Yu Regional Outlook Paper 28

7/27/2019 Yu Regional Outlook Paper 28

1/21

BUILDING ECOLOGICAL CHINESE CITIES: THENEED FOR A BIG FOOT REVOLUTION

Regional Outlook Paper: No. 28, 2011

Regional Outlook Paper


2/21


3/21

Griffith Asia Institute

Regional Outlook

Building Ecological Chinese Cities: The Need for a Big Foot RevolutionProfessor Kongjian Yu


4/21

About the Griffith Asia InstituteThe Griffith Asia Institute produces innovative, interdisciplinary research onkey developments in the politics, economics, societies and cultures of Asia andthe South Pacific.

By promoting knowledge of Australias changing region and its importance to our future,the Griffith Asia Institute seeks to inform and foster academic scholarship, publicawareness and considered and responsive policy making.

The Institutes work builds on a 40 year Griffith University tradition of providing cutting-edge research on issues of contemporary significance in the region.

Griffith was the first University in the country to offer Asian Studies to undergraduatestudents and remains a pioneer in this field. This strong history means that todaysInstitute can draw on the expertise of some 50 AsiaPacific focused academics frommany disciplines across the university.

The Griffith Asia Institutes Regional Outlook papers publish the institutes cuttingedge, policy-relevant research on Australia and its regional environment. Theyare intended as working papers only. The texts of published papers and the titlesof upcoming publications can be found on the Institutes website:www.griffith.edu.au/business-commerce/griffith-asia-institute/

Building Ecological Chinese Cities: The Need for a Big Foot Revolution, Regional OutlookPaper No. 28, 2011.

About the AuthorProfessor Kongjian YuProfessor Kongjian Yu is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, and Founder andDean of the Graduate School of Landscape Architecture, at Peking University. Hereceived his Doctor of Design degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in1995. Professor Yu is the Founder and President of Turenscape, one of the first andlargest private architecture and landscape architecture firms in China. His practiceincludes planning and design of landscapes and urban development, such as the nationalEcological Infrastructure Planning and new urban development design projects in majorcities including Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. Professor Yus projects have receivednumerous awards, including eight American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)Honor including the 2010 Award of Excellence (for the Shanghai Expo Houtan Park),

Design and Planning awards, 2008 Architectural Award, 2009 World ArchitectureFestival World Landscape Award, 2009 ULI Global Award, as well as many internationaldesign competition prizes. His projects have been featured in leading journals such asLandscape Architecture, Architecture Reviewand Topos. Professor Yu has been keynotespeaker for three International Federation of Landscape Architects world congressesand two ASLA annual conferences, and has been invited to lecture and design critique atmore than 30 universities worldwide, and is visiting professor of landscape architectureand urban planning and design at Harvard Graduate School of Design. He publishedwidely: recent titles include Back to Land (2009); The Art of Survival RecoveringLandscape Architecture(2006); and Negative Planning(2005). He is the chief editor ofLandscape Architecture China, and member of the editorial board for the Journal ofLandscape Architecture (Jola), Urban Planning Review, and some others. He serves asmember of several expert committees for the ministries of Housing, Rural and Urban

Construction, Culture and Land Resources of China, and for the City of Beijing. He iscurrently serving the Master Jury of Aga Kahn Architecture Award.


5/21

ContentsList of Illustrations .......................................................................................................................................... vi

Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1

1. Little Foot Urbanism ............................................................................................................................... 2

2. The Big Foot Revolution: Ecological Urbanism ............................................................................. 6Urban Development Based on Ecological Infrastructure ..................................................... 6The New Aesthetics of Big Foot .................................................................................................. 7Making Friends with Floods: The Floating Gardens of Yongning Park ............................. 7Go Productive: The Rice Campus of Shenyang Architectural University ....................... 8Valuing the Ordinary and Recycling the Existing: Zhongshan Shipyard Park ................ 8Let Nature Work: The Adaptation Palettes of Tianjin Qiaoyuan ........................................ 9Minimal Intervention: The Red Ribbon in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province ........... 11Land as a Living System: Shanghai 2010 Expo Houtan Park........................................... 12

3. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 14

Notes ................................................................................................................................................................ 15


6/21

List of IllustrationsIllustration 1(a): Little foot of a Little Foot woman .................................................................... 2Illustration 1(b): Little shoes for the Little Foot woman ........................................................... 2

Illustration 2(a): Little Foot women, although unhealthy and partially deprivedof physical capacity, were thought to be beautiful .................................. 3

Illustration 2(b): Big Foot women, healthy, productive and capable of highperformance, were thought to be rustic, rural andunattractive ............................................................................................................... 3

Illustration 3: The gentrified rural irrigation ditch by turning the messy andproductive into useless beauty ........................................................................ 3

Illustration 4: The Funny Hats of Shanghai ............................................................................. 4

Illustration 5: Jumbo Dream ......................................................................................................... 4

Illustration 6(a): The National Stadium ............................................................................................ 5Illustration 6(b): The CCTV Tower ..................................................................................................... 5Illustration 6(c): The National Opera House .................................................................................. 5

Illustration 7: China is covered with a huge brown field ..................................................... 5

Illustration 8: Regional ecological infrastructure .................................................................... 6

Illustration 9(a): Yongning Park before development ................................................................ 7Illustration 9(b): Yongning Park during development ................................................................. 7Illustration 9(c): Yongning Park after development .................................................................... 7

Illustration 10: The rice campus of Shenyang Architectural University,Liaoning Province .................................................................................................... 8

Illustration 11(a): Zhongshan Shipyard Park before development .......................................... 9Illustration 11(b): Zhongshan Shipyard Park after development .............................................. 9Illustration 11(c): Zhongshan Shipyard Park original docks ........................................................ 9Illustration 11(d): Zhongshan Shipyard Park regenerated docks .............................................. 9

Illustration 12(a): Qiaoyuan Park in Tianjin City before development ................................. 10Illustration 12(b): Qiaoyuan Park in Tianjin City after development ..................................... 10Illustration 12(c): The recovery strategy for Qiaoyuan Park using a sampling

bubble ....................................................................................................................... 10

Illustration 12(d): Shallow pond at Qiaoyuan Park ...................................................................... 10

Illustration 13(a): Plan of the Red Ribbon Park in Qinhuangdao City ................................... 11Illustration 13(b): The Red Ribbon in Qinghuangdao City ........................................................ 12

Illustration 14(a): Houtan Park, Shanghai before development ............................................. 12Illustration 14(b): Houtan Park, Shanghai after development ................................................ 12Illustration 14(c): Operation of the water cleaning mechanism in Houtan Park ............. 13


7/21

Regional Outlook 1

Executive SummaryChinas urbanisation has its genesis in footbinding, for more than 1,000 years a rite ofurban initiation and urbanity for Chinese women. Forcing young girls to bind their feet tobecome aesthetically appealing to elite men in Chinese cities meant that womensnatural, healthy big feet were distorted into unhealthy deformed and citified small feet,seriously limiting womens capability but considered to be beautiful. Thus a highlyprivileged class sacrificed function in pursuit of ornamental value. The privileged urbanminority has continued to use this Little Foot value system to build and appreciate citiesand landscapes, ridding cities of the messy, fertile, productive and functional landscapesassociated with healthy, satisfied people.

Little Foot urbanisation today sees the natural endowment of cities laced with damsand water management systems, fancy flowers replacing messy local flora, anddomestic animals harming local fauna. The whole city is ornamental and cosmetic while

bearing the burdens of water shortage, air pollution, global warming, massive waste ofland and natural resources, and loss of cultural identity. Yet even though Little Footurbanism is a path to destruction, it is sought by most of the worlds people. In China,millions of people are urbanised each year, and as Chinese adopt the American JumboDream of jumbo cars, houses, and other buildings, no wonder the consequences: twothirds of Chinas cities suffer water shortage and three quarters of the nations surfacewater is polluted.

