For the Ekistics
Newsletter
News from Nanjing
Brief Summary of
2008 WSE Meeting in Nanjing, China
The World Society for Ekistics held its
2008 Meeting in Nanjing, China, from Wednesday 5th to Thursday 6th November, as
part of WUF4 (UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum). Registration for WUF4 was at the Nanjing
International Expo Centre, and acquisition of a name-tag not only allowed
entrance to WUF4, but also free transport on Nanjing’s efficient subway and bus
system. It was pleasing to note that
Nanjing has also retained its tree-shaded bicycles lanes.
Very few members turned up at the WSE
registration desk on the morning of the 4th. The Japan team went to pay their
respects at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, laid
flowers by the flame, burnt incense, reflected seriously on human nature, and the
importance of keeping Article 9 (“no more war”) of their country’s Constitution,
which signifies repentance and atonement.
By the afternoon, WSE members from Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand and
Turkey, had turned up for the Jiangsu Government’s special session on “Harmony
in the rapid process of urbanization”, in tune with the WUF theme “Harmonious
Urbanization”. The frequent references
to “scientific approach” in the presentations seemed to reflect the influence
of Wu Liangyong and his teachings about “the science
of human settlements”.
The main venue for the WSE Meeting was the
Southeast University Campus, the WSE theme being
“Harmonious Human Settlements and Ekistics – the need for a holistic,
scientific approach”.
It was very disappointing to realize that Wu
Liangyong, convenor of the
meeting, was unable to attend the meeting because of illness. He expressed his own disappointment in a
hand-written letter. Nevertheless, his
behind-the-scene presence was strongly felt, first and foremost as represented
by Mao Qizhi.
His
opening greeting was read by Zhu Wenyi, Dean of Tsinghua University’s School of
Architecture, followed by addresses on behalf of the other two hosts and
sponsors of the WSE Meeting: Wang Jianguo, Dean of
Southeast University’s School of Architecture and Zhou Lan,
Director of the Construction Bureau of Jiangsu Province. All three of these illustrious speakers were
later unanimously elected as new WSE members.
The
session was closed with greetings from WSE President Ruşen Keleş and Secretary General Panayis
Psomopoulos, who expressed their thanks
to the representatives of the hosting institutions for their generous
hospitality, presenting them with gifts on
behalf of the Society, which included fragile marble statuettes (replicas of
ancient Greek sculptures) and copies of the weighty publication “Constantinos A. Doxiadis: Texts, Design Drawings,
Settlements”.
The
two keynote speeches were after a coffee break.
Keleş
spoke of “The concept of harmonious urbanization in the light of the principles
of ekistics”. He spoke of “harmonious
urbanization” as a policy option, such as the EU concept of “balanced
territorial development”; of how ekistics concepts of human scale and human
dignity predicted “sustainable development”; of the rights of future
generations, the involvement of the public and consideration of special needs
(sub-groups).
Wu Liangyong’s paper “Transformation of development mode and
exploration of sciences of human settlements in China” was proficiently read by
Liu Jian. On his behalf she spoke of a
human settlement as “a place inhabited and where actions takes place”; of the
loss of local identity; of a return to an ecological civilization; of the use
of ekistic principles as a tool for harmonious
urbanization, which in 2001 became official policy in China. In practical terms it is a fourfold tool:
hierarchical (from building to city to region to world); problem-orientated
(ekistics lends itself to multidisciplinary integration); for interface and
innovation of culture of human settlements; for analysis and selection of
solutions and action programmes in harmony with local conditions. Participants were presented with individual copies
of the newly published “Wu Liangyong and Sciences of
Human Settlements in China”, a valuable documentation of the science of human
settlements and the manner in which Wu has elaborated and developed ekistics in
China. They were also given complimentary
copies of China City Planning Review,
published by the Centre for Human Settlements, Tsinghua University. In her summing up, Catharine Nagashima, who
chaired the session, pointed out that Wu Liangyong almost single-handedly
introduced into China the concepts and theories of ekistics, and succeeded in
having them integrated into state development policy. China may be one of the few countries in the
world where ekistics theory and the concept of human settlements has become mainstream.
After
such an impressive reminder that ekistics is alive and well, participants
decided to move tables and chairs out into the yard, near the fountain of the
well appointed campus (designed by a British architect between the two world
wars), to enjoy a “working lunch” in the autumn sunshine, mobile-phone news
breaking in of Obama’s election win in the U.S.A.
