From Urban Action to E-pathy City

Abstract

Socio-ecological model in making cities more livable is a dream to be realized in the near future, a paradigm of “E-pathy City ”. At moments when we are anticipating art as an encircled platform for artists and admirers, we are not taking the general public, probably not even any wildlife, into account. However, when environmental issues are becoming global challenges that are questing collaborations among different disciplines, community art via urban action as a way of awakening or motivating people's inner conscience is critical to bring forth imaginations and even solutions to our contemporary complex situations. Should we believe that art bears power, it may be appropriate to presume its effective contribution to an extended sphere where ordinary people are equally sensitive to respond and further participate into the shaping of their favored environment, be it artificial and natural. From an architectural viewpoint, the barrier between spatial configuration and social conception is blurred and unnecessary. Should this idea be applied in a context where environmental issues are transformed into artistic expressions, new perspectives will be envisioned as a way of life. In fact, this paradigm shift is informing the design industry where impacts to the environment are minimized at both ends from upstream to downstream. Community art, when placed under this perspective, seems irrelevant, as the involvement of natural resources is relatively minimal. However, as community art has power to persuade the public’s inner conscience, it should have a role in changing their immediate community into a resilient environment. Through the author’s experience in Kai Tak River and its spin-off in the urban context of Oil Street, public art-actions and re-actions are tested with the real communities. The paper is meant to arouse further discussion among a wider audience on how social resilience is achieved via community-based artistic practice towards the future, and its evolving process to generate the new utopian vision of E-pathy City.