City Soul: TV Host Zhang Zequn Talks About Urban Culture ()

Author: Zhang Zequn
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Anyone who has visited Amsterdam will have a profound impression of the city's architectural preservation. On the same street, buildings from hundreds of years apart stand side by side. While you marvel at their harmonious coexistence, you also deeply admire the continuity and longevity of the city's memory. The people in such a city must be confident and composed. They don’t even hang curtains, allowing passersby to see their living rooms and even backyards, as if inviting you to observe their lives. Hundreds of years of life and architecture have together shaped Amsterdam's culture, which continues to evolve. The city extends itself under the support of its already-established unique culture, much like the inheritance of life. Although genetic mutation is absolute, inheritance is relative. A city with culture as its "genetic code" will not stray from its path of development, and you can feel the city's essence in every street on page 191. People should perceive the city starting from the streets, because streets should be the fundamental units of a city, the carriers of the city, the windows to its soul, and the living cells of the city.
In issue 199 of New Weekly, Ma Junchi wrote an article titled "Street History—After Revolution Comes Fashion," decoding the information about streets as urban cells: "Like the relationship between a chicken and an egg, the evolutionary entanglement between cities and streets often obscures the true lineage of street value. However, one thing is clear: it was squares, not streets, that became the source of public life for early urban citizens. But later, streets rapidly shifted this value orientation, redefining the city's style and spirit, diluting the public nature accumulated over centuries into a highly individualized pursuit. The shift from squares to streets was an exciting act of urban self-rescue, one that underwent at least 200 years of struggle in Europe before reaching its climax in 19th-century Paris."
Many of our cities also have long memories, such as in Along the River During the Qingming Festival, but few maintain a complete and continuous memory. Instead, our cities are often fragmented memories. Many emerging cities are too young to have developed a long memory, and their inheritance and development are left to the control of external forces and consciousness. The lingering memories of ancient cities and the unconsciousness of emerging cities are now facing the coercion of bureaucratic awareness and capital operations.
Also in New Weekly, issue 199, He Shuqing wrote an article titled "When Did We Lose Our Streets?" to remind people to pay attention to our streets: "After the mayor returned from a study trip abroad, our streets changed. 'Demolition' became the stepchild of urban construction, and 'internationalization' became the main theme of urban planning. China's streets have become a 'Paris + New York + London + Singapore + Los Angeles + Hong Kong +