This paper urges a Big Foot Revolution through ecological urbanism an ecologicallysensitive approach to urban planning to provide a badly needed alternative to thepresent development mode and offer guidance for sustainable cities in the future. Thisentails a new approach to urban development through Ecological Infrastructure, whichrequires planners to understand the land as a living system to safeguard the integrity

and identity of the natural and cultural landscapes and secure a sustainable ecosystem. Italso entails a dramatically new aesthetic that I term Big Foot, to replace the aestheticand ethical features of Little Foot urbanism that have so misshapen our urbanenvironments and appreciation of them.

Over the past decade, the author designed and executed six projects that demonstratesome of the major principles of Big Foot aesthetics and practice. This paper discussesthese six projects:

1. making friends with floods: the Floating Gardens of Yongning Park;2. going productive: the Rice Campus of Shenyang Architectural University;3. valuing the ordinary and recycling the existing: Zhongshan Shipyard Park;4. letting nature work: the Adaptation Palettes of Tianjin Qiaoyuan;5. minimal intervention: the Red Ribbon in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province;

and6. land as a living system: Shanghai 2010 Expo Houtan Park.

Based on ecological awareness and environmental ethics, all of these projects enable theoperation, maintenance and appreciation of ecological urbanism.


8/21

Regional Outlook 2

1. Little Foot UrbanismFor more than 1,000 years, young Chinese girls were forced to bind their feet to makethemselves suitable for marrying elite men in Chinese cities. Womens natural, healthybig feet, which naturally endowed them with greater capability, were considered to berustic and rural. In their place, unhealthy deformed and citified small feet, noxiouslydeprived of functionality and seriously limiting womens capability, were considered tobe beautiful. Footbinding, together with the Mayan practice of deforming the head(along with many other body-deforming practices), were appreciated as a rite of urbaninitiation and urbanity.

Deliberate head deformation, also known as head flattening or head binding, entailsintentionally distorting the normal growth of a childs skull by applying force. Part of acultural ritual, the practice aims to create a skull shape that is seen to be aestheticallymore pleasing or associated with desirable attributes such as intelligence. In the Maya

culture, the head shaping is accomplished through the use of cradleboards and othercephalic apparatuses. It is found that this head-deforming trend increased, rather thandecreased, as the Maya moved from the Preclassic to the Postclassic time period. Headdeformation is seen the most frequently in individuals of high social status.1

Therefore Chinas urbanisation began with a highly privileged class that sacrificedfunction in pursuit of ornamental and cosmetic values. This Little Foot value systemhas been used for thousands of years by the privileged urban minority to build andappreciate cities and landscapes. By definition, Little Foot Urbanism is the art ofgentrification and cosmetics. Its superficial condition drives away the messy, fertile,productive and functional landscapes that are associated with healthy, satisfied people.

Illustration 1(a):Little foot of a Little Foot woman Illustration 1(b):Little shoes for the Little Foot woman

Source: Baidu.com Source: Baidu.com

Bound feet, although unhealthy and depriving females of productivity and performancecapacity, were considered beautiful, thus representing sacrifice of function forornamental value.

Today we bind the natural feet of city women with fashionable tiny high-heeled shoes.In the same way we build out of concrete a 500-year flood control dike to surround acity and keep it distant from the water. We build a fully controlled storm watermanagement system that does not allow re-infiltration of water to the aquifer beforebeing flushed into the ocean. We replace native, productive messy shrubs and cropswith the fancy flowers that bear no fruits and support no other species but pleasehuman beings. We uproot the hardy wild grass and replace it with smooth ornamental


9/21

Regional Outlook 3

lawn that consumes tons of water. We watch funny deformed puppy dogs and babypigs running along the paved streets chasing away wild birds and native species

Illustration 2(a):Little Foot women, although unhealthy andpartially deprived of physical capacity,were thought to be beautiful

Illustration 2(b):Big Foot women, healthy, productive andcapable of high performance, werethought to be rustic, rural andunattractive

Source: Image Baidu.com Source: The Big Foot Girl, painting by OuYang

Urbanised landscapes are designed with an ornamental criterion. So we have ornamental

buildings such as the many landmark buildings in Beijing and Shanghai and in citiesoutside China such as Dubai. Almost all of the landmark buildings are crowned with somekind of peculiar ornamental hats. Indeed, the whole city becomes ornamental andcosmetic, while bearing the burdens of water shortage, air pollution, global warming,massive waste of land and natural resources, and loss of cultural identity.

