Design for Urban Resilience: A Case of Community-led Placemaking Approach in Shanghai China

Abstract

This paper presents a recent design activism initiative named Open Your Space in Chinese urban context. The project aims to help the urban community acquire a better sense of sustainability, comfortability, and accessibility to public space, where citizens, place managers and local government could connect together through socially engaged and participatory process. The paper advocates the design initiative influence of public space in culture, social context and social system, analyses how to use public space design intervention strategies to modeling resilient community mechanism. By synthesizing ideas of resilience, the paper uses the community-led placemaking approach in order to create the third place and a new paradigm of spatial and social resilience.

1 Introduction

Shanghai is a city with speedy urban sprawl, rapid urbanization has greatly accelerated environmental and social development. The challenges follow up like the DesignX introduced that the complex sociotechnical systems such as healthcare, transportation, governmental policy, and environmental protection [1]. Urbanization in Shanghai has also created numerous problems ranging from the local to the global scale: migration, housing, urban pressures, social inequality, social disconnection etc.

Shanghai’s population was 89.3% (20.6 million) urban and 10.7% (2.5 million) rural. More than 39% of Shanghai’s residents are long-term migrants, a number that has tripled in ten years. Migrants from the rural areas of the country turned to Shanghai, giving the city the growth it was after [2]. The housing price of Shanghai have been rising precipitously for a decade, a standard apartment can cost multiple millions of yuan to purchase, and thousands of yuan to rent, making housing affordability the top concern of most low- and middle- income households. The house price-income ratio classifies much of China as “severely unaffordable” [3]. Those problems have been appeared and influenced in the everyday life, lack of social cohesion and low degree of social resilience is evident and damage the quality of living condition [4].

How the designers attempted to combine their professional skills toward social change? How the design school becomes effective agents of change in the contexts where they are situated? Design activism is the one of them encompasses a wide range of socially and environmentally responsible actions in design. As Lou Yongqi argued that design requires a new, more proactive approach to economic and social change. Design must shift from passive to active [5].

In May 2015, a research and design initiative entitled “Open Your Space (OYS)” was launched under this background. The project aims to help the urban community acquire a better sense of sustainability, comfortability, and accessibility to public space. The goal is not to explore new undeveloped spaces, but to regenerate existing spaces and prioritizing design of the social functions of how to integrate space and demand, to study “people” in the community’s living conditions and methods as the main core, in order to practice design-driven social innovation strategies for Chinese urban community-building and resilient transformation.

After experiencing a rapid urbanization process, Shanghai has been transformed from incremental to inventory development [6]. Activating neglected urban public space is the great opportunity for enhancing the quality of urban life, the project adopts to engage in social and political issues and develop solutions through small, incremental steps. The project carry out the research focuses on urban communities in a local context and aims to upgrade community cohesion through sustainable development on a more daily and microscopic perspective.

The project its significance includes the importance of people as both objective and subjective. The “object” emphasizes the living condition need to be renewal, and the “subject” emphasizes the initiative that the residents can play the big role in the community building process. The case not only roots on placemaking experiments, but also pays attention to the community-led empowerment, toward to a new paradigm of spatial and social resilience.

2 Urban Resilience Context

The concept of resilience originated in ecology, by the Canadian scholar Crawford Stanley Holling [7], and then began to intervene in different disciplines, now extended to the ecological, technical, social and economic four-dimensional perspective. The concept of resilient city was initially applied to disaster preparedness, especially the urban facilities to respond and recover from dangerous conditions. In recent years, this concept has been expanded, resilience is the capacity of a social-ecological system to absorb or withstand perturbations and other stressors such that the system remains within the same regime, essentially maintaining its structure and functions. It describes the degree to which the system is capable of self-organization, learning and adaptation [8]. Resilience and sustainable city as the development direction for the next 30 years, urban community is facing environmental, economic and social well-being and other adaptive problems, put forward to use of renovation, repair and other urban rehabilitation methods to make the community more healthy and more dynamic [9].

The ‘resilience movement’ has gained traction all over the world as organizations and governments attempt to address the widespread challenges of the 21st century that are becoming harder to ignore. The Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 100 Resilient Cities and the New Urban Agenda (adopted at Habitat III in 2016) all represent the desire and capacity of humanity to work together and plan ahead [10].