The
Doxiadis lecture was “The challenge of accomplishing harmonious urbanization in
the light of the principles of ekistics”, by William Michelson of the
University of Toronto (where he almost imagined he still was, the design of the
university buildings being so similar). Via
a slide-show with vivid captions such as Big Brutal Building Boom, he too
mentioned the interests of sub-groups, “Whose City?”,
who gets to benefit, who gets what accomplished; of “use” value becoming
secondary to “economic” value.
A
brief summary of the rest of the presentations is given in hierarchical
order.
On
the global scale was Koichi Tonuma’s “Global habitat and survival – Shape of
Japan in the 21st. century” in which he superimposed world regional “habitat
zones” on an earlier Doxiadis map and proposed setting up the U.N. headquarters
in Antarctica.
On
the megalopolitan scale were two presentations about
China. Wu Weijia’s
“Comparative study on the three mega-urban regions in China” was a visually
attractive story of the spectacular growth of the Beijing-Tianjin-Heibei
megalopolis, the Shanghai-Yangtze River Delta megalopolis and the Pearl River
Delta megalopolis (Guangzhou and Shenzhen but not Hong Kong and Macao). Edward Leman gave a close-up view of issues of
sprawl, congestion and inefficient land use in “Development trends in Shanghai
and the Yangtze Delta Region”. Somewhat
on a megalopolitan scale, but focusing more on the metropolis, Mao Qizhi gave us a succinct close-up view of Beijing and its
hinterland, “Study on Beijing urban planning and sustainable mobility”.
Coming
down to the urban level, there were a variety of presentations to remind us of
the inter-relatedness of the ekistic elements and the
need for a holistic approach: Meltem Yilmaz’s “The relevance of urban
agriculture for sustainable development”; Wubshet Berhanu’s “Land and housing
development in Addis Ababa”; Chengqi Zhao’s “A study of the planning model of
the Japanese Shanshui City structure – based on the Edo-period castle towns in
the Tohoku area” (Note:
shanshui is an Oriental concept of symbiosis between man and nature, based on
the “characters” for mountain and water. C.N.); Koichi Nagashima’s
“Harmonious counter-urbanization in an age of shrinking population in Japan”;
Barry Rae’s “Disharmony of urban design and resource management in New Zealand”
(with an interesting adaptation of the Ekistic Grid
to incorporate New Zealand’s Urban Design Protocol Principles).
In
order to achieve harmonious settlements, there is a need to educate people in a
holistic and scientific approach. There
were two presentations about education in ekistics. On behalf of the Japan team, Nobuyuki
Sekiguchi made a proposal: “Re-creation of a Graduate School of Ekistics – utilizing
the WSE worldwide network” (more below). Eduardo Barajas spoke of his actual
experience, “Ekistics and education in the undergraduate program of Urban
Management and development of Rosario University, Bogota”. Demosthenes Agrafiotis
said a few words about “Dialogue beyond governments”.
The sessions did not allow much time for
discussion, but true to the pattern of WSE meetings, and Delos meetings before
them, there was time for informal discussion, both on and off boats. Wednesday’s Welcome Dinner, hosted by Jiangsu
Province, was at Bailu Zhou Park restaurant, reconstructed in traditional
style. The leisurely stroll along the
edge of the old city wall was somewhat daunting to the Secretary General, but
slowly he made his way to within a stone’s throw of the attractive-looking
restaurant, but could not resist sitting down on the pedestal of the steep
staircase leading up to the bridge across the canal, refusing to budge any
further. The plan to carry him aloft on
a “throne” was abandoned because someone managed to procure a boat, and in the
company of a Chinese colleague reminiscing romantically about Suchow, and Luca Muscarà lauding the beauty of Venice, pretending
to be on a gondola, Panayis and his companions found themselves landing in
style, to be welcomed into the restaurant garden by Mao Qizhi. The banquet which followed was an amazing
feast for the senses, with one delicious local dish after another: steamed,
fried or simmered combinations of crab, shrimp, bean-curd and vegetables; eggs
boiled with spices and tea leaves; dumplings, noodles, rice balls. The food was served in a sequence different to
that of the menu, so there was a pleasurable guessing game going on too.
Bailu Zhou Park was originally the residence of a Ming Dynasty noble family.
