(PCC) Program on Chinese Cities – Thoughts on Overseas Travels Series
Authors: Shuang Tian
Senior Engineer, National First-Class Registered Structural Engineer; Vice President (and Director of the Comprehensive Institute) of Shanghai Urban Architectural Design Ltd., engaged in architectural and structural design research and practice for many years, having completed dozens of engineering designs. Since January 2019, serving as a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
124053906@qq.com
In 2018, I was fortunate to successfully apply as a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (hereinafter referred to as UNC). On the evening of January 9, 2019, at 11:30 PM, my flight landed on time at Raleigh (Durham) Airport in North Carolina. Exiting the airport terminal, the car of my colleague, Liu, was already waiting outside.
1. First Impressions: Nothing But Trees
In just a few minutes, the car entered Interstate 40. Although it was night, the roadside scenery was faintly visible in the headlights, revealing dense forests as far as I could see. In my mind, it is normal for highways to be in uninhabited mountains, so I guess I was “heading into the mountains” then. Less than 20 minutes later, we exited the highway onto Route 86, which had no toll booths and, apart from having a central divider and traffic lights, was not much different from the interstate. Route 86 was also flanked by dense forests. After a few minutes on the main road, we turned onto a neighborhood street (Community A) with no fences or security booths, still surrounded by tall trees.
The car stopped in a parking lot at the end of two rows of two-story apartments, where I had rented an apartment in advance, located on the second floor at the end of the parking lot. Lit by streetlights, I could see that the space between the buildings was not paved with cement but covered with green grass. I climbed the spacious outdoor wooden staircase to the second floor, which led to my new home in North Carolina. Everything I saw on the way home was completely different from back home. I wondered, is this a suburban area far from the city center? After thanking Liu for the ride, and since it was still winter and quite cold outside, I appreciated the good indoor heating provided by central air conditioning. It was late at night, so I quickly unpacked a bit and went to sleep.
2. In the Midst of a Jungle?
The next day, I took a closer look around and was startled to see, beyond a few rows of houses and parking lots, nothing but dense forests.
I had rarely seen such thickly packed forests before. I grew up in the mountains, but I had hardly ever seen such extensive, tall forests. My initial thought was that such forests would be classified as primal, but clearly, that wasn’t the case here since it was a residential area. I needed to observe more slowly. So, my question arose: Were there any wild animals in this forest? Was it safe to live here?
However, seeing the neighborhood parking lots filled with various cars, I thought it was unlikely that there were any particularly dangerous animals.
Next, I needed to handle my registration at UNC and start working on getting my driver’s license. On the way to the school and the driver’s license test, dense forests still lined the roads, and the school itself was also surrounded by tall trees.
The next evening, I rode with my neighbor, Dr. Li, to a shopping center to buy food and various household items. We traveled again along Interstate 40, which I had taken on my first night, but this time it was daylight, and I could clearly see the dense forests on either side of the highway. The feeling of being completely enclosed by the trees reinforced my belief that I was living in the midst of a forest, which raised concerns about the presence of various wild animals and whether they might pose a threat to humans.
The large Walmart, Dawn Shopping Center, and Harris Teeter shopping centers, all surrounded by dense forests, seemed to indicate that the entire city of Chapel Hill was enveloped by forests.
3. “Exploration”
I have a habit of walking after dinner for exercise, and if I don’t walk for two days, I feel very restless. Now that I was in America, why should I stop?
After dinner, I started walking along Route 86, but I couldn’t just stick to the main road, right? Yes, I needed to explore some side roads. This small road, actually another community road in Community B, was flanked by houses that seemed to be the so-called ideal residences for the American middle class.
However, the road soon came to an end. The end of the small road met a dam, and as the saying goes, “mountains and rivers doubt no path, a willow dark and flowers bright another village show,” I walked onto the dam, and a small lake (later known to be Ellen Lake) appeared before me.
The lake was calm, like a mirror, reflecting the dense forest on its banks as well as the blue sky and white clouds. Standing by the lake, I was a bit dazed, completely mesmerized by the beautiful scenery. In my life experience, such scenes usually only appeared in movie shots.
Crossing this approximately 400-meter-long dam, another small road meandered into view.
The sides of this small road were also lined with houses, spaced quite far apart—this was actually another community, Community C. The dam was wide enough for vehicles, allowing Community C to connect with Community B, but in reality, it was impassable, marked with signs prohibiting vehicle access and physical barriers.
