers are not competing with the public for public space. The city is just like a patch of "psoriasis", which can not breathe, and there is no empty public space. The rest is restlessness, congestion and confusion.

"Imagine that a modern city without outdoor advertising has no billboards, neon lights and electronic screens full of textual information." the prediction of the New York Times is troubled by many cities in the world. St Paul bears the brunt of "bathing" for the city.

In January 1, 2007, the city cleanliness act passed and came into effect in the city council with a vote of 45: 1. Neon lights, big and small advertisements have been removed from buildings, telephone poles, streets and buses. Cultural and historical sites, roads, streets, building surfaces and urban scenes are reappearing. "After all these years, I finally can" see "the face of the city, rather than" read "it. A filmmaker is so impressed.

In the eyes of the people of St Paul, this is a victory of "public interest to personal interests, so that order is better than chaos, making beauty better than ugliness, making cleanliness better than filth".

In addition, the St Paul people have also begun a new journey of public space. "The urban cleanliness act is a struggle against pollution, water pollution, noise, air pollution and visual pollution. We decided to start with the most visible pollution." with the urbanization process, the topic of public space is much more than that.