Thoughts on Overseas Travels：2024 Durham “Better Cities” Film Festival Series Report (Part 2) [Serial]

(PCC) Program on Chinese Cities – Thoughts on Overseas Travels Series

Authors:  Sai Ma,

Visiting Scholar, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. masai555@gmail.com

Housing & Architecture brings together 9 short films, telling and documenting the stories of cities that are leading in adaptive and resilient development directions. These cities continually learn and adapt, implementing measures to accommodate change and face challenges, gradually enhancing urban stability and striving for sustainable urban development. This film may prompt reflection on the following questions: In the face of a housing shortage, do we need to provide sufficient housing at all costs? Is excellent design a luxury or a necessity? Can we have both sufficient housing and excellent architectural design? How can we create diverse and inclusive communities? The film may provide insights for building more livable, low-carbon, green, and sustainable cities.

Building Opportunities | Bridging Communities

Directors: Jon Michael Shink, Michael Skinner
Type: Short Film
Country: USA
Year: 2023
Duration: 6 min 55 sec

The short film Building Opportunities | Bridging Communities narrates the origins of THEARC (The Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus) in the Parklands community of Washington D.C. and its positive impacts on the community [1]. In the 1980s, due to a lack of public resources, the Parklands community experienced a surge in crime rates and significant damage. In response, in 1997, real estate developer WC Smith initiated the creation of THEARC. Covering an area of approximately 2.6 hectares with a building area of about 18,859 square meters, THEARC successfully brought together 14 nonprofit organizations involved in five major areas, including Artreach GW project of George Washington University, Boys & Girls Clubs, Building Bridges Across the River, DC Central Kitchen, Washington Ballet, Washington School for Girls, Trinity University, etc. (Images 1, 2).

THEARC is now the largest multi-sector nonprofit cooperative organization in the U.S., serving as a model for new community facilities providing educational, artistic, and recreational training. As its name suggests, Building Opportunities | Bridging Communities, THEARC plays a “bridging” role, linking the community with social resources, enabling residents to access quality cultural, educational, and recreational public resources within walking distance. This setup avoids long commutes, saves travel time, enhances efficiency and convenience, and reduces carbon emissions, contributing to sustainable urban development. THEARC is currently expanding with the construction of a fourth building, planning to extend services to the Washington School for Girls.

It is noteworthy that THEARC is particularly supportive of women, offering conveniences for mothers raising children. Mothers can work at THEARC while sending their children to its training schools and summer camps, balancing work and family care. From children as young as five to adults up to 35 years old, everyone can receive education at THEARC, including arts, humanities, dance, and culinary training. William White has pointed out that great public spaces are actually composed of a series of basic elements including human-centered design, vitality and interaction, comfort and accessibility, multifunctionality, and flexibility [2]. Clearly, THEARC is an exemplary public space.

In the post-film discussion, many audience members expressed interest in THEARC, hoping their own city governments could emulate THEARC’s successful experience by building similar comprehensive educational, artistic, and recreational campuses in their communities to provide arts and culture education for children, career training for young people, entrepreneurship incubators for middle-aged people, and recreational spaces for the elderly, enriching the cultural and spiritual life of every individual.

The film reminded the author of their own city—Shanghai. Shanghai, an international metropolis with a permanent population of 24 million, has been vigorously advancing the refined management of the city in recent years, one of which is the creation of “15-minute community living circles,” promoting “co-construction, co-governance, and sharing” in communities. “15-minute community living circles” mean that community residents can reach most of the facilities and leisure spots they need for daily life, work, commerce, medical care, education, and entertainment within a 15-minute walk or bike ride, thus achieving low-carbon green travel and benefiting environmental protection. The concept of the “15-minute city” was first proposed by French urban planner Carlos Moreno [3], aimed at addressing Paris’s urban issues and shaping a sustainable future.

The author lives in Huamu Street, Pudong New District, the administrative and cultural center of Pudong New Area, covering an area of 20.93 square kilometers with a resident population of 256,000, bordered by the Lujiazui International Financial Center to the west and Zhangjiang High-tech Park to the east. The largest ecological urban park within the central area of the inner ring road, Century Park, spans approximately 140.3 hectares.

