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3 | Using Living Lab to take Destinations to the next level
from Urban Living Lab As A Design and Planning Method For Smarter Cultural Tourism-led Urban Regeneration
by Lide Li
Figure 5.1 The geo-location of Nanjing Source: author’s own drawing 62 Jiangsu Laochengnan
Nanjing
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Jiangsu
Nanjing
the above two redevelopment methods. Residents’ protests reflected the unique spirit of the place and the power of the community in Laochengnan. Due to the intervention of the mass media, this defense became a public event with considerable national influence, which eventually caused the local government to change its established decision.
The last ten years have seen a shift in the mindset of the government from chai (rebuild)-oriented to bao(protect)-oriented development. The community has shown up in the redevelopment planning phase and was offered to choose whether they would like to leave or stay nearby. The urban regeneration scheme in the Xiaoxihu area, as shown in Figure 5.6 and 5.10, is one good example of this. But still, a development mechanism that encourages product innovation in the era of digitalization and local culture and everydayness preservation is missing.
50 Meters Figure 5.2 The conflicts in urban regenerations of Nanjing Source: author’s own drawing
Figure 5.3 Confucius Temple before renovation Source: Qinhuai District government Figure 5.4 Nanbu Ting before renovation Source: Qinhuai daily Figure 5.5 Lao Mendong before rennovation Source: weibo blog Figure 5.6 Xiaoxihu before renovation Source: Qinhuai District government 3 5 4 6 Figure 5.7 Confucius Temple after renovation Source: Hao Zhou’s photograph Figure 5.8 Nanbu Ting after renovation Source: author’s own photograph Figure 5.9 Lao Mendong after rennovation Source: Qinhuai District government Figure 5.10 Xiaoxihu after renovation Source: Southeast University
Figure 5.11 Overview of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map
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Figure 5.12 City Wall in Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.13 Everyday Life of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.14 Storage space of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.15 Clothes of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map 12 14 13 15
5.2 MENXI AREA
5.2.1 THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF MENXI AREA
In Laochengnan, Menxi is one of the leftover heritage communities that still retains its original Qing-style streetscape, as shown in Figure 5.11-18. As many have discussed, the Menxi area, as shown in Figure 5.19 is the last remaining cultural root of the Laochengnan area. There are endless stories to be told from literary works, ancient fables, imported culture brought by immigrants, and folk holidays. These are critical resources for tourism and the creative industry innovation, and they can be categorized in four parts: Literature and Stories, Location-based Cultural History, Everyday Life, and Folk Customs, as shown in Figure 5.20.
5.2.1.1 LITERATURE AND STORIES
The prosperity and beauty of the Menxi area in the past can be understood by reading ancient Chinese poetry. Bai Li, a poet from the Tang Dynasty, once climbed on the ‘Phoenix Terrace’ in Menxi area and composed the following lines:
’Before, phoenixes used to hang out at Phoenix Terrace. They’re gone leaving the terrace empty and the river flowing. ‘
Mu Du, another poet from the Tang Dynasty, also mentioned Menxi area (which was then referred to as ‘Apricot Village’) in his poetry when he wrote:
Du, Tang Dynasty ‘Is there a public house somewhere, cowboy?’ He points at Apricot Village faraway.’
Other than poetry, such traces can also be found in novels, proses, dialects, and operas.
Stories are also critical conduits to help understand the local area. Unlike other cultural districts, Menxi is special in that its streets and allies are named after historical stories, myths, or famous people that once lived there. For example, XieGongCi was named in memory of former residents Xuan Xie, a famous general from the Jin Dynasty (266–420), and Duke Xianwu of Kangle, which means one of the most important municipal officers at that time.
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17 18 Figure 5.16 Self-constructed installations are commonly seen in Menxi Area, this picture include ones for drying clothes Figure 5.17 Salty Ducks are Nanjing’s most famous dishes, and one important part in Menxi Residents’ daily life Figure 5.18 Lane doors are like the entrance towards heterotopia world, although it actually connects people’s everyday llife
Figure 5.19 Menxi area technical drawing Source: author’s own drawing
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The stories and literature constitute another layer to the Menxi area behind the physical one, opening the opportunity towards an augmented space where more information will be obtained during the tour. Nanjing University, one of the most famous local universities that specialize in humanities research, is now working hard with the Literature Nanjing Team to transform the intangible aspects of “context, length of time, degree of communication, breadth of communication, etc.” mentioned by the Literature Nanjing Team to tangible interfaces.
5.2.1.2 LOCATION-BASED CULTURAL HISTORY
Menxi area used to be one of Nanjing’s most famous manufacturing districts. This characteristic can still be found by looking at the traditional hand-craft factory and food stores, including Mopan Street Dandan Workshop, Yingao Alley Soup Shop, the tofu stalls in Yinma alley, a Shaobing Shop, etc. Also, the investigation of the streets’ names indicates that the Menxi area has various complete industry chains for stone mills, bells, bamboo products, and complete silk weaving (Cheng, 2021). Out of all these industries, the silk industry was the most dominant in Menxi. Menxi area accommodates the whole silk production process, including raw material markets, private production studios, industry associations, and sales markets. In the 1950s, Nanjing’s No. 1 cotton mill was built on a vacant plot near the Menxi area, demonstrating Menxi’s importance in the city’s industry. The spirit of manufacturing of this area makes residents here still respect their skills and culture.