The landscapes, cities and buildings evolving from todays Little Foot Urbanism trendresemble the noxious Little Foot girl: unhealthy, deformed, deprived of functionality,with limited capability and malodorous. Little Foot Urbanism is a path to destruction anddeath.

Illustration 3:The gentrified rural irrigation ditch by turning the messy and productive into uselessbeauty

Source: Photo Kongjian Yu


10/21

Regional Outlook 4

Illustration 4:The Funny Hats of Shanghai

Source: Photo Kongjian Yu

Until the latter half of the twentieth century, the Little Foot dream used to be limited tosome portion of the high class urban minority. Now Little Foot Urbanism is becoming amassive common dream of most of the worlds population. In China alone, 18 million

people are urbanised each year, immigrating to the city from rustic rural land, willing tosearch and seek their place in the differently furnished urban settings. These peoplecarry the same dream: to be urbane, to be gentrified; to keep their distance from thenatural functioning of the land and from healthy and productive life. When poor,economically developing countries that follow the Little Foot Urbanism encounter theAmerican Jumbo Dream, the scenario becomes even worse. Such is the case for Chinaand India, where people now follow the American dream of jumbo cars and houses, andwhatever jumbo else.

Illustration 5:Jumbo Dream

Source: Courtesy of Dr Mitchell Joachim

So we jumbo the buildings such as the National Stadium in Beijing with its 42,000metric tons of steel, accounting for roughly 500 kilograms per square meters. Wecelebrate the jumbo CCTV Tower in Beijing that consumed 250 kilograms of steel persquare meter. We jumbo the urban squares of 10 or even 20 hectares in an area ofpure granite pavement and beautify them with ornamental patterns. Thereafter, theland can be seen as a little donkey with a heavy burden: China has only 7 per cent of theworlds arable land and sweet water but needs to feed 22 per cent of the worldspopulation. Contemporary China has inherited its own Little Foot tradition and is nowalso attracted to the American Jumbo Dream.

It can only be imagined where the Little Foot Urbanism combined with the push for aJumbo Body will lead China. Already two thirds of Chinas 660 cities suffer watershortage and 75 per cent of the nations surface water is polluted. Sixty-four per centof cities underground water is polluted and one third of the national population lives


11/21

Regional Outlook 5

with the threat of drinking polluted water. Fifty per cent of the nations wetlandsdisappeared in the past 50 years. How can we survive in the future?2

Illustration 6(a):The National Stadium Illustration 6(b):The CCTV Tower Illustration 6(c):The National Opera House

Source: Image Baidu.com

Illustration 7:China is covered with a huge brown field

Source: Image Baidu.com


12/21

Regional Outlook 6

2. The Big Foot Revolution:Ecological UrbanismClearly, now is a time for change from the Little Foot approach that appears to bedestroying our urban environments. Now is the time for ecological urbanism, anecologically sensitive approach to urban planning that we may well call the Art ofSurvival. I have identified two strategies that I believe need to be followed through nowto provide a badly needed alternative to the present development mode and offerguidance for sustainable cities in the future. The first is a new approach to urbandevelopment rooted in a clear understanding of what I term Ecological Infrastructure.The second entails a dramatically new aesthetic that I term Big Foot, to replace theaesthetic and ethical features of Little Foot urbanism that have so misshapen our urbanenvironments and appreciation of them.

Urban Development Based on Ecological InfrastructureIllustration 8:Regional ecological infrastructure

Source: Kongjian Yu, Sisi Wang, Qiao Qing and Dihua Li, Ecological baseline for Beijingsurban sprawl: Basic ecosystems services and their security patterns, City PlanningReview, no. 2 (2010), pp. 1924

This alternative to the negative Little Foot approach entails a spatial strategy for urban

development planning that requires planners to understand the land as a living system.Drawing from this understanding, planners identify the Ecological Infrastructure (EI) that


13/21

Regional Outlook 7

should be used to guide and frame urban development. EI is the structural landscapenetwork that comprises critical elements of the landscape and spatial patterns. EI alsohas strategic significance in safeguarding the integrity and identity of the natural andcultural landscapes, which in turn secure the services necessary for a sustainableecosystem.