In recent years, Huamu Street has actively created a “5-kilometer city culture circle” and “15-minute community living circle,” expanding from a “garden city” to a “city garden.” Initially, Huamu Street gathered numerous top-tier cultural venues and major landmark sports facilities nearby, including the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Shanghai Library East Building, Pudong Library, Pudong Exhibition Hall, Shanghai Museum East Building, Pudong Community Arts Center, and Pudong New District Youth Activity Center, forming a “city culture circle” covering a 5km walking area. Furthermore, Huamu Street renovated the approximately 17,000 square meter “Huamu Street Community Culture Center,” allowing residents to participate in a variety of cultural activities right at their doorstep. It only takes 2 minutes for the author to walk from their community to the Huamu Street Community Culture Center, where they can watch free Shanghai opera performances, participate in cultural and artistic activities, and join in community sports activities like yoga, calligraphy, painting, singing, and dancing. The community culture center has a gym, table tennis room, and performance hall on the third floor, a library and computer room on the fourth floor, and a multipurpose hall on the fifth floor, all free for community residents. While making the most of the “5-kilometer culture circle” mega-cluster, Huamu Street is also actively creating a “10-kilometer waterfront space” eco-friendly blue loop and a “10-kilometer walking trail” vibrant green loop. Baby House, Huamu Rose Garden, “Reading Forest,” comprehensive elderly service center Lianyang branch, Youyu Beautiful Block… The “15-minute community living circle” quality improvement three-year action plan (2021—2023) included 28 projects in Huamu Street, covering culture, elderly care, commerce, education, health, and other fields. Among these, there were 10 projects aimed at filling gaps, 7 of which have been completed, and the remaining 3 are in the final stages, scheduled to be completed by the end of November 2023; 18 improvement projects were planned, except for the expansion and reconstruction of Jianping West School Datang Campus and the expansion of the First Maternity and Child Health Hospital East Hospital, the rest were completed within the year… In 2024, 20 projects are planned to be promoted, mainly including streetscape facade enhancement, shop sign transformation, benchmark road section creation, walking system optimization and enhancement, and uniform signage [4].

Shanghai is a model for urban renewal and refined management in Chinese cities. Shanghai continues to practice the philosophy of “the people’s city is built by the people and for the people,” actively promoting “urban management as meticulous as embroidery,” continually “enhancing the scientific, refined, and intelligent level of management,” strengthening the people’s city “livable” community, building the park city “green” community, creating the urban governance “smart” community, and constructing the diverse characteristic “personalized” community, centering on people, building the “15-minute community living circle,” linking various quality resources, and continuously benefiting the general public.

Overtown’s Living Legacy

Director: Gina Margillo
Type: Short Film
Country: USA
Year: 2022
Duration: 7 min

The short film Overtown’s Living Legacy, produced in collaboration with Barry University, is a documentary about the contradictions between community renewal, historic cultural heritage protection, and utilization, and won the “Best Historical Preservation Film Award” at the “Better Cities” Film Festival. The film tells the story of the revival of the historic African American community of Overtown in Miami, Florida. Overtown has retained a wealth of historical and cultural heritage, symbolizing the resilience and positive contributions of the African American community, but faces challenges from economic decline and urban renewal projects. The developers and urban planners ignored the residents who had lived there for decades and the rich history when revitalizing Overtown. The controversy over whether to demolish the historically significant Hampton House sparked debate. The short film prompts deep reflection on the heavy costs behind community revitalization, revealing the harsh reality of market forces and lack of respect gradually systematically erasing Miami’s rich African American history.

In the mid-20th century, despite also experiencing racial segregation and discrimination, Overtown was vibrant and thriving. The historic Hampton House, the only racially segregated hotel from that era still standing today, is a testament to African American history and a valuable cultural relic. Many celebrities such as Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, and Nancy Wilson visited, and many historical events took place there. In 1960, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech manuscript was born there, later delivered at the 1963 Washington march. Muhammad Ali celebrated his first victory over Sonny Liston at the Hampton House, becoming a great boxer. Additionally, civil rights organization the Congress of Racial Equality, along with many southern groups, organized numerous sit-ins and protests against racial inequality at the Hampton House. With the abolition of racial segregation laws in the late 1960s, many well-known African Americans moved to other communities in Miami, leading the area into economic hardship. The Hampton House eventually closed in 1976. Faced with the threat of demolition, Dr. Enid Pinkney and others petitioned the county government, arguing that protecting black history is important, as this period of racial segregation history would also be erased with the demolition of many segregated hotels. “The entire town is losing its historical heritage… I think this is a form of destruction, a destruction of culture, history, and what African Americans have,” Dr. Pinkney passionately stated in the film. “We still have a lot of work to do, a lot of education to conduct, a lot of things to share.” (Image 3) Finally, in 2002, the block was designated as a protected historical site and was eventually purchased by the county government.

