The concept of “public space” plays an important role in the urban development of reformed China after 1978. Even though newly introduced Western urban and architectural theories showed the way, the People's Republic found its own unique interpretation, notes Wenwen Sun in her PhD research.
The politics of globalization that Deng Xiao Ping implemented in 1978 did not only affect international trade relations. The previously closed and strictly communist People's Republic also opened up to Western urban and architectural theories. ‘Before that time, ideas about the layout of cities mainly came from the Soviet Union,’ says Sun. ‘The opening of contacts with the West, especially with the US, introduced the idea of public space in China. It linked our country with a history that goes back to the Greco-Roman world.’
The idea that public spaces are “windows to the soul of the city”, as the American sociologist Sharon Zukin once described it, was new. At least, it was for Mao's China. During the socialist era, uniform apartment blocks sprang up everywhere, as were gated communities. The country lacked public territory with room for encounters, such as squares with cafes and parks.
Transculturation
To interpret the way in which modern China incorporated Western architectural views, Sun uses the term 'transculturation' (transculturación). This term was coined by Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in 1940 to describe merging and converging cultures. Influencing one culture by another is not simply a matter of copying, he argues, but a merging of concepts. Once linked, together they form something completely new.
That's exactly what happened in Chinese urban design and architecture after the country reopened to the world, Sun notes. It all starts with the arrival of the first translations of influential Western architectural theories and the spreading of Chinese architects around the world, for study and work. But the next step is the appearance of the first Chinese works on urban design theory. Urban designer Jianguo Wang, for example, writes a study on “open space” as a first interpretation of public space in the early 1990s.
Sun observes that the process of transculturation here makes the first step from the embryonic (1980-2000) to an intermediate stage (2000-2010). ‘This intermediate stage marks the discovery of public space as human space,’ says Sun. ‘The concept of “open space” takes on social, cultural and artistic dimensions here.’ It sounds more idealistic than it is. The “human space” is also used in practice as a marketing tool – beautiful pictures sell homes.
During the “situated transculturation” (2010-present) Sun sees the idea of public space being transformed into a social arena, “as in Greco-Roman times”. She traces this back to the discovery of philosophers such as Hannah Arendt and Jürgen Habermas. ‘But there is no literal projection of their ideas, it is an alternative version. It’s transculturation.’
China on the international stage
Did these theoretical developments actually change the appearance of contemporary Chinese cities? Certainly, Sun says. The Olympic Park in Beijing (2008) with its famous Bird's Nest Stadium is an example. ‘This symbolizes China's entry onto the international stage.’ The first cosy, western-style squares with restaurants, bars, entertainment and shops emerged in countless cities around the same time, as a counterpart to sleek, formal spaces like Tiananmen Square. ‘Here you will find a mixed program like you won’t find anywhere in the west. It shows how ideas from abroad led to a unique Chinese elaboration.’