As a spatial strategy for ecologically sensitive urbanism, EI needs to be planned acrosssmall and medium scales at national and regional levels. At both levels EI needs to beplanned through identifying strategic landscape patterns (security patterns).3 Thesepatterns safeguard critical ecological processes that act as a framework directing theoverall regional land use planning and urban growth patterns. In medium scale, thestructural elements of EI such as corridors and patches are clearly identified and drawnup to guarantee the integrity of regional scale. In small scale, the ecosystem servicesprovided by the regional EI are extended into the urban fabric and are used to guideurban design for individual sites.4

The New Aesthetics of Big FootThe alternative I propose to Little Foot urbanism requires a new aesthetic to enable theoperation, maintenance and appreciation of ecological urbanism. I call this the aestheticsof Big Foot, as an alternative to Little Foot aesthetics. Over the past ten years I havedesigned and executed six projects that I believe demonstrate some of the majorprinciples of Big Foot aesthetics, based on ecological awareness and environmentalethics. I discuss these below.

Making Friends with Floods: The Floating Gardens of Yongning ParkModern cities that follow Little Foot urbanism are designed against natural forces,especially those related to water. Where cities are built, natures servicing of thelandscape is replaced with man-made services that impoverish the landscape. As analternate approach to conventional urban water management and flood control

engineering that uses concrete and pipes, the Yongning Park project demonstrates howwe can live and design with the natural Big Foot of water. The project takes anecological approach to flood control and storm water management, letting loose theurban water system from the bounds of concrete and revealing the beauty of nativevegetation and the ordinary landscape. The results have been remarkably successful;flood problems have been addressed effectively and Big Foot native grass has beenappreciated by local people as well as by visiting tourists.5

Illustration 9(a):Yongning Parkbefore developmentIllustration 9(b):Yongning Parkduring development

Illustration 9(c):Yongning Parkafter development

Source: Kongjian Yu/Turenscape

The riverbank of Yonging Park before the project was lined with concrete and the wholeriver was being channelled.


14/21

Regional Outlook 8

During the development of Yongning Park concrete was removed, diverse terrain waslaid on the river bed and along the riparian plane to create habitats for native plants, andthe river bank was graded, allowing people to access the water.

After the project of Yonging Park was completed the ecologically recovered riparianwetland of Yongning Park is conducive to the natural processes of flooding and native

species and is also accessible to people.

Go Productive: The Rice Campus of Shenyang Architectural UniversityFor centuries, universities have been places to gentrify the rustic young generation intothe urbane, and the university landscape itself serves this purpose. In the past threedecades hundreds and thousands of hectares of fertile land in China have beentransformed into campuses of ornamental lawn and flowers. As an alternative, theShenyang Architectural University Campus was designed to be productive. Storm wateris collected to make a reflecting pond, which becomes a reservoir to irrigate rice paddyright in front of the classrooms. Open study rooms are located in the middle of the ricefields. Frogs and fish are cultivated in the rice paddy to eat the lava of insects and in

maturity become additional harvest for the lunch table. This project demonstrates howan agricultural landscape can be part of the urbanised environment while still beingaesthetically enjoyable. This productive landscape is a clear example of the new BigFoot aesthetic: unbounded, functional and beautiful.6

Illustration 10:The rice campus of Shenyang Architectural University, Liaoning Province


Valuing the Ordinary and Recycling the Existing: Zhongshan Shipyard ParkFor a long time, we have been proud of ourselves as human beings for our capacity

to build, destroy and rebuild. Because of this human instinct, both natural assetsand man-made assets have been over-used and are now on the brink of a survivalcrisis. As an alternate approach, the Zhongshan Shipyard Park demonstrates the principleof preserving, reusing and recycling natural and man-made materials. The park is builton a brownfield site where an abandoned shipyard was originally erected in the 1950s.The shipyard went bankrupt in 1999. Although this shipyard story may seem tobe insignificant in Chinese history, the shipyard itself reflected the remarkable50-year history of socialist China. Original vegetation and natural habitats wererestored, with only native plants used throughout the landscape design. Machines,docks and other industrial structures were recycled for educational and functionalpurposes. This unconventional approach made the park a favourite site for weddingsand fashion shows as well as for daily use by the local communities and visiting tourists.The shipyard park demonstrates how messy and rustic can be aesthetically attractive,

and how environmental ethics and ecological awareness can be built into our urbanlandscape.7