What are the actual costs of “revitalization” for a community? As urbanization progresses rapidly, China faces similar issues. Many times, we demolish historically significant ancient buildings and cultural heritage, building so-called modern skyscrapers in their place. While this appears to be urban renewal, we pay a heavy price—we lose even more important historical and cultural heritage, missing the opportunity to showcase history to future generations, and this loss cannot be measured in monetary terms. For instance, Beijing lost many historically significant ancient buildings during its urbanization process, including the twin towers of Beijing Qingshou Temple, one of the four gates of the imperial city Dianmen, and the nine gates of the inner city—Chaoyangmen, Chongwenmen, Xuanwumen, Fuchengmen, Andingmen, Dongzhimen, and Xizhimen—all of which were demolished, a regrettable loss. “Actually, the most regrettable is the proposal by Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin to use Beijing’s ancient city walls in combination with modern urban construction to build a city wall park belonging to generations of Chinese people. If this could have been realized, it would have undoubtedly been one of the world’s greatest architectural wonders.” [6] “Urban planning and design should not only protect ancient buildings and historic streets and other historical heritages but should also incorporate traditional and local cultural elements in all aspects of urban construction, increasing residents’ sense of local belonging.” [7] How can we maintain historical and cultural continuity while achieving community renewal and economic revitalization?

Wang Shu, a Chinese architect who won the highest honor in the architectural world, the Pritzker Prize, redesigned the ancient village of Wencun in Hangzhou’s Dongqiao Town in 2016, designing 8 types of buildings, all using local materials and techniques, retaining Wencun’s traditional Chinese culture and ancient village appearance while infusing it with a sense of the times and modernity, making the rustic and modern complement each other, achieving a balance between nature and architecture, providing an excellent example for China’s rural transformation. During this renewal process, Wang Shu preserved traditional Chinese cultural elements, maintaining the villagers’ living habits—giving sunlight to the farmland, innovatively designing “eaves,” retaining traditional wood-burning stoves according to the villagers’ wishes, while setting up new gas stoves nearby. “Each house is slightly staggered along the riverbank, possessing a lively texture, maximally approaching the language of nature,” Wang Shu explained [8]. By letting villagers choose between old-for-new replacement plans and keeping old house renovation plans, along with creating small public spaces, Wencun’s appearance was completely transformed. Wang Shu’s Wencun renovation works made old village renovation more than just a simple stacking of buildings; he created a new “human world” (Image 4) on the basis of preserving the ancient village’s original appearance, achieving a good balance between people and space, nature, giving the entire village new value.

Betances Residence

Director: Bilyana Dimitrova
Type: Short Film
Country: USA
Year: 2023
Duration: 3 min 03 sec

How can we construct accessible housing economically and functionally? How can architects effectively collaborate with nonprofit organizations to create truly friendly, durable housing designs for the disadvantaged?

Located in the Bronx, New York City, Betances Residence is a multi-unit residential building development project that provides support for low-income and formerly homeless elderly people, designed by COOKFOX Architects [9] (Image 5). This building, containing 152 units, employs a series of energy-saving and emission-reducing designs, meeting “Passive House” standards, while also featuring medical and community facilities, belonging to “supportive” housing. “Passive House” standards are architectural design and construction standards aimed at minimizing a building’s dependence on external energy sources and reducing environmental impact while enhancing indoor comfort, emphasizing optimized architectural design, use of high-performance materials, and maximizing use of natural energy sources such as solar and geothermal energy, achieving energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. Betances Residence uses enlarged and widened windows to maximize sunlight utilization, reducing energy consumption. By reducing dependence on municipal energy supplies, it moves further towards zero carbon emissions. Betances Residence also provides “supportive” services for residents, including recreational programs designed for the elderly, medical care, facilities promoting physical and mental health, helping elderly residents maintain physical functions and mental activity, promoting social interaction, and meeting residents’ needs. Betances Residence features specially designed entrances and hallways, outdoor garden spaces, and facilities for residents with mobility challenges throughout the building, reflecting the concept of “thinking of what residents think.” Urban Community Services provides long-term local social services for residents.

