环境标识与解说

文章来源：俞孔坚.环境标识与解说[J].景观设计学, 2012(6):26-27.

丛林深处的孟加拉虎为了标识自己的领地，通过在树干上留下抓痕和粪便来实现；高空中飞翔的候鸟，通过辨识山川河流与田园，找回千里之外的故巢；城市中的小狗，也能依靠留在电线杆上的尿液，穿过纷繁的人流和危险的街道，归宿于主人的暖房。与动物们相比，人的环境辨识能力更胜一筹，但不是靠先天的本能，而是靠后天的文化—承载着文化含义和文明信息的符号。

早期入侵和殖民北美大陆的欧洲白人，常被土著印第安人诱入深林，迷途受困，继而遭其射杀。而印第安人自己却可以通过辨识自然中种种微弱的信息，或通过在树干或是地面上留下的标识，在茫茫林海中游走自如。而对来自欧洲的白人来说，那些微弱的林中信息物，都是难以读懂的天书。这样的迷途与景观中的经历，想必困扰过所有原始人类。

而文明的起源就是从辨识景观中的“天书”开始的，这也是象形文字（Hieroglyphic）的起源，使得大地上的纹理、山川、植物和鸟兽的形态通过统一的符号，得以被辨识和解读。所以，景观是文字的源头，也是文明的源头。通过对景观的识别，定义了人在天地之间的位置，确立了人的存在，也使人有别于其他动物，成为文明的人。

由于环境的不同和空间的隔离，或是人为的隔离，地球上发展出了无数种与环境相适应而衍生出的文化符号系统，诸如源于象形文字的中国汉字、纳西族的东巴文、玛雅人的象形文字、古巴比伦的楔形文字等等。最终它们发展为当今世界上纷繁无数的死亡的或活着的语言和文字。无论是误入偏远乡村的背包客，还是大都市中猎奇的他乡游子，陌生的文化符号，带着其丰富的文化内涵和排他性，再次将陌生的文明人带入迷失的境地。因此，如何设计跨文化的标识与符号，如何解释当地的自然与文化内涵，让每一个人不再迷途于自然与文化的“天书”中，同时又不失丰富的自然和文化信息，便成为全球化背景下，标识与环境解说系统设计所面临的挑战，也使标识和环境解说系统的设计成为古老而崭新的科学和艺术。

从景观中来，回到景观中去，标识与解说我们的环境，该是一条熟悉而陌生的途径。

Sign and Environmental Interpretation

The Bengal tigers, living deep in the jungle, mark their territory by leaving scratches and droppings behind. Migratory birds,high in the sky, navigate back to their nests by recognizing mountains, rivers and farmlands. Dogs in the urban areas are able to cross the jostling pedestrian flow and dangerous traffic and return to their homes as they have scent marked their path with urine at the wire poles. Compared to animals, people are better at environmental recognition, not being dependent on our inborn instinct but on the established codes — symbols that bear cultural meanings and commonly understood information.

The Europeans who invaded and colonized North American in the early years were often lured by the indigenous people into the deep forest, who later found themselves lost, stuck and shot, because they were unable to recognize the faint information in the natural environment or the signage on the trunks and ground. For the Europeans, deciphering the faint information in the woods was like reading a book in a foreign language. Certainly, the experience of getting lost has not escaped our ancestors. In fact, the origin of civilizations could be said to be this identification and reading of the landscape. The hieroglyphic symbols came into being, as an interpretation of the shapes, forms and textures of the land, such as mountains and waters, plants, birds and animals. As a result, landscape was the source of these hieroglyphic characters, and the origin of civilization. This recognition of landscape has defined the position of human beings in the world, established our existence, and distinguishing mankind from all other animals.

Due to the difference in environments, spatial separation and segregation, a myriad of cultural symbolisms arose from each place, such as the hieroglyphic Chinese characters, the Tomba script used by the Naxi ethnic minority in southwest China, the Mayan script, and the ancient Babylonian cuneiform. Either as ancient or living languages, these symbols can be found in numerous forms around the world. Whether as backpackers who accidentally wander into remote villages, or as travelers in foreign metropolises, they are confronted by many unfamiliar cultural symbols, with are rich and laden with cultural meaning to its people. They once again found themselves lost and disorientated. As a result, it has become a challenge facing the designers of signage and environmental interpretation systems. In the context of globalization, signage and wayfinding has become important design elements, designing cross-cultural signage and symbols, interpreting the local, natural and cultural context, to guide and help people to make sense and navigate through our complex environments. This challenge has also made the design of signage and environmental interpretation system both ancient and new, as both a science and an art. 

Having its origin in landscapes, we are now returning to the landscape to help mark and interpret our contemporary cities. This is a path both familiar and strange.