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1. Landscape
Figure 2. Yudaihe Park – Landscape design
Figure 1. Qingshanhu Park - Landscape Design
Both parks’ greenways incorporate aesthetics and utility into their design. The collocations of odours of floras and the sound of water flows emphasize landscape urbanism (Barnett, 2011), which also increase the level of comfort and richness to the users (McGlynn & Murrain, 1994). The natural and artificial environment provides relaxing and leisure places for neighbouring citizens to increase social engagement. 1
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2. Infrastructure and safety
Figure 3. Qingshanhu Park – A bench besides the Qingshan Lake
Figure 4. Yudaihe Park – A bench besides the Yudai River
The contrast of the two sites’ seats shows some difference. Yudaihe Park emphasizes the integration of recreation with security by the distance between substantial fence and bench. Also, there are benches surrounded by massive landscapes that create relaxation for users. In comparison, Qingshanhu Park’s fences are simple chains which do not concern about safety of the public. 2
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3. Amenity
Figure 5. Qingshanhu Park – Public toilet
Figure 6. Yudaihe Park – Public toilet
Although both parks provide some amenities like public toilets, the design of Yudaihe Park’s bathroom has some user-friendly and practical aspects like accessible toilets and baby care rooms. However, Hubinxi Park’s toilet only, provides unisex toilets, does not manifest inclusiveness and accessibility for the particular populations. 3
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4. Energy
Figure 7. Yudaihe Park – The Solar Panel
Yudaihe Park integrates some sustainable concepts with infrastructures. Because of sufficient sunlight during daytime in Nanchang, streetlights and the solar panels are cost-saving and environment-friendly. By contrast, Qingshanhu Park still uses traditional power supply mode, rather than considering employing ideas of sustainable urbanism. 4
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5. Disabling Space
Figure 8. Qingshanhu Park – A disabling Space
As a renovating project, Qingshanhu Park has the issue of a disabling space, which is demonstrated by excluded physical barriers for some particular groups, “particularly the disabled, young children in pushchairs, or the elderly” (Carmona, 2010) in this public area. Nonetheless, Yudaihe Park does not occur in an under-managed space but as a new project. 5
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6. Invaded Space/Space Management
Figure 10. Yudaihe Park – Beizhi Greenway
Figure 9. Qingshanhu Park - Hubinxi Greenway
Walking and riding bicycles are encouraged in both parks. However, specific issues influence two pedestrian-vehicular greenways. Because of the under management of Hubinxi Greenway, some areas are invaded by cars that impact users’ security and movement (Carmona, 2010). Although the portal of Beizhi Greenway can restrict automobiles, the movement is still affected by its narrow width. 6
Figure 11. The portal
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7. Ecological Management
The sewage disposal system
Figure 13. Yudaihe Park – Yudai River
Figure 12. Qingshanhu Park - Qingshan Lake’s pollution
Both parks are prestigious as the stunning natural landscape, but Qingshan Lake encouters some ecological and management problems. There is some floating litter in the Qingshan Lake. However, Yudaihe Park arranged the sewage disposal system around the Yudai river to deal with daily water pollution. 7
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8. Environment Management
Figure 14. Qingshanhu Park – Trash bin
Figure 15. Yudaihe Park – Trash bin
Both parks arranged significant trash bins to diminish the behaviours of littering and protect the natural environment. Comparing two parks, Qingshanhu Park’s trash bin has subdivided classifications of garbage which is more environmental-friendly to the nature and daily regulation. Obviously, Yudaihe Park does not have a profound plan, still tough now, about trash recycling. 8
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9. Hard Controls
Figure 16. Qingshanhu Park– Warning board
Figure 17. Qingshanhu Park- CCTV
Qingshanhu Park resorts hard controls to prevent inadmissible behaviours like explicit warning and CCTV (Loukaitous-Sideris & Banerjee, 1998). These responsive actions can construct a secure atmosphere. However, Yudaihe Park create a harmonious environment with holistic considerations of infrastructure, rather than using these hard controls. 9
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10. Activities
Figure 18. Qingshanhu Park – A lane for runners or cyclists
Figure 19. Yudaihe Park – A multiple-purposed space
By contrast, Yudaihe Park provides a better quality of robustness (McGlynn & Murrain, 1994) for public activities than Qingshanhu Park. Yudaihe Park’s given open space can be utilised as a playground during the daytime and a place for the square dance at night. Relatively, Qingshanhu Park does not have a multiplepurposed open space. 10