After its prosperous history as a manufacturing hub, the Menxi area has also witnessed an influx of people from Beijing Tongren Tang (a Chinese medicine factory that is famous in Beijing and later had a branch in the Menxi area.) and, more recently, migrants from other parts of Jiangsu for temporary work. The influx changes the demographic constitution of the area and makes the culture of the Menxi area more inclusive and diverse.
5.2.1.3 EVERYDAY LIFE AND FOLK CUSTOMS
Compared to the Mendong area, where no trace of residents can be found now, Menxi’s biggest treasure is its rich everydayness. Everyday life refers to ordinary, mundane activities, experiences, behavior, and interactions with the environment. Everydayness is considered as a temporal (daily, monthly, and annually) cross-section of a living (personal, communal, and societal) environment within a particular territory (Certeau,1984). This value of everydayness is beyond the historical architecture, beyond the alley route system, and refers more to the spiritual meaning of the place.
5.2.2 THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE MENXI AREA
Menxi’s current everydayness is also an important part of its cultural asset. Thus, the site will be approached through three aspects: things, people, and environments.
5.2.2.1 THINGS
When viewed from the perspective of artifacts and physical objects, the most
Figure 5.20 Menxi’s History Source: author’s own drawing
Figure 5.21 Menxi’s location-based cultural resources Source: author’s own drawing, data partly from author’s own research and trip, partly from LanD Studio
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obvious ones in the allay of Menxi area are the self-constructed installations and buildings, as shown in Figure 4, including ones for living, washing and drying clothes, planting, decorating, transporting, and safeguarding. This kind of intervention makes the original narrow allay even narrower. It blocks natural light and complicates the unified Qing and Ming architectural styles. Those installations indicate that the infrastructures are poorly equipped to accommodate Menxi people’s daily living requirements.
Other than the self-built installations, those that are government-built are also everywhere near the site. In continual urban renewal, the transitional structures for constructing and renovating nearby are the new streetscape of the area and will last for a long time. The temporary scaffolding is usually with grey or green cloth that will stay for a long time, as shown in Figure 5.
5.2.2.2 PEOPLE
Two groups of people live in the Menxi area: the old and locally-born groups, accounting for around 70%, and the newcomers to Nanjing city.
Menxi residents, especially the old group, have a strong sense of belonging to their home. Multiple self-organized cultural organizations are established to keep the root of the Menxi area. One such example is the Menxi Watchmen Group (MWG), as shown in Figure 5.22. In order to let more people understand Menxi, the group tried various methods such as holding exhibitions, giving lectures, operating WeChat public accounts, and publishing publications at their own expense. Also, there is an AngAng Community ‘Ring Bella’ Patrol Team, which has been patrolling the streets and lanes for nearly 30 years. These organizations we mentioned because this is an infrequent phenomenon under the fast development of Chinese communities (shequ) in modern cities. Most residential areas in China lack the opportunity to interact socially. Menxi locals’ willingness to talk about their past and future in the community makes it the perfect testbed for participation to happen.
5.2.2.3 ENVIRONMENTS
Environments that constitute the Menxi area can be divided into two different types: tangible and intangible.
Exploring the everyday life of the Menxi area is a methodology that enables us to see the use of tangible environments so that we can design more effectively. During the field trip, it is discovered that locals like to play board games, chat, and gamble on the street. They creatively transform the streets and lanes into temporary public spaces suitable for communication and interaction, always attracting watchers like a halo. But as Figure 5.23-24 shows, the decaying environment and the narrow nature of lanes cannot provide enough support for these social activities.
Furthermore, Southeast University, one of the top architecture schools, is currently in charge of the physical up-gradation of the local area. Based on the researcher’s fieldwork and secondary data gathered from Southeast
22 23 24 Figure 5.22 Menxi Watchmen Group Source: Qinhuai Daily Figure 5.23 The decaying physical environment is threathening the safety of residents Source: Danshi Lin’s photograph Figure 5.24 Historical building with a plain board on the wall Source: Danshi Lin’s photograph University, urban vacancy is a critical problem in the Menxi area.
The intangible environments are the key to the redevelopment of the Menxi Area. Besides the residents’ lives, as shown in Figure 5.25, Nanjing’s supremacy in academic resources also brings many graduate or postgraduate level students. Nanjing University and Southeast University have long been discussing historical preservation in Laochengnan, and there have been many attempts to use Laochengnan for architectural competitions and workshops.
Another one is the booming creative industry in Nanjing. Nanjing is on its way to becoming the capital of creative industries based on its historical resources. Tons of students will graduate each year from a design-centric school like Nanjing University, Southeast University, and the Nanjing Academy of Art, and the city is never in lack of young design entrepreneurs.