Urban resilience is a concept that recognises the capacity of humanity to adapt, grow and survive in the face of change and upheaval [10]. Social resilience was operationalized as social systems ability to maintain function while promoting social trust, reciprocity, collaboration, and character between networks of varying scales [11]. Keck and Sakdapolrak define social resilience across three main dimensions: coping capacities, adaptive capacities and transformative capacities [12]. Manzini considers that contemporary societies are fragile. This fragility has different causes, but a major factor is played by the lack of social cohesion within societies, or more precisely, by their low degree of social resilience [13].

How to use design intervention strategies to create resilient community toward spatial, system and social change? By synthesizing ideas of resilience, a design action has been taken and shifting the reaction to preparation, we believe design activism as a term to denote creative practices that invoke social and political issues, it shows more and more evidence that the initiative has been undertaken by design professionals who choose to pursue socially responsible practices. Open your space project is the case will be discussed by following, the project is created to explore the potential of placemaking approach for social resilience, connecting community in place, empowering the citizens through social engagement and participatory process.

3 A Design Activism Initiative Achieves Big Social Impact

The OYS project has been taken place at the community named Siping, locates in the midwest of Yangpu district of Shanghai, it is 2.75 km² in area and has a population of over a hundred thousand. Siping community includes one of Shanghai’s first workers village called Anshan village. It was built in the 50’s of last century and become one of the largest villages in Shanghai at that time. After continuous expansion, it now includes 8 villages (Fig. 1). In the community, two thirds of the buildings recognized as an old community due to housing condition, outdated infrastructure, and lacking of quality in public space, and the neighborhood looks less vital and strength. In the same time, there is lots of leftover space and hidden space has not been used very well.

Fig. 1.

Siping community includes one of Shanghai’s first workers villages, which built in the 50’s of last century.

What can design add and what can the designers contribute while enhancing problem-finding and observational skills? How design could address the complex issues in the built environment? After the observation and preliminary research, the team of OYS project proactively submitted a proposal to local government in 2015, which presents the studies of the residual public space and how to improve the public life of the Siping community, by involving the administrative office, local residents and students, designers and artists. Fortunately, the project gained full support from the government smoothly, the design intervention strategy starts to influence the version of top down strategy.

“Open Your Space: Design intervention in Siping community” as a pilot project has been launched in 2015, till now already 4 years. It becomes annual project contains physical spaces with social and cultural significance. The project strives to be a sociocultural framework that represents a special design attitude for collective space and public activities. “Open” as a keyword of the project due to its numerous meanings, such as: physical, cultural, emotional, inclusive, sustainable, connected, shared and interactive. The term “open”, together with the term “space” involves co-creation, this is an emerging paradigm that advocates new procedures in imagining the public space. Like the Design Harvests project, OYS adapted the similar acupunctural design approach, a series of small but connected design intervention, to generate systemic changes [14].

The project was the collateral event of 2015 Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture. This initiative brought along with a case exhibition, site-specific projects and micro design interventions as well as a community creative festival and several cultural activities. Fifteen site-specific projects and more than sixty micro design interventions have been spread across outdoor public space within the center of Siping community, by providing perspectives on how design activism and placemaking approach inspires people to create and improve their public places (Fig. 2). OYS project follows three main design strategies: empower multiple-stakeholders to drive local change, encourage creativity and new appropriation, and enhance the diversity of the community environment (Fig. 3).

Fig. 2.

The sidewalk propaganda slogan wall has been replaced with the residents’ portrait of Siping community in 2015.

Fig. 3.

Open Your Space concept map.

OYS focuses on moving beyond design activism as a curiosity, to make a conscious effort to work toward a social and culture stance. The active intervention on public space is a part of social innovation strategy in Chinese context. Many community workshops together with local residents have been held, residents shared their concerns about public spaces were used in the community (Fig. 4). pointed out the positive and negative space and built ideal models of the public spaces they would like to see. The young generations also have been invited into the workshop, they were exciting about those activities and same time they contributed their imagination of the future public space in community (Fig. 5). Co-creation as a design tool to involves the residents fully in the process and helps boost the chances of engagement by pulling the residents further into the fold.

Fig. 4.

Local residents shared their concerns about public spaces in the community.

Fig. 5.

The young generations participated in the workshop express their wishes for the community public space.

The team firmly believe that the success of public spaces can largely be attributed to the activities, events, recreational uses and social gatherings that take place there, whether planned or spontaneous, ongoing or temporary. Beside the design interventions, the OYS public program including exhibitions, forums, movie night and festival (Figs. 6 and 7).

