Mainland quality: meaning and endurance in China's contemporary landscape

Abstract

With blistering growth and an insatiable appetite for outside expertise, designers continue to be rewarded with projects of remarkable scope and scale in Mainland China. These same conditions that open up such opportunities also set the stage for disappointment, however, with low-quality implementation too often not meeting the designers’ original vision or standards. The purpose of this study is to assess built works of landscape architecture in China and glean lessons for how future projects may maximize the likelihood of fulfilling design goals. This study is being performed in the context of one of the largest building booms in human history, in a place that is—for all of its dynamism and variability—likely to continue playing a prominent role for the discipline in the years to come. More than thirty of the country’s highest profile projects have been investigated and documented through in-person examination. While these works span a wide range of project types such as parks, plazas, cultural institutions and more corporate environments, special attention is paid to 'event landscapes' built for the Shanghai Expo, Xi'an Horticultural Expo and Beijing Olympics. Weakness in construction implementation is a common condition with many of these projects, but just as significantly, so is a disconnect between target program activities versus the realized uses and degree of accessibility offered by these sites. These unanticipated uses at times signal the vitality and adaptability of surrounding community groups, but more often highlight deficiencies in the design process for implementing works of meaning and endurance. A critical understanding of the forces driving a given project proves to be essential for designers intent on contributing relevant works. This and other learned lessons will present guidance to practitioners and offer insight to all who seek to better understand the distinct forces at play in this remarkable region.