What kinds of public spaces contribute the most to building memorable and attractive cities? As landscape architects, a large portion of our practice focuses on ecology, natural processes, and material performances. The global urban age is happening at a dizzying pace and scale, and with a diversity and complexity that challenges traditional design paradigms. Weaving human purposes into natural systems frameworks, we ideally tackle the urgent challenges of today by creating highly attractive places that provide unique spatial experiences and authentic regional identities.
Building celebrated and socially enduring public space requires having a deep understanding of what creates livability and popularity, as well as working within a culturally specific framework to embrace the needs of contemporary cities.
The term “Ren Chi” describes the kind of space with a prominent quality of vitality and life energy. Translated from Chinese characters, 人气, 人(REN) means humanity or people, while 气 (CHI) means air, with an extended meaning of spirit, or life energy in Daoist philosophy. Spaces with Ren Chi are known for the “life “energy” radiating from people’s activities there. Although not necessarily constructed with expensive materials or including iconic architectural landmarks, these places are highly effective in attracting people to stay, and in delivering the experience of being part of the culture and urban dynamics.
One such place is Clarke Quay, Singapore, a well-known waterfront promenade with mixed-use development that attracts both locals and tourists. Transformed from a historical river port, Clarke Quay’s urban redevelopment accommodated the vivid local architectural heritage of 1860s shophouses with arcades along the busy Singapore River, providing a shaded, pedestrian-scale promenade between the water and buildings with plenty of seating, porch spaces, and river views. The place promotes a distinctive tropical lifestyle that is authentic to the region and an extremely attractive experience of leisure, strolling, and interacting with people.
Why have many designers failed to create Ren Chi in their work? First, the absence of a liberal arts and social science methodology in the design process, including contextual research, post-occupancy analysis, and a set of tools from psychology and even neuroscience. Second, prevalent professional tendencies of our age place emphasis on individual and isolated actions, and seldom address the shared ideas and continuity among different pieces and disciplines. As William “Holly” Whyte once advocated in his sociology research for public space design, people should use “a new way of designing public spaces—one that is bottom-up, not top-down.” Using his approach, “design should start with a thorough understanding of the way people use spaces, and the way they would like to use spaces.” Through understanding the social DNA, designers should consider an organizing system that is flexible and adaptive enough to contain everyday life energy, which is spontaneous, non-institutional, and even disordered.
How can the idea of Ren Chi be observed, measured, and developed? The theoretical framework would be built on the observations and arguments of sociology, environmental psychology, economics, and policy making. We modern-day city builders face the challenge of developing a set of design criteria for public spaces that promote Ren Chi, taking into account such issues as density, diversity, flexibility, informality, social inclusivity, and the area’s regional identity. Once the social DNA of the context is decoded, forms need to perform well under such guidance and offer an instrumental physical conduit to promote people’s usage. In this way, we may begin to deliver more happy urban living experiences that are legible through the presence of Ren Chi.
For more information on Clarke Quay: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke_Quay
Nanhai Citizens Plaza and 1000 Lantern Park, an SWA project embodying Ren Chi, was photographed by Tom Fox.
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