15/21

Regional Outlook 9

Illustration 11(a):Zhongshan Shipyard Park beforedevelopmentIllustration 11(b):Zhongshan Shipyard Park afterdevelopment


Illustration 11(c):Zhongshan Shipyard Park original docks Illustration 11(d):Zhongshan Shipyard Park regenerateddocks


Let Nature Work: The Adaptation Palettes of Tianjin QiaoyuanFrom the classics of Versailles and Chinese gardens to the contemporary Beijing OlympicPark and other places with Little Foot imprint, we have seen great efforts to create andmaintain ornamental artificial landscapes. Instead of providing ecosystems that servicethe city, public spaces are actually made into the burden of cities in terms of energy andwater consumption. The Qiaoyuan Park in Tianjin City alternatively exemplifies hownatural processes originate and enable nature to work, providing an environmentalservice rather than a burden for the city. Formerly a shooting range, the site wasconverted into a garbage dump and drainage sink for urban storm water, thus heavilypolluted and deserted. The soil presented heavy saline and alkaline properties. Inspiredby the adaptive vegetation communities that dot the regional flat coastal landscape, thedesigner developed a solution called The Adaptation Palettes. Numerous pond cavities of

different depths were dug to retain storm water, diverse habitats were created, seedsof mixed plant species were sown to start vegetation, and a regenerative design processwas introduced to evolve and adapt over time. The patchiness of the landscape reflectsthe regional water- and alkaline-sensitive vegetation. The beauty of the nativelandscape with its ecology-driven and low maintenance Big-Foot has become anaesthetic attraction that lures thousands of visitors every day.8

By sampling instead of collecting, the park was expected to resemble the overallexperience of the regional landscape. Diverse habitats were created with a spectrum ofdelicate change in the ecosystems. These moves enabled recovery of a regionallandscape in the city for:

1. storm water management

2. vernacular education3. recreation4. improvement of the soil itself and the urban environment


16/21

Regional Outlook 10

Illustration 12(a):Qiaoyuan Park in Tianjin City beforedevelopmentIllustration 12(b):Qiaoyuan Park in Tianjin City afterdevelopment


Illustration 12(c):The recovery strategy for Qiaoyuan Park using a sampling bubble


Illustration 12(d):Shallow pond at Qiaoyuan Park



17/21

Regional Outlook 11

Minimal Intervention: The Red Ribbon in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei ProvinceIn the process of urbanisation, a natural landscape is usually replaced with overlydesigned and gentrified gardens and parks. Qinhuangdao city on the Bohai Sea in Hebeiprovince, about 300 kilometres east of Beijing, has an alternative in the Red Ribbon Park.Designers of this park explored an alternative that integrated art with nature anddramatically transformed the landscape with minimal design. Against the background ofnatural terrain and vegetation, the landscape architect placed a 500 metre red ribbonbench integrating lighting, seating, environmental interpretation and orientation. Whilepreserving as much of the messy natural river corridor as possible, this projectdemonstrates how a minimal design solution can achieve dramatic improvements,turning a messy natural Big Foot landscape into a beautiful urban park, while stillmaximally preserving the natural processes and patterns.9

Illustration 13(a):Plan of the Red Ribbon Park in Qinhuangdao City



18/21

Regional Outlook 12

Illustration 13(b):The Red Ribbon in Qinghuangdao City


Land as a Living System: Shanghai 2010 Expo Houtan ParkBuilt on a brownfield of a former industrial site, Houtan Park is a regenerative livinglandscape on Shanghais Huangpu riverfront. The parks constructed wetland, ecological

flood control, reclaimed industrial structures and materials, and urban agriculture areintegral components of an overall restorative design strategy to treat polluted riverwater and recover the degraded waterfront in an aesthetically pleasing way. HoutanPark demonstrates a living system where ecological infrastructure can provide multipleservices for society and nature and new ecological water treatment and flood controlmethods. The post-industrial design demonstrates a unique productive landscapeevoking memories of the past and glimpses into the future of ecological civilization,paying homage to a new aesthetic based on low maintenance and high performancelandscapes.10