Fig. 6.

One of Open street festival booth that organized by the community school in 2017.

Fig. 7.

The poster of Open your space 4th edition in 2018 with residents portraits.

The design workshops and programming were embracing the principles of activism. The evolvement of the design students was also a challenge to let them to rethink as the activist designers (Fig. 8). Design plays an active role to connect public sector and people in order to trigger more participation. Rooted in community-based participation, OYS explores the possibility of design thinking for innovative problem solving and generating new vision. Those actions totally change the image the community used to be, they meet together, listen and express for the same goal of community building, we believe this is the foundation of resilient community. Design activism principle help produce design interventions, events and services that are capable of generating meaningful encounters and resilience, sustainable ways of being and doing. Design has played a very important role during China’s transition and “development” of opportunities. Design has shifted from the previously concerns about the material world to gradually expanding to non-material areas. The objects of design are also extended: from symbols to objects, to activities, to relationships, to services and processes, to systems, environments, and mechanisms. Real innovation is often learning by doing [15].

Fig. 8.

Design intervention in residential common space co-design workshop with Design students and local residents.

4 Building the Resilient Community Through Community-led Placemaking Solution

Shanghai Playscape is a new public space, a micro-intervention and low cost project. It has been realized as part of the 4th edition of Open Your Space (OYS) in 2018. The project area is located at the core of Siping community which is essentially a residential area built in 60 s (Fig. 9). 80 m long, 3 m wide obsolete walking path in Fuxin Road, is turned into a stylish pocket park as well as the playground (Fig. 10). The project retains the original greenery layout, add the letters combines with initial name of College of Design and Innovation (D&I) and “四平 (siping)” in Chinese characters. The three dimensional letters represent the collaboration between the college and community, which are composed by logogram and has been merged along with a slide, swing, benches and photo shooting points (Fig. 11). The logogram becomes the new symbol of the pocket garden. Five letters with playful facilities, “D” with seating area, “&” with slide, “I” with swing, “四(si)” becomes a corridor with window, “平 (ping)” together with a seesaw, consistent with in Chinese means balance (Fig. 12). Identification and graphic treatments were designed to serve as placemaking features and enhanced the quality of residential public space.

Fig. 9.

80 m long, 3 m wide obsolete walking path in Fuxin Road, Shanghai, China.

Fig. 10.

The walking path is turned into a stylish pocket park as well as the playground, rendering bird view.

Fig. 11.

Logogram has been merged along with a slide, swing, benches and photo shooting points.

Fig. 12.

The logogram becomes the new symbol of the public space, “D” creates relax seating area.

The placemaking solution associating the letters with playful facilities, a bright, colorful pavement provides a new walking experience (Fig. 13). The solution creates an overlay of signage and interactive experience which offer the space a visual continuity while activate overall space. The remained 6 flowerbeds have been replaced with new flowers and self managed by the local residents, schools and enterprises. This action creates long-term community engagement for this place. The project has achieved a positive impact to the local community, co-creation as a design tool involves the residents fully in the process and helps boost the chances of engagement. It gives the identity to the community and contributes to activating the space beyond merely being a signage. The bottom up initiative pays particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing progress.

Fig. 13.

The placemaking solution associating the letters with playful facilities and a bright, colorful pavement, it turned to the pocket garden and playground.

Public spaces is for everyone’s enjoyment, and if the possess a clear identity, should become “places”. Building or rebuilding a place is important from various points of view, as Manzini states; recognizing the value of places goes hand in hand with the emergence of a new idea of well-being – a sustainable well-being. Questioning to what extent places contribute to quality of life could be a major driver of the placemaking dynamism [16]. Every public space should be designed with full consideration for diversity, and as the “third place” for bringing out features to maintain, enhance, and communicate [17]. Urban Intervention in public space has been associated with a changed understanding of the relationship between the social and the spatial [18].

We consider the Shanghai Playscape project as a collective project with well-organized participatory process. Three different participants have been involved in this project:

• 1. Siping sub-district office: as a representative from public sector, they play a significant role in financial and policy decision. Three departments from the office are involved: Department of Party and Government Affairs, Department of Culture, and Department of Administrative. They pays important role for negotiating with different public sectors. The idea to associate with local government’s top down strategy could be get the process smooth.