This film invited the architects, residents, and community service providers of Betances Residence to discuss the process of creating accessible supportive housing, participants included COOKFOX Architects, the nonprofit developer Breaking Ground, and Urban Community Services. This building is the result of collaborative efforts by all parties, aimed at enhancing residents’ health and well-being. Breaking Ground is renowned for addressing homelessness and providing supportive housing, managing 31 transitional and permanent residences. In their own words: “Breaking Ground provides the safest, most stable, and most beautiful housing for those most in need.” COOKFOX Architects, a New York-based architectural and interior design studio founded in 2003, focuses on environmentally sensitive design and promoting social equity in architecture. The studio’s diverse work includes residential, workplace, and educational projects, believing that “healthy environments closely connected to nature can inspire residents’ innate positive physiological responses.” Urban Community Services has provided housing, economic stability, mental health, and medical services for New York’s vulnerable populations for over 30 years [10]. This film has won multiple awards, including “Runner-up” in the “2022 American Institute of Architects Film Challenge” and the “Best Architectural Film Award” at the 2023 “Better Cities” Film Festival, demonstrating that prioritizing residents’ quality of life and the environment can result in high-quality, economically affordable housing.

Tiny Victories 2.0, A Tale of Empathy

Director: Gustav
Type: Short Film
Country: USA
Year: 2023
Duration: 8 min 20 sec

Tiny Victories 2.0, A Tale of Empathy tells the story of the Chioco Design team building micro-residences for the long-term homeless, and how social organizations like AIA Design Voice and Mobile Loaves & Fishes timely provide help and hope to the community’s vulnerable groups [11]. Chioco Design was selected as one of five design firms to develop micro-residences for Community First Village, a project known as “Tiny Victories 2.0” (Image 6). The term “empathy” was repeatedly mentioned in the film, playing a key role throughout the project’s development and execution, meaning setting aside prejudices against the homeless, designing and developing the residences they need from their perspective. During the design process, the design team invited homeless individuals to participate. Through “empathy” and perspective-taking, the designers realized that often they needed to set aside their so-called “expert knowledge” and listen more to the other party’s needs. They recognized that the vulnerable group of the homeless lacks family, and merely providing them with residences is not enough to support their social existence; instead, more effort should be made to help them build a community, with a “community-building” orientation, helping the homeless truly establish social connections and support systems.

Sarah Satterlee, AIA member and director of architecture and site development for Mobile Loaves & Fishes, said: “What is home? This is a question we often ask ourselves at Community First Village. We believe that the primary cause of homelessness is often the severe, catastrophic loss of family and other support systems. Obviously, merely building housing cannot fundamentally eliminate homelessness, and our approach to solving this issue is to create community.” Ben Dimmitt, registered architect, registered interior designer, and senior assistant at Chioco Design, said: “I believe that community-oriented architectural design and practice can drive social change.” Christy Taylor, AIA member, registered interior designer, and partner at Chioco Design, said: “As an architect, I believe that constructing beautiful buildings is not just for us to admire, but to create spaces where people can live. For me, this includes everyone, not just those who can afford the cost of construction.”

Adventures in Buffaloland

Director: John Paget
Type: Short Film
Country: USA
Year: 2013
Duration: 10 min 48 sec

Host Tim Tielman introduces us to two of Buffalo, New York’s most beautiful iconic buildings—St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, designed by Richard Upjohn, and the Prudential Guaranty Building, designed by Louis Sullivan and built in 1895 (Image 7).

St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, constructed between 1849—1851, is a Gothic-style building emphasizing verticality and pointed arches, with the nave’s walls supported by soaring Gothic pointed flying buttresses. Visually, one can see the towering spires, pointed arches and windows, and rich carvings and decorations. Fifty years later, Sullivan, dubbed the “father of modern American architecture” from Chicago, designed the United States’ first all-steel frame office building—the Guaranty Building. He incorporated Greek classical columnar elements in the building’s top design, allowing classical architectural elements to be reinterpreted. The unique facade pushes the horizontal beams supporting the windows to the back, allowing the columnar vertical lines to protrude forward, enhancing the building’s vertical dimensionality. The building’s exterior is covered with exquisite carvings and relief ceramic decorations, showcasing a unique and exquisite decorative arts style.

Subsequently, the host took us to visit the adjacent Edward A. Rath County Office Building (Image 8), comparing it with the two ancient buildings. Clearly, the county office building did not draw inspiration from the surrounding magnificent buildings, as the film’s title suggests, “The genius of the past does not guarantee future performance.”

Louis Sullivan was one of the important pioneers of modern high-rise building design, advocating the principle of “form follows function.” In conclusion, the host stated: “Our new buildings should not only be as beautiful as the old ones, but they should also be highly functional for the users of urban architecture.”

