Reading the City: Art Experience and Urban Space

Author: Cheng Yan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: The author of this book believes that using literary and artistic works for urban spatial cognition is feasible. The foundation of literary and artistic creation is the author's cognition of the objective world. The representation of space in literary and artistic works is not a strict imitation in the literal sense but rather a relatively broad and stable way of "expressing" space. This mode of expression originates from certain inherent characteristics of literary and artistic works, such as the author's ability to rely on intuition, select typical subjects, and reflect the overall picture of life. Therefore, the author of this book argues that using literary works for urban spatial cognition is not only feasible but also can play a unique role. In fact, everyone has such an experience: the content conveyed by literary and artistic works cannot be fully obtained through scientific methods. The experiential approach creates a "sense of place" in the reader's imagination, connecting the author's world with the reader's, and linking the past and present of the space. Thus, the deep-seated meaning of the space gradually becomes apparent through this cognitive process. Cognition is the starting point of design and the key to forming design concepts. The experiential approach to cognition can help designers broaden their horizons in both horizontal and vertical directions. The horizontal perspective refers to the ability of designers to cognize other spaces of similar types through this approach, while the vertical perspective refers to the ability of designers to cognize the same space in different time periods, such as the "space in memory," the "space in reality," and the "ideal space." With such a perspective, urban designers can more appropriately handle the relationship between "the city" and "people."