Figure 5.25 Doors in Menxi Source: author’s own collage based on Menxi Image Video Group, a group affiliated to Menxi Watchmen Group
Figure 5.26 Ways to interact with Information and Communication Technology Source: author’s own drawing Figure 5.27 How Living Lab works in the context of Menxi Source: author’s own drawing 26 27
28 29 Figure 5.28 Design Residency practices in Nanjing held by Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Source: Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Figure 5.29 Design Residency practices in Nanjing held by Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Source: Nanjing Design and Innovation Center
5.3 ICT TRENDS IN MENXI
As discussed in the literature review, the ICT plays an increasingly significant role in connecting tourists to local resources. The following section examines how local people develop their own way of using ICT to engage in the tourism construction process.
With the emergence of immersive spaces, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) and other interactive interfaces, the interpretation and re-creation of traditional urban culture have become a new way to promote tourism. Diverse tourism products, including immersive Script kill game (a new type of strategy game that has gained popularity recently in China), shows, and interactive exhibitions have brought fresh blood into historical districts like Nanbuting and Mendong areas, as shown in Figure 5.26. However, the traditional development of such products is usually done by teams from outside, such as Beijing and Shenzhen. They barely know Nanjing’s local culture. Also, the complexity and inaccessibility of technology in digital transformation have made the residents the victims of technology. They are further away from the city’s tourism promotion. If this developmental model continues, digital solutions risk losing a sense of the human touch.
Luckily, there is one organization trying to fill the gap. The Nanjing Creative Culture Design Center, as shown in Figure 5.28-5.29, is led by the Propaganda Department of the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee and organized by the Nanjing Municipal Committee. In recent years, it has been acting as a comprehensive platform for creative and collaborative innovation. It held several competitions to encourage new ways of interpreting and inheriting local cultural resources.
Viewing the cultural resources and the ICT development in Nanjing, whether stakeholders will be happy about a Living Lab approach, as shown in Figure 5.27 and 5.30, is still uncertain. Thus, this research further digs into this question by interviewing key stakeholders.
Bai Li, On top of the Phoenix Terrace
Qing Dynasty House
Yunjing Making Nanjing Salted Duck
Self-built rooftop
Dried vegetables Making Deng Tingzhen
Figure 5.30 Collage of proposed Menxi area in the era of ICT Source: author’s own drawing
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90s Residential Buildings Menxi traditional Yunjin
MENXI: THE LAST PART OF LAOCHENGNAN
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Regarding the implementation of an ULL in a tourism destination, it is conceived that the government should initiate and the stakeholders comprise ‘essential’ internal partners from the public and private sectors including universities, cultural/tourism industrialists, and, ultimately, local cultural organizations and indigenous residents. Further, as an urban tourism destination, consisting of diverse nested systems (Farrell & Twining-Ward, 2004), which are operating within an interconnected local-global system (Milne & Ateljevic, 2001), an assessment of the economic, social and cultural, and environmental impact of the Urban Lab project should be considered. During the conceptualization of the Urban Lab project, the respondents (MGCTDM, DGCTDM, NDIC, RES1, RES2, NJUDT, SEUDT, MWG1, MWG2, STC), shown in Table 6.1 and Figure 6.1-5, confirmed the importance of such an institute and how to give comments and concerns about such an organization.
Table 6.1 Fieldwork and Interview Method
Name
Qiyuan Dai, Miss Chen Ge Jin
Mr. Ji
Organization Research Type
Menxi Watchmen Group (MWG) In-field Interview Head of the Culture and Tourism Department, Qinhuai District (DGCTDM) In-field Interview
Head of the industry Innovation Department of Municipal Culture and Tourism Department (MGCTDM) In-field Interview
Miss Wang Nanjing Design and Innovation Center (NDIC) Online interview
Mr. Luo Shuang Tang Community (STC) In-field Interview Miss Wang and Miss Fan Southeast University (SEUDT) In-field interview Mr. Lu and Miss Xiao Nanjing University (NJUDT) In-field interview Mr. Wu, Mr. Xu Residents (RES1, RES2) In-field interview
VISITORS CONSUMER
GOVERNMENT
Public Actors
Long term perspective & regulatory role
NGO Users
Target group & behavioural definers
REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER
REAL-LIFE CONTEXT Living lab
Private Actors
Practical know-how & resources
LOCAL PEOPLE
Knowledge Institutes
Expertise & scientific substantiantion
TRAVELLING COMPANY
KICKSTARTER
SCHOOL
Figure 6.1 Living Labs and its stakeholder map Source: author’s own drawing MGCTDM,2021
NDIC,2021
6.2 KEY FINDINGS
6.2.1 ORIGINAL DEVELOPING MODEL
As to the original developing model in Nanjing, the majority of participants agreed with the statement that they feel disappointed about the development of previous tourist destinations for the loss of Yanhuoqi (genus loci) even though most of the stakeholders from the government side has also participated in the planning for the previous program. This is because many have argued that there is no good long-term operation in the current political system. The continuity of the plan is bad because of the quick position change of mayors and chairpersons. Meanwhile, the MGCTDM indicated that the planning usually are all made out of a template resulting from the university professors’ team.