• 2. Local residents in Siping community, the actual users of the public space. During the workshop, they were encouraged to express their memories, life stories and wishes related to local community (Fig. 14). For the long-term strategy for the place, the self-managed garden evolved different groups of the residents, transform the space to more creative and authentic places and build the social connection (Fig. 15).

  Fig. 14.

  

  The father brings his daughter to participate the design workshop and sharing the story how the family activities around the community.

  Fig. 15.

  

  The high school students were planting in one of the flowerbed managed by their school.

• 3. Professional designers, researchers, PhD students and students from Tongji University along with professional fabricators and construction companies. They created the great platform for the neighborhood, insured the quality of the place and more about inspiring them to do-it-themselves.

In contrast to the state control of urban design and planning prevalent in China, this bottom-up action suggest an alternative mode of development that embodies the subjectivity and agency of urban dwellers. The place becomes the center of collective life, expressing a community’s cultural diversity and a foundation of their identity, and it shows that key elements for individual and communal social well-being in the community. It is through the creation of these places the physical, social, environmental, connections, and economic health of urban communities can be nurtured [19].

5 Conclusion

The radical shifts are needed to allow any form of activism to evolve. Design as thought and action for solving problems and imagining new futures. OYS project start with problem finding by the designers and consistently works toward developing innovative solutions to benefit the community. During the entire process, the project team has gone through substantial negotiation with the local government that could be absorbed in the historical and cultural context of the community space. All the actions rather than give the form but more beneficial content for the community. It is a social constructive process of citizen engagement through design activism and community participation. The design interventions have helped engage local residents and other social assets in the process of local development, transformed the public spaces in Siping area into both fun and functional, an organic community with a good balance of old and new resources [20].

The negotiations, mediations, compromises, collaborations, and conflicts have left a meaningful footprint of the project. The major difficulties were in implementation with complex social issues. In OYS project, the team has to deal with government, designers and residents, the process involve complex human and social elements, especially in Chinese context. Each community has their own unique background and range of challenges. This is why we believe in that empowering multiple stakeholders for local level, community-led solutions. Placemaking, incorporates the role as agent contributing in an original way to social building of places. OYS dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities and also try to help citizens transform their public spaces into vital places that highlight local assets, spur rejuvenation and serve common needs.

We believe that building the social equality, community connection and social cohesion are the foundation of urban resilience. Rooted in community-based participation, OYS explores the possibility of design thinking for innovative problem solving and generating new vision. Design activism principle help produce design interventions, events and services that are capable of generating meaningful encounters and resilience, sustainable ways of being and doing.

Through the OYS project, we’ve proved that giving people a shared goal and good place are a successful way of creating social cohesion. As described by Manzini, resilient systems are characterized by diversity, redundancy, feedback, and continuous experimentation in order to make the viability of the public space more visible and tangible [21]. The existence of a multiplicity and variety of places is a precondition of a more resilient natural, social, and productive system. The research and practices explore the potential of design intervention to reimagine, reinvigorate, and revitalize urban public space, although, design problems are “indeterminate” and “wicked” [22].

OYS project focused on clarifying and characterizing social resilience by creating good place and the community building process. The design solution requires collaboration and agreement of multiple social entities and political actors. These eventually constraints require compromises. But fortunately, the concept of “open” is embodied in the open motion and open the wide version of the local government by providing complete flexibility to the design team, also it is reflected in the highly open design process: multidimensional contribution and participation of students, designers, architects, artists, and local residents. The project collectively redefines ideas of public space and its multiple functions. It has convened scholars, artists, architects, and planners to engage contemporary critical discourses and practices on urban space. The practice investigated the definitions of public space across disciplines and the tools, tactics and consequences of reclaiming [13].

China’s undergoing transition, the social, political, cultural, and economic relations are negotiated amidst rapidly changing urban space [23]. The composition of public space itself is a contested and contextualized category. Stimulated by the changing waves of urbanization, OYS project is working on a possible solution to ensure resilient community by promoting social resilience in a variety of urban systems and processes. The project also hope to contribute resilient community in Chinese context by facilitating the creation and activation of urban places that encourage people to participate in the design process and public awareness social understanding; Assembling citizens to lead community led placemaking; Creating an enabling environment to support local leaders and equipping communities with the tools and know-how to develop and maintain their own community projects. The changes can not happened in one day, follow the steps by years, we aim to encourage communities to support and connect each other in times of need and be prepared for whatever challenges the future may hold.