Dieter Hassenpfl ug, Nico Giersig, Bernhard Stratmann (Hrsg.) Reading the City Developing Urban Hermeneutics Stadt lesen Beiträge zu einer urbanen Hermeneutik Dieter Hassenpfl ug, Nico Giersig, Bernhard Stratmann (Hrsg.) Reading the City: Developing Urban Hermeneutics Stadt lesen: Beiträge zu einer urbanen Hermeneutik Lektorat: Dr. Heidemarie Schirmer Lektorat englische Beiträge: Truly Translated/ Dr. Ross Beveridge Umschlaggestaltung: Michael Kraus Layout & Satz: Michael Kraus Druck: docupoint GmbH Barleben © Verlag der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, 2011 Verlag der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Marienstraße 5 99423 Weimar Telefon: +49 (0) 3643/58 11 52 Telefax: +49 (0) 3643/58 11 56 E-mail: [email protected] ISBN: 978-3-86068-426-9 Printed in Germany Preface and Acknowledgement Th e original idea for this edited volume em- into a general interest in decoding the socio-cul- anated from Dieter Hassenpfl ug’s research on tural messages contained in – and conveyed by – current urbanisation processes in China. His urban spaces. Is it possible to read the city and, if long-term studies on this issue have been led by the answer is yes, how can this be accomplished? a search for the main social and cultural forces In an attempt to address these questions, the which have fostered and steered the incredibly search for concepts suitable for interpreting rapid urbanisation process in China that we have urban space, for developing an urban herme- witnessed in recent years. Does the urbanisation neutics, came to the fore of urban research. In of western countries serve as a model for the Chi- particular, the approach of urban semiotics – nese case, or can we also detect the continuing decisively informed by Roland Barthes, Henry infl uence of earlier forms of urban space pro- Lefèbvre, Umberto Eco and Mark Gottdiener – duction? Th e pertinence of this research ques- has been shown to be a highly productive means tion grew with the knowledge that several urban of achieving urban readings of this kind. Such an development projects led by western architects approach appears all the more relevant because and planners had oft en struggled to gain full it can be understood as a method which concep- acceptance or had ultimately even failed. Ob- tualises the city as a system of socio-culturally viously, there has been a lack of understanding encoded signs, as a ‘syntagma’ (de Saussure). concerning the particularities of producing and Th e results which emerged from the lectures utilising urban space in China. Moreover, as cit- on the semiotics of the Chinese city were pub- ies essentially represent a society’s habitat and lished in the book “Th e Urban Code of Chi- since they must be understood as spatialised so- na“ in 2010. Th e book illustrates the existence cieties, a failure to understand the city amounts of signifi cant, genuinely Chinese urban codes to a failure to understand a society altogether. despite the evident infl uence of global trends. In this way, the search for the main driving Obviously, these specifi c urban codes are the forces of Chinese hypermodernisation evolved expression of practices and cultural traditions Reading the City – Stadt lesen: Beiträge zu einer urbanen Hermeneutik 4 deeply rooted in Chinese society. Th e striking accessible to a wider audience: academics and and salient insights gained from this exploration students from various fi elds of urban studies, of urbanisation processes in China inevitably led practitioners dealing with urban issues, as well to thoughts about the prevailing practices of so- as the general public. We therefore decided to cio-cultural encodings in other countries and re- ask all those who presented papers to rework gions. It provoked questions concerning the im- them in the light of the discussions of their pa- pacts produced by the clash of diff ering socio- pers and the more general insights they gained spatial encodings on the stage of a globalising from the symposium. The volume here is the world which is being shaped decisively by mass result of this undertaking. media and in which the abovementioned driving Th e editors are grateful to all participants forces are oft en rendered ubiquitous by fl ows of in the symposium. Special thanks go, of course, fashions, styles, aesthetic schemes, discourses etc.. to all those, who delivered a speech and rewrote Beyond questions about the applicability of it for publication in this volume. Many thanks urban semiotics to existing forms of spatial pro- also to the Volkswagen Foundation for funding duction in other regions, cultural spheres and the symposium, and especially to Dr. Gudrun societies (from Europe, Africa and Latin Amer- Tegeder. We would also like to thank Ms Syl- ica to the city fashioned by