The third possible reason is that the original planning model requires high involvement of the government. Therefore, an organization that can run without full support from the government is expected.
6.2.2 ICT AND TOURISM PRODUCTS
During the interview, the participants were asked about the necessity of tourism product innovation with ICT. All informants agreed that innovation would play an essential role in the future. Some respondents believed that it could add value to the current products. For example, NDIC pointed out:
Some regards innovation as a new way of promoting local entrepreneurship and bringing job opportunities. Culture innovation is considered a critical element to the project for the local economy by collecting, sorting out, writing, and interpreting Menxi’s history and daily life culture. When asked about the hardship pushing the trend, the current shortage of human and material resources is regarded as the main barrier.
The MWG expressed their concern. Locals also say although they are willing to share their stories to help the innovation process, they are old and do not know much about what they can do. Another concern is that even if they share their stories, it would be hard for the product to be young-generation-facing. All in all, there is a barrier between technological appliance and the willingness to create new cultural and tourism products.
6.2.3 LIVING LAB IN NEED
Regarding to the expectation of such a lab, opinions vary. The MWG hopes such a lab could help the area pass on the culture of the Laochengnan. They say that scholars may have a good understanding of the culture and history of Menxi. However, these contents are usually official literature from the internet. They are not very specific and close to their everyday life. NJUDT and SEUDT have always carried out relevant residents’ participatory design exploration in urban renewal. Planning-related courses have been carried out in the community many times, so NJUDT hopes that such a lab can become a teaching place and workstation for the School of Architecture and Art, or the Chengnan culture’s modern maker space. The team believes that the construction of cultural platforms should be regarded as long-term work, an extensible, fillable, and open-source work that can help integrate multiple subjects. The platform is a data set and a searchable and available database. It further expresses that they are also trying to collect the oral history of the STC,2021 Laochengnan, hold activities or exhibitions such as the memory of plants in the Laochengnan.
Many have also pointed out some potential directions for spatial interventions. The NDIC mentioned that since it will be in the Menxi community, the physical distance from the design/art experts to culture source is shortened. In this sense, the space needs to accommodate ICT innovation and interactive exhibition required by the participatory design process. That is, there should be a semi-open space for designers to create content and a co-creation space. The MGCTDM mentioned that to sustain such a lab, a creative industry ecology is needed to drive the operation of the entire laboratory, which may include other functions like related sales space, community spaces, and visitor center.
In all cases, the informants reported that the establishment of such a lab could not be something that one stakeholder can do on its own. Cooperation between government, enterprises, colleges, and institutions is crucial. As to the question of what they could offer in the implementation process, the MGCTDM indicated that they could help with integrating resources. The MWG are happy to be a content creator, the NDIC would be willing to connect designers and artists’ resources, and the universities show a willingness to provide professors and lab resources by using school project fundings. For the DGCTDM, this idea of supporting individual artists and designers for local culture is not something entirely new; the DGCTDM said, ‘I have been in contact with people like this in Nanjing before.’ The NJUDT and SEUDT hope to carry out teaching activities outside the school and allow students to be close to the lives of residents and traditional cultural stories.
6.2.4 CONCERNS AND RESISTANCE
As to the potential resistance of such a plan, concerns were expressed about the deterioration of the built environment of the local area, the aging society in the Menxi area, and the residents willingness to join the project. The community administers said,
This was echoed by the DGCTDM and RESs as well. There are also many
concerns about whether this community-driven approach could work. Although the residents show a willingness to participate, the benefit that the lab can bring them is intangible, and the primary concern is still the physical up-gradation of the Menxi area. This view was echoed by the community’s administrator, who says that the community’s right to speak is limited, and the government’s openness is not enough for such labs. The MGCTDM also shows concern about the area by stating that it would be chaotic if high autonomy is given to the residents. “I always agree that there is unified management for such labs. That is, in short, let a professional team do professional things. If people [residents] all fight separately, it would usually result in malicious competitions.” The NDIC says that the lab should focus on letting tourists get the empathy of local culture, enhancing life-supporting facilities, and collecting market feedback to enrich the experiences of local people and tourists.
2 3 4 5 Figure 6.2 Interview Menxi’s residents with Menxi Watchmen group Source: author’s own photograph Figure 6.3 In-field interview and observation for 3 months with Dr. Andong Lu, co-initiator of Nanjing creative city of literature Source: Nanjing Daily Figure 6.4 Interview in Municipal Nanjing Cultural and Tourism Department Source: author’s own photograph FIgure 6.5 Field trip with Menxi Watchmen Group Source: author’s own photograph
TOURISM DESTINATION PLANNING THROUGH URBAN LABS
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The dissertation to which these arguments have led is for a speculative design project, the Menxi Living Lab, which attempts to explore how the Living Lab model can inspire the design and planning of tourism destinations. The premise is to be the design and innovation engine for the Menxi area’s cultural and tourism industry that connects the old residents with new ones. Thus, three key procedures are considered to speculate the gradual evolution of the initiative: the preparation and construction, the operation system, and the design and forms.