Borrowed Light

Director: Olivia When
Type: Animated Short Film
Country: USA
Year: 2013
Duration: 4 min 14 sec

Borrowed Light is an animated short film that tells the story of the last customer of an abandoned observatory—a boy named Area, who is stealing bulbs from every lamp post in the city, gradually dimming the city’s lights, plunging the entire city into darkness, but people look up at the sky to see an incredible, more spectacular natural spectacle—a sky full of stars and meteor showers (Image 9). The short film features both the conflict between the bulb-stealing boy and the people chasing the “thief,” as well as the final understanding and reconciliation. In the end, the entire city’s people gather at the mountain-top abandoned observatory, curiously and interestedly watching and exploring the vast stars and universe.

Borrowed Light is an award-winning short film created by director and animator Olivia When, inspired by literature, mythology, and legends, portraying the “conflict” between human development and natural wonders. The film was shared by the International Dark Sky Association in 2013. The short film depicts excessive use of electric lights causing light pollution, obscuring the natural light and colors of the natural world. The boy Area steals the bulbs, allowing people to see the light of the natural world, and the director hopes to eliminate light pollution and share the overlooked natural wonders with the entire city.

Colosal Colombi

Director: Alfredo Atala Layun
Type: Documentary Short Film
Country: USA
Year: 2018
Duration: 2 min 22 sec

Colosal Colombi tells the story of the social impact event “Comex, for a Better Mexico,” jointly conducted by the tomato collective (Colectivo Tomate) and the well-known Mexican paint company Comex [14]. During this event, 51 participants together painted approximately 25,000 square meters of murals on 300 houses located on the iconic site Cerro de la Campana in Monterrey, Mexico. The originally white walls became colorful and vibrant through painting, symbolizing that the community became lively and vibrant through this event (Image 10). The purpose of the activity was to promote the development and progress of Mexican communities through workshops, community meetings, and improvisational theater, enhancing communication and trust between people.

In recent years, Shanghai, China, has also been vigorously promoting community construction, achieving “autonomous sharing” among community residents by “co-building” beautiful homes, enhancing the effectiveness of social governance.

The creation of the “Most Beautiful Corridors” on one hand deeply explores “community governance experts,” leveraging their talents and showcasing their skills, and on the other hand fully utilizes the strong joint force of community co-building units and group organizations, integrating various community resources. Long Island Road, No. 1201, Lane 38, was themed around “Qipao,” inspired by a qipao craftsman living in the corridor, utilizing the exquisite skills of this qipao craftsman and another calligraphy expert. The corridor culture ranges from introducing the history of qipao, its manufacturing process, and evolutionary progress, to tailoring techniques and product displays, showcasing the culture of Shanghai-style qipao, making one feel as if they are in an elegant, winding “Long Island Yi Mei Qipao Museum,” utterly engrossed (Image 12).

The Long Island Road residential area focuses on integrating resources, connecting co-building units, and providing various services to residents in its jurisdiction, such as legal services, life services, health services, government services, and community management services. The participation of various parties in community governance not only solves many problems plaguing the community but also provides valuable successful experiences for other communities in community construction.

CNU25: Seattle Pocket Neighborhoods

Director: John Simmerman
Type: Short Film
Country: USA
Year: 2017
Duration: 7 min 23 sec

The short film shows us a garden-like exquisite example of a “pocket neighborhood”—Danielson Grove community, located on a quiet street in Seattle’s Eastside, developed in collaboration with the Cottage Company [15]. This pocket neighborhood consists of 16 3-bedroom or 1~2-bedroom houses, arranged around a central shared garden, forming a ring (Image 13). The unique and clever design of each family’s porch highlights the aesthetics of courtyard design. These residences are specifically designed for a simple yet rich lifestyle, where neighbors can better understand each other, increase communication and interaction, and provide mutual help and support (Image 14). Architect Ross Chapin introduces us to the unique aspects of this community: it has a backyard that directly connects to natural wetlands and dense forests, allowing people to have close contact with nature through the courtyard, fulfilling the childhood dream of having a treehouse.

Pocket neighborhoods typically consist of a few small-scale homes arranged around shared open spaces or courtyards, fostering an intimate community, encouraging walking, nurturing close neighborly relationships and community belonging, and promoting sustainable development and efficient land use. Pocket neighborhoods and New Urbanism share similar goals—New Urbanism advocates for creating and reconstructing diverse, walkable, compact, mixed-use communities, reorganizing the built environment to form complete urban, town, rural, and neighborhood units [16]. Danielson Grove’s residential buildings have received Built Green and Energy Star certifications and participated in the “Natural Yard Care” program. Architect Ross Chapin won the 2007 AIA National Housing Award in the one/two-family production residential category for “Danielson Grove.” This short film won the “Best Architectural Film Award” at the 5th New Urbanism Film Festival held in Los Angeles in 2017.