Qingshanhu Park and Yudaihe Park are two public realms located in Nanchang, China, which are both prestigious because of their environments and residential vitality. In this visual essay, original photographs, sketches, and complemented captions illustrate specific urbanisms of the two parks. Public space and urbanism are interrelated when it comes to establish life characteristics. Urbanism is embodied in substantial elements in open realms; also, the social and cultural qualities of public space can get enhanced. This visual essay will critically analyse the urbanism of the place. Secondly, it set three urbanisms, associating with landscape, infrastructures, and sustainability, and how they are manifested in two parks and interplay with the social and cultural contexts. The tow parks’ urbanisms are developed by design concepts, management, and social and cultural contexts. Urbanisms are demonstrated in macro-scaled design and micro-scaled designs. At the same time, one public space can develop and integrate several urbanisms to reinforce the richness of life characteristics (McGlynn & Murrain, 1994). Coherently, management challenges the complexity of urbanism. Both under and over managements influence the evolvement of urbanism (Carmona, 2010). Furthermore, the local context can evolve and be evolved by urbanisms. For instance, square dance, a trending activity among middle-aged Chinese females, provides fresh ideas for the Chinese civic design. By contrast, Qingshanhu Park and Yudaihe Park both adopted ideas from landscape urbanism and infrastructural urbanism, and Yudaihe Park employs concepts of sustainable urbanism and new urbanism. Firstly, various aesthetic flora and existing desirable water areas are the embodiment of landscape urbanism in both parks, instead of architecture complex replacing the public realm (Barnett, 2011). The continuance of landscape urbanism is challenged by the authority and regulation. For example, Qingshanhu Park is experiencing an inadequate environmental regulation issue which damage the protectiveness of landscape urbanism and aesthetic. Secondly, their infrastructural urbanisms are shown in these amenity - illuminating systems, rest areas, and 24-hour bathrooms (Barnett, 2011). Nonetheless, infrastructural violence is an inevitable social issue that can harm the public physically and emotionally (Rodgers & O'Neill, 2012). To exemplify, Qingshanhu Park does not consider amenities’ inclusiveness and disabling space’s accessibility for vulnerable populations that reinforce civic inequality. Yudaihe Park’s design shapes and is shaped by sustainable urbanism because of local contexts. The employment of renewable energy is sustainable and forward-looking, which bases on local advantageous intensive sunlight (Stevens et al., 2015). Sufficient renewable resource is an inspiration for sustainable urbanism employment in this design. Additionally, local cultural activity evolves the diversity of land use and a healthy community that extracted from the concept of sustainable urbanism (Jones, 2005). Square dance is a popular activity sweeping across China; therefore, domestic planners would remain an ample space intentionally for this cultural context. Moreover, the space has quality of 11
robustness as a multiple-purposed gathering space for leisure and temporary safe refuge (McGlynn &
Murrain, 1994). In conclusion, Qingshanhu Park and Yudaihe Park adopt landscape urbanism and infrastructural urbanism, and Yudaihe Park employs sustainable urbanism with civic culture. Urbanism can develop and enhance life features, while local characteristics can also evolve urbanism as well. Moreover, initiative design, subsequent regulation, and local context can be the three forces to shape and influence the continuance of urbanism.
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Reference Barnett, J. (2011). A Short Guide to 60 of the Newest Urbanisms. Planning, 77(4).
Carmona, M. (2010). Contemporary public space: Critique and classification, part One and part Two. Journal of Urban Design, 15(1), 123-148, DOI: 10.1080/13574800903435651.
Jones, E. (2005). TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE URBANISM. Environment Design Guide, 1-9. Retrieved August 22, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/26148336
Loukaitou-Sideris, A. & Banerjee, T. (1998). Urban Design Downtown: Poetics and Politics of Form. Berkeley: University of California Press.
McGlynn, S. & Murrain, P. (1994). The politics of urban design. Planning Practice and Research, 9 (3), pp.311-319.
Rodgers, D., & O'Neill, B. (2012). Introduction: Infrastructural violence: Introduction to the special issue. Ethnography, 13(4), 401-412. Retrieved August 21, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43497506
Stevens, P.J., Plowright, P.D., & Adhya, A. (2015, January). Defining Sustainable Urbanism: towards a responsive urban design. Paper presented at Conference On Technology & Sustainability in the Built Environment, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Abstract retrieved from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Defining-Sustainable-Urbanism-%3A-towards-aurban-Stevens-Plowright/863bcb61cc1b154d5649e90fc365c2bddbb4c554#related-papers
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