Muslim culture), ur- via Kästner and Ms Viola Piegelbrock for their ban readings following an urban hermeneutics much appreciated assistance in organising the raised crucial issues about disciplinarity: How is symposium. We thank the Board of Editors of it possible to read the city in terms of both inter- the publisher, the Verlag der Bauhaus-Universität disciplinary commonality and in a comparative Weimar, for accepting the book for publication. manner? In this context, ‘commonality’ implies We are indebted to Dr. Heidemarie Schirmer widening the scope and deepening the analysis, from the publisher for managing the publica- whereas the term ‘comparative’ points to raising tion and for the proofreading of the German the awareness of cultural diff erences and inter- language contributions to this volume, and to cultural complexity. Dr. Ross Beveridge of Truly Translated for the Th is brings us back to the idea which brought proofreading of the English texts. All remaining this edited volume into being in the fi rst place. mistakes are, however, the responsibility of the We, the editors, made a decision to organise a authors who reserved the right to a fi nal revi- symposium to investigate the problem of the sion of their papers. Michael Kraus, a student “readability” of cities and to develop illuminat- of architecture in his fi nal year, produced the ing approaches to urban hermeneutics. Under sophisticated layout of the book. Many thanks the title “Reading the City: Urban Semiology to him and to those we could not, or may have in Cultural Comparison” the symposium took forgotten to, mention. place at the Institute for European Urban Stud- ies (IfEU) of the Faculty of Architecture, Bau- Th e editors haus-Universität Weimar on the 9th and 10th October 2009. Th e large number of valuable insights gained at the symposium gave rise to the idea to make these thoughts and fi ndings Vorwort und Danksagung Die Idee zu dem vorliegenden Band geht des Stadtraums allgemein – nicht allein des chi- auf Dieter Hassenpfl ugs Forschungen zum ge- nesischen. Kann man Stadt lesen – und wenn ja, genwärtigen chinesischen Urbanisierungspro- wie? Mit dieser Frage rückte die Suche nach Deu- zess zurück. Im Zentrum seiner langjährigen tungskonzepten für den städtischen Raum, nach Untersuchungen steht die Frage, durch welche einer urbanen Hermeneutik in das Blickfeld der sozialen und kulturellen Gestaltungskräft e die Stadtforschung. Für die Stadtlektüre erwies sich sich in unerhörter Geschwindigkeit vollziehen- die von Autoren wie Roland Barthes, Henry Lefèb- de Verstädterung Chinas informiert und orien- vre, Umberto Eco und Mark Gottdiener entschei- tiert wird. Folgt Chinas Urbanisierung westlichen dend geprägte urbane Semiotik als besonders er- Vorbildern oder erkennen wir auch die Einfl üsse giebig – insbesondere unter der Bedingung, dass sie historisch überkommener Traditionen der ur- als Methode verstanden wird, welche die Stadt als banen Raumproduktion? Motiviert wurde diese ein System von soziokulturell kodierten Zeichen, Forschungsfrage nicht zuletzt durch die Beob- als ‚Syntagma‘ (de Saussure) konzeptionalisiert. achtung, dass manches städtebauliche Projekt Die Ergebnisse der semiotisch angeleiteten vor allem westlicher Architekten und Stadtpla- Lektüre der chinesischen Stadt wurden 2009 in ner mit erheblichen Akzeptanzproblemen zu dem Buch „Der urbane Code Chinas“ publiziert. kämpfen hatte und einige Projekte sogar scheiter- Im Ergebnis zeigte sich, dem Einfl uss globaler Strö- ten. Off enbar wurden chinesische Praktiken der me zum Trotz, eine signifi kante Eigenständigkeit Nutzung und Produktion des städtischen Raums des chinesischen urbanen Codes, die in tief in der nicht bzw. unzureichend verstanden. Stadt nicht Gesellschaft verwurzelten sozialen Praktiken und verstehen bedeutet jedoch nichts anderes als die kulturellen Traditionen seine Ursache hat. Die Si- Gesellschaft , deren Habitat sie ist, nicht zu ver- gnifi kanz der am Fall der aktuellen chinesischen stehen. Denn Stadt ist verräumlichte Gesellschaft . Urbanisierung gewonnenen Resultate provozierte So entwickelte sich aus der Frage nach den geradezu zwangsläufi g die Frage nach den Prak- Gestaltungskräft en, die der chinesischen Hyper- tiken soziokultureller Kodierungen in anderen modernisierung zugrunde liegen, das Interesse an Ländern und Regionen, nach den Auswirkun- der Dekodierung der soziokulturellen Botschaft en gen des Aufeinanderprallens unterschiedlicher Reading the City – Stadt lesen: Beiträge zu einer urbanen Hermeneutik 6 stadträumlicher Kodierungen auf der Bühne ei- die interessierte Öff entlichkeit. Wir entschlossen ner medial globalisierten Welt, in welcher die uns daher, all diejenigen, die auf dem Symposium erwähnten Gestaltungskräft e vermittels Moden, einen Vortrag gehalten