7.1 PREPARATION AND CONSTRUCTION
7.1.1 INITIATION
In the Menxi area, universities in Nanjing and the Nanjing MWG are well suited to be the leading force of the project. The former brings an academic perspective, and the latter comes from a social standpoint. Since the Living Lab’s unique aim is to incentivize innovation in the tourism and creative industries, art and design-centric universities like Southeast University, Nanjing University, Nanjing Academy of Art, and potentially Nanjing University of Science and Technology are considered to be interested in co-initiating the lab. Potential university partners include community-building organizations, enterprises that focus on the tourism and creative industries, and labs specializing in storytelling, culture organization, and information visualization.
7.1.2 PLATFORM ESTABLISHMENT
The operating team should establish a multi-stakeholder platform, as shown in Figure 7.1, to grow a social participation ecosystem, and to support the participation of universities or institutions in the design and implementation of processes to realize sustainable development. It is suggested that an operating company should be established to balance the expenditure of the site and to ensure the sustainability of the project.
7.1.3 FINANCING AND THE BUSINESS MODEL
Establishing an integrated revenue source and a strong business plan is of fundamental importance to a multi-stakeholder lab like this. The proposed plan suggests that universities and the government raise funds to establish a project capital pool. The government, universities, and operating companies will then decide how to spend the fund.
Once in use, the operating company is responsible for its profits and losses. The company can generate an operational fee proportionally from start-up companies or individuals. The lab can also offer sites for long-term stores, such as coffee shops, to ensure that the lab will run sustainably. It can also work as a window to sell innovative products from the co-creation process.
7.2 OPERATING SYSTEM
The Menxi’s Living Lab will mainly take on three roles, as shown in Figure 7.1, in the community: (1) build an Environment Redevelopment Center, (2) provide a Community Participatory Platform, and (3) serve as a Cultural Engine, as shown in Figure 7.2.
7.2.1 BUILT ENVIRONMENTAL REGENERATION CENTER
One critical reality that needs attention in the Menxi residents is the deteriorating living condition. In the preparation phase, a community regeneration consultant platform will be established to offer suggestions for residents on how to renovate their houses. This will ensure that relevant state agents relay and hear residents’ opinions. By organizing workshops that involve different stakeholders, it is envisioned that a Menxi’s renovation guidebook will be published to help people with the financial capability to redevelop for themselves. If they do not have the money, they can also apply for funds or state-owned assets from the government under the condition that part of their property would be shared with the public.
7.2.2 COMMUNITY PARTICIPATORY PLATFORM
At present, there appears to be a lack of channels for residents to express their ideas in the redevelopment process. Thus, this lab will act as a longterm platform that holds workshops to help resolve certain issues through multi-stakeholder collaborations. Moreover, in addition to being a hub for consultation and research activities, the Living Lab will also house a community activity room that is open to the public, as well as a bookshop cafe that can attract tourists and ensure a stable stream of income.
7.2.3 CULTURAL ENGINE
Menxi’s transformational history and dynamic everydayness provide rich content for the production and reproduction of space making. Thus, the Living Lab intends to invite artists and designers to speak with residents and the MWG about their tangible and intangible memories of Menxi, as shown in Figure 7.3. With a systematic cultural database, the lab will periodically welcome enterprises, community members, universities, and other partners to join the co-creation meeting for tourism and innovative products, as shown in Figure 7.4. Artists and researchers are expected to co-create new ways of visualizing content for exhibition purposes. Some results out of the lab will be multiple exhibitions across Nanjing. It will either be in traditional museums or galleries or in the Menxi site itself. The Menxi Living Lab will also co-create with universities to design or develop a customized “Storytelling” route for historic districts by connecting the narrative elements to physical street spaces.
Figure 7.1 The Conceived Collaboration Network of Project Menxi Living Lab Source: author’s own drawing, adapted from Jiang(2020)
Figure 7.2 The Organizational framework of Menxi Living Lab
Source: author’s own drawing adapted from Implementation Essay
7.2.4 A HOST IN NEED
The role of the Lab as a host can be further divided into three parts, that are to serve as: The designer and curator of public participation activity, and The organizer and coordinator of the co-creation workshop, and The advisor and think-tanker of the urban renewal practices.
7.3 DESIGN AND FORMS
One potential site for the proposal is the Jinling Tea Factory(Site A, shown in Figure 7.5) that sits in the middle of the Menxi community. This was once an important economic hub in the Menxi area; however, it was abandoned in 1979 as it could not adapt and meet new demands throughout China’s industrial transformation. It has since been transformed into temporary housing for migrant workers, while retaining its architectural structure as a tea factory. The corridor, therefore, is relatively wide. During the fieldwork, the owner of the Tea Factory demonstrated a willingness to offer the building for future use in the proposed plan, should they receive enough compensation from the government. The change of ownership creates opportunities for architects to rethink several methods to connect the manufacturing industry’s past with the future of production in the digital world.