Because of the discoveries during this walk, especially the allure of the small lake, I essentially began taking a walk there every evening after dinner, exercising my body, enjoying the beautiful views, and breathing the fresh air of nature.
As I walked more, I became familiar with the geographical directions and environment. I discovered that Community A and Community B were adjacent, with B located to the north of A.
If a walkway were added in between, it could connect them in minutes, but in reality, there was neither a path nor did people take shortcuts through the forest, with A and B separated by roads and the natural forest.
One day, Professor Zeng visited my home, and when I asked where she lived, she mentioned that her residence was quite far from the downtown area. It was then that I realized I was not living in a remote forest, as she pointed out that my place was in downtown.
After dinner one evening, I decided to walk in the opposite direction, so I headed a short distance along Main Highway 86 and turned onto a smaller road, entering another community, Community D (south of Community A). First, I passed a church. The United States is a country of religious freedom, with a church nearly every few neighborhoods.
Community D is primarily an apartment community with a relatively new appearance and nice environment. Crossing through Community D, I reached another main highway that leads north to Community C. Community D and my residence in Community A are adjacent, separated by a creek with lush forests on both banks. Due to the lack of fences in the community, natural barriers such as trees and vegetation are used for separation.
I discovered a faint trail through the woods and decided to take this “shortcut” home. However, when I actually took this “shortcut,” I found it challenging due to obstacles like tree branches, fallen leaves on the ground, and stepping stones in the creek. Thus, I realized that these natural enclosures are quite effective; very few people would cross through here. As a “foreigner,” it was curiosity that drove me, and now in the winter, I would not dare try this in spring, summer, or fall due to the presence of snakes and caterpillars.
4. Community, Shopping Centers, and Schools
By now, observant readers may have noticed that residential areas in Chapel Hill do not have fences; the open communities are separated entirely by forest vegetation, and there are no security patrols in the neighborhoods.
About 80% of the housing here consists of 2-3 story apartments and 1-2 story detached houses, with an average plot ratio of about 0.3-0.5 and a building density of about 15%. Apart from parking lots and roads, all other open spaces are planted with trees (not paved), resulting in a particularly high rate of community greening and very effective landscaping.
The United States is a country on wheels, and statistically, each household owns an average of 1.8 cars, making it nearly impossible to get around without a car. Shopping centers are mostly in the suburbs, and weekly shopping is a must for American families, at least for food purchases.
Shopping centers typically include large supermarkets, dining, auto parts and repair shops, pharmacies, and large parking areas, with most buildings being 1-2 stories tall.
In these functional areas, parking lots are extremely important: firstly, enough parking spaces must be ensured, and the best spots in the parking lots are reserved for disabled individuals, marked specifically, and it is illegal for others to occupy these spots. The functions of the shopping centers can basically meet all consumer needs, with each shopping center serving a radius of about 5 miles (about 8 kilometers), within a 15-minute drive.
Shopping centers are generally located near suburban highway exits, on the sides of main city roads, or near main road intersections, which facilitates travel and quick traffic dispersal, reducing traffic congestion. Landscaping is also a highlight of the shopping centers, completely surrounded by tall trees, providing ample shade.
In terms of school buildings, compared to my country, the United States has a sparse population. Whether in elementary schools or secondary schools, the number of students is not very large, and school campuses are not very large either. In China, it is common to design middle schools for 1000–2000 students, whereas a school in the United States with 300–500 students is considered large.
Therefore, the campuses of elementary and secondary schools in Chapel Hill are relatively small and exquisite, with beautiful surrounding environments. Since students are driven to school by their parents or by school buses, elementary and secondary schools are also located in relatively open areas, with few residents nearby.
5. Where Does This Beautiful Environment Come From?
The beautiful environment, rather than stemming from good design ideas and concepts, is actually more about the full implementation of good concepts.
Chapel Hill’s Homestead Park is a public park that initially attracted me with its lush forests and two vibrant green soccer fields embedded in the mountainside, later becoming my destination for post-dinner walks. This is a hilly area, with the foot of the hill near Route 86, making it more appropriate to call this a sports park.
Along the road longitudinally are two soccer fields with a height difference of about 3 meters. Further uphill are a children’s playground, two parallel baseball fields, and a basketball court (flanked by the Homestead Aquatic Center and an outdoor dog training field), with a large shaded parking lot at the highest point of the park.
