文章来源:俞孔坚.一次景观伦理的心路历程[J].景观设计学, 2013-1(02):5-7.
近一个月以来,我一直处于万分纠结的状态之中,有几夜辗转难眠:不为其他,而是因为一片果园,一片幸存于大城市版图中的绿洲——广州“万亩果园”;困扰我的不是因为我和我的同事们没有能力将这方土地设计成一处令世人惊叹的新景观,也不是因为当地政府没有财力或能力在这方土地上再建一处辉煌的城市景观;相反,是因为作为设计师,我们太容易将这里改变成我们自己想要的景观;作为甲方,他们也太容易就能改变这里的一切。困扰我的是关于如何对待这片土地的基本问题——景观的伦理问题。
“万亩果园”曾是珠江三角洲著名的水果之乡,水网纵横,荔枝、龙眼、杨桃等岭南果树密布其中。其间分布多个村落,地处果园中心地带的小洲村闻名遐迩,街道水巷穿插如织,古木浓荫,老宅依稀。几百年来,与珠江潮水同呼吸,与四周果园相共生。近 年来,由于城市的扩张,果园被不断蚕食;由于大气和水环境恶化等环境污染问题的不断加剧,严重影响果品的质量和产量;而由于 生产成本的增加和利润的减少,导致果农们放弃果木管理,转而将土地和住宅出租给外来务工人员,以谋得更好的生计,百年果园面 临危机。在此背景下,广州市政府决定将果园收归国有,作为广州“南肺”,统一管理。
在斥巨资成功收归国有的一片欢呼声过后,政府却面临着一个 更为棘手的难题:如何对待这片没有了果农的果园?如何改造并提升这片大都市中心的农业景观,使其能适应城市发展的需要,又能 保留其作为果园的特色?如何认识日益扩张的城市和日益增长的城市人口——不仅是当代人,还有未来的城市居民——对这方土地的期待?最根本的是,城市包围中的“万亩果园”到底有着怎样的价值——生产价值,环境调节价值,生物栖息地价值,游憩、科普与美学和文化体验价值?为实现这些价值,我们将如何通过设计来改变它,使其在保留旧有价值的同时,创造新的价值?
痛苦的思索之后,我释然了,因为我在景观伦理的天平上找到了平衡:我不忍心砍掉在这里生长了几十年、上百年的荔枝树,去挖湖堆山,创造出一片全新的开阔的湖面和美丽的水景或人工湿地——而这正是部分人喜欢、曾有过经验并博得喝彩的途径;我也不忍心毁掉这朴实无华的沟渎阡陌,将其改造成精于奇巧的小桥流 水、奇花异卉、铺陈白玉怪石、点缀亭台楼阁的所谓园林景观——而这正是设计师们最擅长与最热衷的,也正是万亩果园一期工程中所采用的方法;我也不忍心忽视几代人、十几代人在这片珠江三角 洲大地上所付出的艰辛与智慧的烙印,而正如许多保护主义者所提倡的,放任果园,任凭其衰退演变,这或许能创造出一个难得的城市自然生态系统,但却失去了一处难得的农业遗产景观和都市人迫切需要的休闲体验。
经过艰难的抉择,我释然了,因为我在纷繁与迷雾中寻找到了作为景观设计师的良心,这种良心常常因为迷恋于自我表现而让位给了奇特的景观,这种良心常常因为追求商业利益、迎合领导和讨好甲方而迷失;这种良心常常羁绊于设计师的技艺和能力的局限而模糊;这种良心也常常因为讨得世俗的一时欢愉而被放弃……
终于释然了,因为我已明了,这片果园是地域文化景观的代表,是地域的农业遗产景观。它是当地人与珠江三角洲在自然过程中交互作用的产物,是当地人民和社会对珠江地域自然过程和格局 相适应的文化表达,是几代人甚至几十代人的艰辛和智慧在大地上的烙印,它赋予了广州和广州人独特的个性;它曾经,而且还将为 世代生活在这方土地上的人民带来福祉和文化认同,并承载了这方土地上的人们的喜怒哀乐,爱恨情仇。
终于释然了,因为我因此而懂得如何去设计,通过设计其管理和改造的方式,来延续这片独特的地域文化景观的演绎过程,来维护这一被围困于都市中的农业遗产的真实性和完整性,并使其适应新的自然和环境,产生新的价值,以满足新时代对它的需求。未来的万亩果园,将是一处生机勃勃的都市农业景观:通过果园认养和 都市农业管理过程,延续果园的生产性景观;向农民学习,通过果林的间种技术,形成更为丰富的岭南百果之园、百蔬之园、百花之园;通过简单的填挖方技术——延续珠江三角洲的桑基鱼塘的农业 传统——在浓密的果林基质中,通过光和水的调整,营造丰富的栖息地斑块,形成闹市中的百鸟之园、百兽之园和百蝶之园;在上述新果林景观的基底上,再引入一个都市游憩系统,包括自行车和步行栈道,以及空中游览道,使都市人能够充分体验这一新都市生态农业景观的丰产、健康与美丽。
A Spiritual Journey of Landscape Ethics
I had been struggling for nearly a month,and had spent a couple of wakeful nights, over nothing but the Wanmu Orchard,a piece of land that had survived the urban sprawl and metropolis growth of Guangzhou. What concerned me about this project was not that my colleagues and I may not be capable of turning it into a stunning new landscape,or that the local government may not have sufficient funds to support this rew urban project.As a designer,I could have easily transformed the orchard into what ever landscape I wanted,just as the client,the Guangzhou government,could have easily advocated for a new landscape.Rather,what bothered me was the fundamental question of how to approach this piece of land-the ethics of landscape.