Another potential site is in the Menxi Smart Living District(Site B), which sits near the Menxi Community. In the current plan, this area will accommodate the future headquarters of technology companies. Thus, geographically speaking, the site for the main Living Lab would sit between technology and the community, encouraging architects to think about how to connect those two different cultures through spatial interventions. Moreover, Site C is an old factory estate that will be available soon. The park near the ancient city wall(Site C)is now empty. Both mean that there are spaces for physical improvements.
The design for the Living Lab is not like other institutions. Architects should make sure to leave some space for uncertainties, as shown in Figure 7.6. Living Labs can act as experimental fields for continual testing and prototyping. The defining principle of the new architectural design typology will be to embody all aspects of innovative activities in an (or this) era of disruptive technologies, which also means it will help the community evolve. However, we need to bear in mind that the existing cases have already shown signs of gentrification when introducing new programs and doing community building.
Camera/Framing Building/Space Zoning/ Planning Object/Things People/Body Culture/Asset
Figure 7.3 An augumented space narritive with the help of Information and Communication technology Source: author’s own drawing adapted from drawing in cinematic aided design: an everyday life approach to architecture (Penz, 2018) MIX-USED LABS
INTERACTIVE PAVILION
STORYTELLING FACILITIES
LOCAL GUIDE SYSTEM
Figure 7.4 Organizational Framework for Menxi Living Lab Source: author’s own photograph
Figure 7.5 Proposed site and its surroundings Source: author’s own photograph and perspectives from current project
Traditional Lab Spaces
Traditional Skyscraper
Lab Spaces that is Open and Mixed-use
Living Lab Spaces
Skyscraper with media wall
Building Elements
Traditional Map Guidance
Augumented Map Guidance System
Map Guidance System
Self-built Infrastructure
Guided, High-quality Infrastructure
Public Infrastructure
Traditional Phone Pages
A.R.
Phone Pages
Traditional Floor
Floor with Ground Lights
Floor
Traditional Residential Building
Mixed-use Residential Building
Function of the Building
Traditional Pavilion
Figure 7.6 Summarized Design guidance for Living Labs Source: author’s own drawing
Interactive Pavilion
Pavilion and Installation
Figure 7.7 College: the overlapping moment of spatial alternation and ICT experiments Source: author’s own drawings
7.4 A SPECULATIVE FUTURE
As the Living Lab is a forward-looking organization, it is worth thinking about what the Menxi area would look like in 20 years. Thus, the design would connect the Living Lab in 2022 with some potential design interventions in Menxi 2042 in future design practices to vividly showcase the district’s evolution, as shown in Figure 7.7.
Ultimately, the Menxi Living Lab aims to devise for tourism destinations a new urban regeneration strategy that features a design-driven organizational structure that includes the power of designers, artists, and communities. Since Living Lab research in China is still nascent, the speculative design project and its spatial intervention aim to illustrate a contextual alternative for similar tourism destinations with similar challenges and opportunities.
CONCLUSIONS
The current problem facing the Chinese tourism destination development is that the destination is at high risk of being homogenized and commercialized in the pursuit of competitiveness under state control. In other words, the elites usually decide what is best for citizens. However, this top-down model of development often achieves the opposite results, as it tends to relocate residents, rather than cater to their needs. Even though many practices are starting to encourage residents’ participation in the regeneration process, they fail to consider how to empower citizens in the digitalization process. This miss calls for a new mechanism for Smarter Tourism Destination development. Against this backdrop, this dissertation provides an alternative way of urban regeneration by integrating the concept of a Living Lab into the processes of urban regeneration.
This dissertation investigates what the Living Lab is as a design and planning method through the theories, case studies, and interviews presented. It begins by tracing back into the history of the Living Lab as a concept and a practice. Then it consulted various studies to understand how Living Labs are defined and investigate what research currently exists on Living Labs in China, and their relationships to the rise of cultural tourism-led urban regeneration processes. It then laid out the theoretical framework to understand the association of Living Labs with cultural tourism development. What followed was a look into new trends in China that have taken place in destinations that can cultivate the development of a Living Lab.
Four Living Lab initiatives were examined for this project. They are small in scale and scope, located in a historical community, and innovating for the future. This project used place-oriented, people-oriented, and organization-oriented perspectives to discuss their needs in the Chinese context and their subsequent impact on urban regeneration. In this process, the dissertation found that vacant third places are usually the Living Labs’ main battlefield. They have different ways of turning spaces into (invisible) Labs. Usually, those initiatives are considered community building and placemaking practices. When investigating their operating mechanisms, a facilitator is found to be vital in their establishment. In line with the findings of western cases, Living Lab turns ideas into entrepreneurship. However, Living Labs in China have
demonstrated unique methods for multi-stakeholder cooperation, especially with respect to government bodies. Notably, the government will allocate related resources to help the initiative, rather than fund the initiative directly. Furthermore, the Living Lab has the effect of creating a design-driven Collaborative Community. Together, these characteristics provide the Chinese architects and planners with an action guide to integrate the Living Lab into their cultural tourism-led urban regeneration process.