It is where in 1924,
a stone tablet engraved with Li Bai's poetry about the Egret Island was
discovered. It is on the
Qin Huai River, Nanjing’s
“moat” along the Ming Dynasty city wall, and is near the much-visited Confucian
Temple. After dinner, there was a cruise
along the river, taking in the historic sights, the painted boats with their
gay lanterns, the reconstructed riverscapes, the place
where scholars took their exams in feudal times, and the
Zhonghua Gate.
On Thursday it rained. After the General Assembly (mentioned below),
participants were given the present of an umbrella, and as they set off on
their way to the nearby Shi-Ji-Yan Hotel, the rain stopped. The Closing and Farewell dinner was another
culinary delight, punctuated with umpteen toasts to the future of WSE, of
thanks and appreciation, particularly to Mao Qizhi and his team.
Highlights of the Executive Council
and General Assembly Meetings
1.
The election of thirteen new WSE members, including the three eminent
speech-givers mentioned above, paper-presenter Chengqi
Zhao (from China, studying in Japan) and observer Alex Camprubi
(from Mexico, working in Beijing), bringing total membership up to 200.
2. The passing
of a proposal that:
a. The printing (and printing only) costs of the Hikone issue of Ekistics be paid from WSE funds.
3. Enthusiastic discussion about the Japan
Team’s proposal to re-create a Graduate School of Ekistics. The proposal is for an inter-university
network-based school, without a campus, but with “hub” schools, on a regional
basis. The purpose is to offer students the educational chance to study abroad, to
think practically about global habitat issues, to acquire skills in “applied
ekistics”. The main educational target
is a master’s degree program at a hub school as well as approval by the
institute where a student applies for the degree. The proposal mentions the Ekistics Journal as having the potential to play a key link role and
the desirablility of a homepage.
There was a general consensus that “in order to create
a new generation (of ekisticians), education is the
only way” (Agrafiotis) and “education links people to
ekistics” (Barajas).
Minnery pointed out that masters degrees may be
reaching saturation point, what with so many Internet options being available. Barajas
emphasized the importance of flexibility. There can be “full” ekistics, or ekistics
within sociology, urbanism or political science. A suggestion was made that it might be easier
for the master’s degree to be issued by the home institute with a “citation of
accomplishment in ekistics” from the hub institute. Sekiguchi reminded the Assembly that he had
proposed starting with a 1-1 relationship, that the point of departure might be
specific, e.g. urban design, and that there is a need for a “road map”. Tonuma
emphasized the need for “instantaneous” communication, not only relying on the
Journal. Psomopoulos pointed out that
there are gaps in the theory of ekistics, and there is a need for
documentation. Agrafiotis suggested that
there are members who can donate their personal archives. Various ideas were
given by Agrafiotis and Yilmaz
about financing, e.g. from EU sources. Leman proposed
setting up a Working Group, including North America, to report back to the
Executive Council. Finally it was agreed that the Japan Team be given two to three months
to prepare a document for circulation to the Executive Council.
4.
Greater use of the internet:
a. The Secretary General
proposed launching an “Ekistics Newsletter” on the existing WSE website. (This was an endorsement of a decision that
had already been taken at the General Assembly in Hikone
and Margery al Chalabi had started working on this).
b. Luca Muscarà proposed an (in-house) internet discussion
group such as “NING”, and was authorized to investigate the possibility.
5.
The President offered to host a WSE meeting in Turkey in 2009, either in the
spring or in the autumn. There were
various proposals for the theme, and the consensus seemed to be “Megalopolis”,
with sub-themes on “networking”, “education” and “interdisciplinarity”.
The Participants
It
was a truly global meeting. Including
five of the newly elected WSE members, there were twenty six WSE members at the
Nanjing Meeting, 14 from Asia (China, Japan, Pakistan); 5 from Europe (Greece,
Turkey, Italy); 4 from the Americas (Canada, Mexico, Colombia); 2 from Oceania
(Australia and New Zealand) and 1 from Africa (Ethiopia). Besides, there were about a dozen observers,
including spouses and guests.
Closing
words
In his closing words, Mao Qizhi expressed his hope for:
a. the continuation of regular, if possible annual, WSE
meetings;
b. the need for continuing to have a headquarters in
Athens; and,
c. the continuation of the Journal
– that internet communication can be a supplement, but not a substitute for the
Journal.
For
me personally, it was an inspiring meeting, and I wish to thank our hosts and
sponsors, Southeast University and Jiangzu Province, as well as indefatigable
Mao Qizhi and his team, and very specially, Wu Liangyong, whose preparatory
work made it all possible.
Catharine
Huws Nagashima
16th
November, 2008