Landscape Planning of Urban Lake Park in China a Case Study on Nanjing
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Spatial Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design in China and Europe Tianci Yuan Spatial Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design in China and Europe Landscape Planning of Urban Lake Park in China A case study on Nanjing Author: Tianci Yuan Supervisor: Agneta Sundberg Tutor: Ana Mafalda Madureira Karlskrona, Sweden 1 Spatial Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design in China and Europe Tianci Yuan Table of contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………4 Introduction………………………………………………………………………….5 Chapter 1 Background of Xuanwu Lake Park………………………………………10 1.1 History and culture in Xuanwu Lake Park……………………………………...10 1.2 Evolution of Nanjing city and Xuanwu Lake Park through times………….......11 1.3 Xuanwu Lake Park today……………………………………………………….14 1.4 Chapter summary………………………………………………………………..16 Chapter 2 Users and designers with human-nature connection……………………..17 2.1 Users’ and designers’ perception and association in design process………........17 2.2 Urban Design: Human – Nature Connection……………………………………20 2.3 Color guidelines………………………………………………………………….22 2.4 Historical-cultural landscape…………………………………………………….27 2.5 Chapter summary………………………………………………………………...28 Chapter 3 Analysis of Xuanwu Lake Park…………………………………………..30 3.1 The area outside Xuanwu Lake………………………………………………….30 3.2 The area inside Xuanwu Lake…………………………………………………...39 3.3 The questionnaire survey results---what do users tell the designers?...................51 3.4 Chapter summary………………………………………………………………..55 Chapter 4 Case study: New designer proposal for Xuanwu Lake Park (In separate document) Chapter 5 Conclusions………………………………………………………………56 2 Spatial Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design in China and Europe Tianci Yuan Reference list…………………………………………………………………………60 Index 1: Figure source………………………………………………………………..61 Index 2: Table source………………………………………………………………...63 Index 3: Questionnaire……………………………………………………………….64 Index 4: Designers list………………………………………………………………..66 3 Spatial Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design in China and Europe Tianci Yuan Abstract Urban public spaces have always played an important part in urban development process. In this paper, a redesign proposal of Xuanwu Lake Park in Nanjing, China, will be made. This urban lake park is a symbol of the city and has a very long history. I want to make it as an attractive and ecological city public park which can combine human and natural environments together, so that it will be an enjoyable place for both tourists and inhabitants in Nanjing city. I will reconstruct the lake-ring roads and islands inside the lake based on Amos Rapoport and Stephen R Kellert’s ideas. Rapoport argues that users are more important than designers in the design project, because whether the designed place is good or not depends on users’ perspectives through their use and evaluation. Kellert argues that the human built environments cannot exist independent of the natural environments. If you design a place based on this idea, you can construct a harmonious environment. However, if you do not, it will cause damage to the environment. From this perspective, the human-nature environment should be connected together in design work. Therefore, in my redesign project, I will emphasize the role of the users. I will also combine man-made environments and nature environments together to make the park more balanced and attractive. I developed a set of color guidelines to help me to analyze the presence and use of different elements in Xuanwu Lake Park. From my analysis of the color elements in Xuanwu Lake Park, I found users’ and designers’ opinions for each element of the lake-ring roads and islands inside the lake. Then, I start my new design proposal of Xuanwu Lake Park in details to make it as a successful city park combine users, designers and human-nature environment together. My design proposal for Xuanwu Lake Park also gives an example to other historical and cultural urban lake parks. Keywords: Xuanwu Lake Park, designers, users, human, nature, color guidelines 4 Spatial Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design in China and Europe Tianci Yuan Introduction Eliel Saarinen said: “A city is an open book, from which its ambition is revealed. I can tell you what the cultural aspirations of the citizens are, if you let me take a look at your city” (Saarinen, 1943: Preface). If we consider Nanjing as a book, Xuanwu Lake Park is the most significant chapter in it. In this paper, I want to redesign Xuanwu Lake Park in order to make it into an attractive city park, where the nature environments are valued and highlighted, and where there is a much closer relationship to people’s daily life. z Background information You can see from the world map that China is in the southeast of the Asia plate (See Fig.1). Nanjing is the capital city of Jiangsu province which in the southeast