Finally, the Nanjing’s Menxi area was also used as an example to illustrate how the above-discussed findings could be put into practice. After a short brief of the basic situation of the Menxi area, multiple stakeholders were interviewed to discuss the Living Lab’s plausibility and limitation in China. All informants agreed that innovation would play an essential role in the future, and the establishment of such a Living Lab could not be something that one stakeholder can do on its own. They thought that to make the Lab run by itself, the Living Lab should also include total tourism and creative ecosystem. Despite all those suggestions, informants are still concerned about whether the deterioration of the built environment of the local area, and the aging society in Menxi, can support such a lab. Those real-world feedbacks reflected that the Living Lab is a potential urban regeneration strategy for tourism destinations in China. After considering all the discussions and learning experiences of previous cases, the dissertation ended with a speculative preparation and construction process. It made some collages of potential sites to show a contextual spatial alternative for similar tourism destinations with similar challenges and opportunities.
This dissertation is one of the first studies on Living Labs in China, so undoubtedly, it has limitations. Firstly, the lack of literature on this topic in the Chinese context makes it hard to evaluate and select cases based upon an existing framework. Secondly, the selection of cases is biased because the researcher was restricted to travel in China during the fieldwork period. Also, all the cases were established in the past five years. Researchers cannot measure long-term effects on the community. Thirdly, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many scheduled research activities were canceled, including the intended action research to testify the plausibility of Living Labs in the Menxi area. Lastly, the time constraints of the dissertation only allowed the researcher to conduct onsite research for three months in the context of a global pandemic. Therefore, observations may not reflect how the Living Labs function in a world without Covid and during regular schooltime.
However, in the research process, many research topics are worth future investigation, such as action research on the interaction of residents and a Living Lab organization after implementation; ways to provide a visualized action guide for Living Lab practices in China, especially for the elderly to participate; and a thorough organization of the implementation process. All in all, tourism destination development needs long-term attention and research. Key stakeholders should pay more attention to long-term investments like Living Labs.
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IMAGE LIST
Figure 1.1 Tourism industry’s history Source: author’s own drawing for Essay I-B Figure 1.2 Traditional Commercialization Development Model Source: author’s own drawing Figure 1.3 Micro-Regeneration Model Source: author’s own drawing Figure 1.4 Community Redevelopment Model Source: author’s own drawing Figure 1.5 ICT and Cultural Tourism Destination Development in Nanjing Source: Nanjing Government Website
CHAPTER 2
Figure 2.1 MIT PlaceLab Retrieved from: [http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~tmcleish/Selected Publications/PlaceLab Overview.pdf](http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~tmcleish/Selected%20Publications/PlaceLab%20 Overview.pdf) Figure 2.2 European Network of Living Labs Retrieved from: [https://openlivinglabs.eu/](https://openlivinglabs.eu/) Figure 2.3 The world distribution of EnroLL accredited Living Labs Note: Living Labs for Rural Areas: Contextualization of Living Lab Frameworks, Concepts and Practices(Zavratnik et al., 2019) Figure 2.3 The birth and expansion of Living Lab in China and around the world Source: author’s own drawing Figure 2.5 Characteristic of an Urban Living Lab and a Living Lab Source: author’s own drawing adapt from Urban Living Labs: A Living Lab Way of Working (Steen & van Bueren, 2017) Figure 2.6 chronocyclegraph, a tool to study human motion Note: The Five Strands of Living Lab: A Literature Study of the Evolution of Living Lab Concepts in HCI (Alavi, Lalanne, Rogers, 2020)
CHAPTER 3
Figure 3.1 Classification of urban regeneration policies Note: From urban renewal to urban regeneration: Classification criteria for urban interventions. Turin 1995-2015: Evolution of planning tools and approaches , elaborated by SiTI Figure 3.2 Participatory Design way towards smart city Note: ‘Participatory Design: Ideas, Methods, Practices’, lecture, International Women’s University (IFU), Project Area Information, Hamburg, Germany, July 26, 2000. Figure 3.3 Original diagram by Metahaven as published in Bratton’s The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty (2016) Source: author’s own drawing adapted from Bratton’s The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty(2016) Figure 3.4 Diagram variations by G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack as represented 6-layers deep, multiple activations as “zigzagging” columns from top to bottom layer. Source: author’s own drawing adapated from G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack
Figure 3.5 Diagram variations by G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack, showing user’s powerlessness in the face of digital transformation Source: author’s own drawing adapated from G. Costello. Diagram of the Stack
CHAPTER 4