Illustration 14(a):Houtan Park, Shanghai beforedevelopment


Illustration 14(b):Houtan Park, Shanghai after development



19/21

Regional Outlook 13

Illustration 14(c):Operation of the water cleaning mechanism in Houtan Park



20/21

Regional Outlook 14

3. ConclusionAll six of the projects I discuss above illustrate new approaches to urban developmentthrough Ecological Infrastructure understanding the land as a living system, tosafeguard the integrity and identity of the natural and cultural landscapes and secure asustainable ecosystem. We see in these examples how an ecologically sensitiveapproach to urban planning enables the operation, maintenance and appreciation of adifferently informed, ecological urbanism. All six projects are rooted firmly in ecologicalawareness and environmental ethics. They present a badly needed alternative to thedestructive development mode of Little Foot urbanism and offer future guidance forsustainable cities in China and elsewhere.

The Big Foot Revolution that I urge in this discussion seeks to replace the aesthetic andethical features of the long dominant Little Foot urbanism, which has sacrificed functionin Chinese cities for pursuit of superficial ornamental value. The privileged urban minority

in China has long upheld this Little Foot value system, depriving cities of the fertile,productive, functional landscapes endowed by nature. Little Foot Urbanism has insteadproduced toxic ornamental cities scarred with air pollution, water shortage, wastage anddestruction. By contrast, the Big Foot Revolution opens up practical, aesthetic andethical paths to bring back function, natural beauty and healthy living into our urbanenvironments. Certainly in China, but also worldwide, now is the time for the Big FootRevolution, the Art of Survival through ecologically sensitive living.


21/21

Regional Outlook 15

Notes1 Vera Tiesler, Head shaping and dental decoration among the Maya: Archeological

and cultural aspects, Society of American Anthropology, no. 64 (1999), pp. 16.2 Data sources are Chen Kelin, L Yong, and Zhang Xiaohong, No water withoutwetland, China Environment and Development Review (2004), pp. 296309.See also John McAlister, Chinas Water Crisis, Deutsche Bank China Expert Series,22 March 2005.

3 Kongjian Yu, Security patterns and surface model and in landscape planning,Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 36, no. 5 (1996), pp. 117.

4 See Kongjian Yu, Sisi Wang, Qiao Qing and Dihua Li, Ecological baseline for Beijingsurban sprawl: Basic ecosystems services and their security patterns, CityPlanning Review, no. 2 (2010), pp. 1924.

5 See Graham Johnstone and Xiangfeng Kong, Making friends with floods: Anecological park reclaims a degraded stretch of a Chinese River, LandscapeArchitecture, April 2007, pp. 10615.

6 See Mary G. Padua, Touching the good earth an innovative campus designreconnects students to Chinas agricultural landscapes, Landscape Architecture,vol. 96, no. 12 (2006), pp. 100107.

7 See Mary G. Padua, Industrial strength Zhongshan Shipyard Park, LandscapeArchitecture, vol. 93, no. 6 (2003), pp. 7685, 10507.

8 Kongjian Yu, Qiaoyuan Park: An ecosystem services-oriented regenerative design,Topos, no. 5 (2010), pp. 2633.

9 See also Antje Stokman and Stefanie Ruff, The Red Ribbon Tanghe River Parkreconciling water management, Landscape Design and Ecology, no. 63 (2008),pp. 2935; Mary G. Padua, The Red Ribbon The Tanghe River Park, LandscapeArchitecture, no. 1 (January 2008), pp. 9199.

10 Kongjian Yu, Landscape as a living system: Shanghai 2010 Expo Houtan Park,Architectural Journal, no. 7 (2010), pp. 3035.

Documents

Yu Regional Outlook Paper 28