No vehicles are allowed in the park. The main pedestrian paths are paved with concrete, about 1.5 meters wide, and all other spaces are greened with natural soil and natural grass. There is no need for excessive artificial embellishment, as nature itself has dressed the entire park in its most beautiful green garb.
6. Where Does the “Sense of Ownership” Among the Wildlife Come From?
There are groups of wild animals here, the most common being North Carolina deer, squirrels, and wild ducks, and it is said that there are also alligators.
North Carolina deer roam freely around the fronts and backs of houses, squirrels scamper up and down trees moving pine cones, and wild ducks stand proudly on the banks of the lakes, making you feel embarrassed to pass by them, as if you were interrupting their lives.
Indeed, no one here harms wild animals, as harming wild animals is illegal. It is said that years ago, two international students near a university caught and ate two wild ducks, resulting in them being expelled from the school. The cost of breaking the law is huge, so the wild animals here are not afraid of people; they are also considered one of the masters of this place.
7. Friends with Nature, or “Conquering” Nature?
Chapel Hill is a mountain city, where roads, houses, and public parking lots are all planned and designed in accordance with the natural terrain. Buildings are constructed along the mountains, blending with the terrain, almost without the practice of leveling mountain tops; highways are also built along the mountains, weaving through them, with tree-shaded roadsides. Within the same community, there is no unified elevation, nor is there a deliberate pursuit of so-called planning shapes.
How it fits the terrain is combined with practical planning arrangements, so it is common to see that the outdoor ground of some houses along the main road is several meters higher or lower than the road, without deliberately excavating or filling the site to level with the road. Sometimes you might think that these buildings have grown out of the ground—everything is so natural.
As I write this, my initial misconceptions and doubts about arriving in Chapel Hill have been resolved. The urban construction of Chapel Hill respects nature, embraces nature, and maintains nature. Neighborhoods, roads, shopping centers, schools, and other buildings are all integrated into nature, and extensive greening and afforestation have further beautified nature, so that sometimes you can’t tell where the mountains end and the city begins, blending together to form a beautiful picture of a mountain city romance.
From the end of the Civil War to the present, the United States has experienced over a hundred years of urbanization, and urban construction has also evolved from polluting and destroying the environment to focusing on environmental protection. For example, early river management in the United States used concrete channels, causing great environmental damage, with the most typical being the Los Angeles River in California, which, if restored to a natural green ecological river, is estimated by experts to potentially take hundreds of years.
Over the years, the United States has gradually accumulated some very good urban planning and construction theories and experiences, with respect for nature being a very important part of them.
China has experienced nearly 40 years of rapid development, and urban construction has changed dramatically, achieving great accomplishments that have attracted worldwide attention. However, we must also see the problems that have emerged: a large amount of urban ground surface uses concrete or other hard paving, without adequately considering the needs for the earth to breathe, rainwater to permeate, and vegetation to grow, resulting in scenarios where “a downpour turns the city into a sea.”
What’s more, during the nearly 20 years of the real estate boom, land undoubtedly became the most premium asset, and we are pained to see that many cities have filled in a large number of natural lakes to build houses on the reclaimed land. The result is obvious: disrespecting nature will lead to punishment by nature.
Because the lakes that could regulate the environment are gone, cities suffer from relentless heat in the summer, rainwater disasters are frequent, and residents suffer greatly. Some mountain towns’ construction even unrealistically copies designs from plain areas, with straight “scenic boulevards, city main axes, landmark buildings,” and other design schemes that deviate from the characteristics of mountainous terrain and topography being prevalent, everywhere showing construction activities that disrespect the natural ecological environment.
To implement these planning and design schemes that lack integration with nature, the result can only be to dig into the mountains, so we often see one mountain top after another being leveled in mountainous areas. I once heard a joke: a leader flew over a mountain area and, seeing the bare soil and rocks of the mountain bodies below, was startled and hurriedly asked his secretary if there had been an earthquake in the area. The secretary quickly verified and reported that there was no earthquake, but that local urban construction was underway. Although this is a joke among the common people, it also reflects some of the problems in the construction of some mountain cities.
Fortunately, in recent years, Chinese society as a whole has realized the importance of a green ecological homeland, and I believe that future urban construction in China will do better in terms of environmental protection and coordination, and will also learn from more beneficial international experiences. China is a mountainous country, with mountains accounting for about 70% of the national territory. The urban construction of Chapel Hill undoubtedly provides a very good reference sample for mountain city planning and construction, with many aspects worth learning from.
Note:
Images not cited in the text are taken by the author.