Figure 4.1 Lester School and Henry Lester Institute before rennovation Souce: Hongkou District Government Figure 4.2 The ground floor spaces in Siping Load for NICE2035 project Source: Yangpu District Government Figure 4.3 Hengda Caojiaxiang Sales Center, the site for Digua community Sourc: Digua community official wechat account Figure 4.4 Former Vegetable Company Building No. 2 in Xinmen Wenlu District, the ancient city of Quanzhou. Source: Quanzhou Daily Figure 4.5 DesignUniverse activity Souce: author’s own photography Figure 4.6 NICE 2035 after rennovation Source: DesignHarvest Official account Figure 4.7 Digua Community after rennovation Sourc: author’s own photography Figure 4.8 Box Community after renovation Source: Xiaofeng Du’s photography Figure 4.9 DesignUniverse activity Souce: author participated, Zhen Zhang’s photography Figure 4.10 Urban Bird Watcher Studio in NICE 2035 Source: author participated, DesignHarvest Official account Figure 4.11 Digua Community after rennovation Sourc: Digua Community’ official account Figure 4.12 Box Community after renovation Source: Xiaofeng Du’s photography Figure 4.13 Industry-University-Research Collaboration in Living Lab operation Source: author’s own drawing (Pilot Thesis) Figure 4.14 Digua community’s bookelet Source: author’s own photograph Figure 4.15 Design Universe’s booklet Source: author’s own photograph Figure 4.16 Design Community formed in NICE2035 Source: DesignHarvest’s offcial wechat account Figure 4.17 NICE 2035’s operational scheme Source: author’s own drawing
CHAPTER 5
Figure 5.1 The geo-location of Nanjing Source: author’s own drawing Figure 5.2 The conflicts in urban regenerations of Nanjing Source: author’s own drawing Figure 5.3 Confucius Temple before renovation Source: Qinhuai District government Figure 5.4 Nanbu Ting before renovation Source: Qinhuai daily Figure 5.5 Lao Mendong before rennovation Source: weibo blog Figure 5.6 Xiaoxihu before renovation Source: Qinhuai District government Figure 5.7 Confucius Temple after renovation Source: Hao Zhou’s photograph Figure 5.8 Nanbu Ting after renovation Source: author’s own photograph Figure 5.9 Lao Mendong after rennovation Source: Qinhuai District government Figure 5.10 Xiaoxihu after renovation Source: Southeast University Figure 5.11 Overview of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.12 City Wall in Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.13 Everyday Life of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.14 Storage space of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.15 Clothes of Menxi Area Source: author’s clip from google map Figure 5.16 Self-constructed installations are commonly seen in Menxi Area, this picture include ones for drying clothes Figure 5.17 Salty Ducks are Nanjing’s most famous dishes, and one important part in Menxi Residents’ daily life Figure 5.18 Lane doors are like the entrance towards heterotopia world, although it actually connects people’s everyday llife Figure 5.19 Menxi area technical drawing Source: author’s own drawings Figure 5.20 Menxi’s History Source: author’s own drawings Figure 5.21 Menxi’s location-based cultural resources Source: author’s own drawing, data partly from author’s own research and trip, partly from LanD Studio Figure 5.22 Menxi Watchmen Group Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.23 The decaying physical environment is threathening the safety of residents Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.24 Historical building with a plain board on the wall Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.25 Doors in Menxi Source: Menxi Image Video Group, a group affiliated to Menxi Watchmen Group Figure 5.26 Ways to interact with Information and Communication Technology Source: Menxi’s own
Figure 5.27 How Living Lab works in the context of Menxi Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.28 Design Residency practices in Nanjing held by Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.29 Design Residency practices in Nanjing held by Nanjing Design and Innovation Center Source: Menxi’s own Figure 5.30 Collage of proposed Menxi area in the era of ICT Source: Menxi’s own
CHAPTER 6
Figure 6.1 Living Labs and its stakeholder map Source: author’s own drawing Figure 6.2 Interview Menxi’s residents with Menxi Watchmen group Source: author’s own photograph Figure 6.3 In-field interview and observation for 3 months with Dr. Andong Lu, co-initiator of Nanjing creative city of literature Source: World Cities Culture Forum Figure 6.4 Interview in Municipal Nanjing Cultural and Tourism Department Source: author’s own photograph FIgure 6.5 Field trip with Menxi Watchmen Group Source: author’s own photograph
CHAPTER 7
Figure 7.1 The Conceived Collaboration Network of Project Menxi Living Lab Source: author’s own drawing, adapted from Jiang(2020) Figure 7.2 The Organizational framework of Menxi Living Lab Source : author’s own drawings Figure 7.3 An augumented space narritive with the help of Information and Communication technology Source: author’s own drawing adapted from drawing in cinematic aided design: an everyday life approach to architecture (Penz, 2018) Figure 7.4 Organizational Framework for Menxi Living Lab Source: author’s own drawings Figure 7.5 Proposed site and its surroundings Source: author’s own photograph and perspectives from current project Figure 7.6 Summarized Design guidance for Living Labs Source: author’s own drawing Figure 7.7 College: the overlapping moment of spatial alternation and ICT experiments Source: author’s own drawings