The historic Wanmu Orchard was famous in the Pearl River Delta as a land of fruit trees. The orchard was criss crossed by a network of rivers and lakes, and densely covered with regioral Lingnan fruits such as lychee,loganberry, and starfruit. Among the many villages,the Xiaozhou Village,located in the heart of the orchard,was especially wellknown.Here,streetsandwateralleys intermingled,and older homes were covered with the dense shade of ancient trees.For hundreds of years,the village and groves had breathed with the ebb and flow of the Pearl River.Morerecently,however,urban sprawl had encroached on the groves.The fruit quality and quantity have been severely affected by air and water pollution,aswellasincreasingproductioncosts and decreasing fruit prices. As a result,fruitgrowersgaveupmaintainingthe trees,favor ing to lease land and housesto immigrant farmers and workers,in order to earn a better living. In response, the Guangzhou government decided to nationalize the orchard into a "southern lung"of Guangzhou under unified municipal management.
Following public support over the successful nationalization of the orchard, the government is confronted with astickier problem: How to approach an orchard when the fruit growers are nolonger there? How can an agricultural landscape in the heart of the metropolis be managed to meet the demands of urban development and maintain its characteristics as an orchard?What will be the future expectations of this land in the context of ever-expanding cities and the ever-increasing urban population?And most fundamentally,what is the value,be it production,habitat,recreation,aesthetics,or cultural experience,of the Wanmu Orchard if it is completely encircled by the city?To address multiple interpretations of the site,how will we instill new landscape values,while maintaining the old ones?
After agonizing reflection,I found relief through a balance of landscape morals and ethics. I do not have the heart to cut down the lychee trees standing there over decades or even hunderd years, to dig new lakes, pile up hills, or create new waterscapes,all of which have been favored by the public and local leadership.I cannot bear to transformthe natural and benign orchard into an exquisite garden,dotted with pavilions,terraces, and towers, or boasting exotic flowers and rare herbs with imported stones and small bridges over flowing streams These approaches,which thelocal government is well versed in and fond of, was the approach taken in the first phase of the Wanmu Orchard project.Neither can I stand the sight of interfering and letting the orchard regress without active maintenance, as many preservationists have advocated.Instead,perhaps the orchard site will give birth to anurban wetland system,as called for by conservationists. Yet, this would also be at the expense of an agricultural heritage landscape, or at a recreational experience.
I found relief through the process of this tough choice. At the conjunction of jumble and mist I found my conscienceas a landscape architect. Such conscience has often been sacrificed in favor ofself-expression, or lost in the course of catering to leaders or commercial interests. Such conscience has too often been impeded by the limitations of designers'craft and ability.And such conscience has been too often extinguished in favor of temporal success and popularity.
Finally I found relief, and an ethicsof landscape pointed a way out. It is now clear to me that the orchard is arepresentation of the regional cultural landscape and the agricultural heritage landscape of the region. Its current state is the outcome of years of interactionbetween the local people and the natural process of the Pearl River Delta. The orchard is both a cultural expression of the adaptability of the local people,and anode to the natural processes and patterns of the Pearl River Delta. Both of which have endowed the city of Guangzhou with its unique character. It has historically, and will continue to, provide economic well-being and cultural identity to the people living on this land generation after generation. The fruit will continue to bear their joy and sorrow, love and hatred.
Relief came from a realization of how to approach this landscape,and how, by designing the management and transformation,I could contribute to the design process of a unique regional and cultural landscape. The authenticity of the agricultural heritage landscape that had survived urban growth would be preserved. The orchard would be adapted to a new nature and environment, and thus create new values that met the requirements of the new era. In the future, the Wanmu Orchard will be a vital andvibrant urban agricultural landscape. The fruits of the orchard will be maintainedthrough grove adoption and production of urban agriculture.By leaming from local farmers,a more abundant Lingnan garden of fruits, vegetables, and flowers will take shape through intercropping fruit trees. Mulberry-based fishponds, an agricultural tradition in the Pearl River Delta, will be resumed through basic cutand fill topography. On the bases of the existing fruit trees groves,generous habitat patches will be constructed to form a garden of birds,beasts,and butterfliesin the bustling downtown area. An urban recreational system, of bicycle and pedestrian trails,and a clean air corridor will be brought into this new orchard landscape. Through these transformations, the residents of Guangzhou will be fully able to savor the fertility, wholesomeness, and beauty of this new urban ecological and agricultural landscape.(Translated by Jin QIAN, Ling ZHANG, Proofread by Xiaoxuan LU,Anna CHAN)