of China (See Fig.2). It has been a city for 2470 years and it was the capital of China during 5 dynasties. Therefore, the city has a very rich cultural and historical heritage that results from its long history. Xuanwu Lake Park is in the middle of Nanjing, it is an important symbol of Nanjing. Xuanwu Lake Park is also one of China’s imperial gardens includes lake-ring roads˄three lines˅, four lakes and five islands. Nowadays, Xuanwu Lake Park is used as a city lake park which is opened to the public. Fig.1 The position of China in the world Fig.2 The position of Nanjing in China Source: © 2011 Google Source: Official map from Nanjing 5 Spatial Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design in China and Europe Tianci Yuan z Rationale and why I focus on Xuanwu Lake Park The reasons why I focus on Xuanwu Lake Park and choose this as my redesign project are as follows: The geographical location- It is in the centre of Nanjing. The role in history of different dynasties- It was chosen as the imperial palace several times and plays an important role in Nanjing city through times in history. The water system- It occupies the biggest part of the water system in Nanjing city. The water culture- It has been an important water element in the urban history of Nanjing. The lake has functioned differently throughout time, but it was always important. Chinese believe water is sacred. The significance- It is the symbol of Nanjing city. The tourist potential, including both national and international tourists- It is a place of interest which can attract lots of people. The green space- The large scale of green spaces in the park can provide quality recreational area for both citizens and tourists. The ecological efficiency- The large water area and green spaces can balance the city’s ecological environment, such as absorb the CO2 in order to clean the air and reduce the noise. z Nature and scope of the research My idea is to divide the redesign of Xuanwu Lake Park into two areas. One is outside Xuanwu Lake Park, which includes the lake-ring roads around Xuanwu Lake, which are 9.5 kilometers in length. Another is the inside of Xuanwu Lake, including the five islands (See Fig.3). The following research questions will serve as a guideline for my paper: What do designers think about Xuanwu Lake Park? What do users think about Xuanwu Lake Park? How to redesign Xuanwu Lake Park in order to connect human-nature environment together? 6 Spatial Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design in China and Europe Tianci Yuan How to establish a closer interaction between designers’ and users’ perspectives, and human and nature connection through the redesign of Xuanwu Lake Park in order to make the whole place more environmentally friendly and attractive? Fig.3: The position of outside and inside area of Xuanwu Lake Park Source: Official map from Nanjing. z Review of pertinent literature This paper is based on concepts from Amos Rapoport’s book: The Meaning of the Built Environment—A Nonverbal Communication Approach and Stephen R Kellert’s book: Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection. In Amos Rapoport’s book, he writes that, “One of the hallmarks of man-environment research is the realization that designers and users are very different in their reactions to environments, their preferences, and so on, partly because their schemata vary. It is thus users’ meaning that is important, not architects’ or critics’; it is the meaning of everyday environments, not famous buildings-historical of modern.”(Rapoport, 1990: 7 Spatial Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design in China and Europe Tianci Yuan p15-16). He discusses about the users’ and designers’ perception and association in the design process and emphasizes the significance of the users in the design project. In Stephen R Kellert’s book, he argued that, “The great design and development fallacy of our time is the presumption that the human built environment can exist independent of the natural environment (Kellert, 2005: p92).” Kellert talked about how to harmonize the natural environment and the man-made environment. In this paper, I would like to emphasis the uses’ opinions in my redesign proposal as well as discuss the relationship between human activities and natural environment, and use the emphasis and discussion to formulate a design proposal for the historical and cultural landscape lake park that can change the current situation of neglect, and create a recreational and pleasing green area for the people in the future. z Method of investigation I created a set of color guidelines based on my literature review, to guide the analysis of the situation of different elements (water, buildings, green, accesses) in Xuanwu Lake Park and provide potentials for each element. I also collected relevant materials about Xuanwu Lake Park to prepare the investigation. Previously, I did the fieldwork, took some pictures and collected some data of the four elements to understand the current situation of the Park.