The author once visited the Long Island Road residential area in Shanghai’s Puxing Road community. The residents of this community innovatively and actively explore new paths for community governance, conducting community creation activities that involve residents and volunteers in jointly building “the most beautiful corridors” themed around “clean beauty,” “secure beauty,” “joyous beauty,” “pleasant beauty,” and “harmonious beauty,” painting walls, cleaning public green spaces, and revitalizing the community’s appearance. Through these activities, neighborhood relationships also became more harmonious, united, and close-knit (Image 11).

Marmalade Lane

Director: Jim Stephenson
Type: Short Film
Country: USA
Year: 2022
Duration: 9 min 56 sec

“Marmalade Lane” is the largest cooperative housing project in the UK, created by landowner Cambridge City Council, developer TOWN, Mole Architects, and members and residents of the Cambridge Cooperative Housing Association, located near Orchard Park in Cambridge [17-18]. The project includes 42 houses and apartments, ranging in size from 51 to 123 square meters, combining traditional Cambridge row houses and low-rise modern apartments.

The unique design of “Marmalade Lane” features child-friendly car-free streets and a shared garden. Vehicle parking spaces are arranged at the edge of the lane, and trash bins are placed in public storage areas, effectively protecting the lane’s external public space (Image 15).

The central shared space provides a venue for neighborhood interaction, where residents can not only meet other neighbors, achieving a sense of community belonging, but also participate in community construction, managing the community living environment. Each resident can enjoy the community shared spaces and facilities, enriching their living experience and fostering a helpful and friendly living atmosphere. “Marmalade Lane” embodies New Urbanism ideas, advocating the construction of different types of residences within the community to attract families of different ages, types, and income levels, thereby creating a mixed-residence, citizen-approved, belonging, and secure community with a human touch, enhancing residents’ sense of responsibility necessary for maintaining community vitality, promoting community development and progress, hoping to eliminate social isolation and maintain social harmony and stability through such community designs [19].

Residents living here range from young to old, including parents with newborns concerned about isolation during the newborn period; elderly over sixty who wish to reduce loneliness, choose a dependable community, and continue contributing to society; and middle-aged people who hope to live in an “old-fashioned community” like the villages they lived in before, considering community living a more sustainable way of life. Meredith Bowles, a designer at Mole Architects, said: “This community living style is relatively new, not necessarily what everyone wants, those who like it may be those who don’t like to be alone, who prefer to be part of a group.” Jonny Anstead of developer TOWN said: “What’s really interesting about this project is that it truly focuses on people, the people who live here are involved in the entire design development and construction process, you can see how people interact with this project, that’s really a privilege.” The construction of “Marmalade Lane” reflects sustainable development principles. “Using sustainable raw materials, passive energy design principles, and the Trivselhus Climate Shield® building system to produce energy-efficient and environmentally friendly houses… All properties in ‘Marmalade Lane’ benefit from a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) system, which provides clean air while reducing heat loss, as well as renewable energy produced by air source heat pumps.” [18]

In this film, designers, developers, and residents shared the development process of the project and their experiences with cooperative housing. At the United Nations “Better Cities” Film Festival held in Poland, this film won the 2022 “United Nations Human Settlements Programme Best Housing Film Award.” The Housing & Architecture series of films involve urban housing and architectural exemplars. After watching, the author has the following reflections. First, we must adhere to a people-first approach, emphasizing community participation, building supporting facilities around the “15-minute living circle,” linking various resources. Second, urban renewal must focus on protecting historical and cultural heritage, as they carry the history and memory of cities. Third, design should not only focus on a single population but use “empathy” to think in others’ shoes, creating warm, inclusive designs. Good housing designs not only meet accessibility construction and related architectural design standards but also reflect the inclusivity of “diversity,” “equality,” and “universality,” while meeting energy-saving, emission-reduction, and low-carbon environmental requirements; good community designs provide medical health services for the elderly and disadvantaged groups, safe and friendly spaces for children, etc. Fourth, compact pocket communities reflect the harmonious unity of people and nature, the interactional experience of people, events, and emotional exchanges, providing some inspiration for urban planning and renewal. Fifth, architectural design is not just a simple stacking of buildings, it requires people’s participation to achieve interaction and emotional exchange, creating cultural quality, and improving people’s quality of life.