The following is a summary of the interview
Li Dihua, an Internet celebrity professor, a person who often "provokes" the city. And everything starts from a bus stop; there is the starting point of Li Dihua's story.
Li Dihua is an associate professor and acting dean of the School of Architecture and Landscape Design of Peking University. After work, he often takes a ride home from a bus stop outside the campus. Li Dihua said that in the center of this bus stop, there was once a large newsstand that blocked everyone's vision and footsteps.
△ There used to be a newsstand in the center of the bus station
Li Dihua: This bus stop is 70 or 80 meters long, and I can usually only wait for the bus at the stop sign at the front end. Before the newsstand was demolished, I saw a car coming from behind, and I either ran along the highway or went around behind the newsstand.
One night in 2007, Li Dihua was in the process of catching a car, in order to bypass the newsstand in the bus stop, he had no choice but to run onto the highway.
Li Dihua: I was almost hit by a motorcycle, and I was knocked off without paying attention. Even if I moved quickly, I jumped on the sidewalk in a hurry, so that I was spared a disaster. But this incident made me very afraid, and the next day I opened my first complaint. Called the chengguan, the chengguan told me that this newsstand belongs to the postal company, and then the postal company said it was not ours, and I called the chengguan again, in short, it was pushed up and down.
For the next ten years, Li Dihua would complain about this newsstand once a year. Every time it's the same result, there's no result.
Li Dihua: It wasn't until 2017 that Beijing began to straighten out its appearance, and suddenly one day I found that the newsstand had disappeared, but I don't know how it disappeared.
Tagawa: But the result is good, and your voice is still heard. Finally, because of the city's urban appearance, so the newsstand was removed, how much power do you think we can have in the big environment?
Li Dihua: Our country has made great progress in building barrier-free environments since the 1980s. We have basically established a complete set of standards and norms for the construction of barrier-free environments, and relevant legislation is also underway. A newsstand, I've been making complaint calls for almost a decade before it improves, but if you put it now, maybe in a week it will change. But at the same time, after so many years of construction of barrier-free environments, why can't we feel the fundamental change now?
In a public environment, I have to bring it up when I encounter discomfort
Li Dihua, a "Don Quixote" living in Beijing. The bumps on the sidewalk are the "giants" in Li Dihua's eyes and his "windmills". The camera and the mobile phone are the spears in his hands.
Li Dihua: In the past, we were satisfied with "one thing as long as I have it", and the construction of barrier-free environment is actually a higher pursuit. In a sense, the progress of urban civilization is concentrated in the construction of barrier-free environment.
Accessibility is not specifically for people with disabilities, it is the need of all. But today, it is not easy for people to understand this concept, and even professionals who do planning and design may not be able to understand it.
In the public environment, when I encounter discomfort, I have to raise it, ask for change, and even act on my own to promote change. But now everyone doesn't feel that the discomfort encountered is a problem.
The Winter Olympics have come to an end, and the Winter Paralympic Games have arrived. How can our city become better?
Tian Chuan: I've been in Beijing for two years, and sometimes it's almost impossible to take a walk around home. Next to the very wide highway or driveway, the sidewalk is narrow and narrow, you will not feel that it is a comfortable environment to stroll and enjoy life. From your professional perspective, what should a friendly, livable city sidewalk look like?
Li Dihua: First of all, there is a point of concern, what exactly do you pay attention to in our city? Our past urban construction was not built around people, and all its starting points were around cars. One of the most important things in urban construction is called "keeping things flowing.". Whose traffic is guaranteed? Keep the car open. For the smooth flow of cars, in order not to get stuck in traffic, everything can be sacrificed. The most serious sacrifice is the interests of people, especially pedestrians who do not drive. You walk down the street today and you find that anything is more important than a person's walk.
The problem with our city is that the roads are getting wider and wider, and there are more and more cars, but the roads are getting more and more congested. So we have to think backwards, and only when our starting point is human-oriented, can the problem of transportation be solved.
△ Schematic diagram of a trumpet-shaped T-shaped intersection
Li Dihua: There are many ways to build the T-shaped intersection, and our current practice is basically to make an open horn mouth. Who is convenient for this? Convenient for the car. Like this intersection, the left side of the sidewalk is a car lane, and the right front is a car lane. But for pedestrians who were originally walking straight on the sidewalk, the comfortable walkway just now disappeared at once, and you have to turn right and circle around to another road before continuing to go forward. Now the design of turning first and then going straight, few pedestrians will really go around in a circle and then go forward, basically walking straight from the road, which is more risky for motor vehicle driving. The design of the whole road is a problem: there is no one in sight, only cars.
△ For convenience, pedestrians may choose to cross the horn-shaped T-shaped intersection in a straight line
Li Dihua: If we think differently, the city is for pedestrians, then there is no doubt that I will put away the intersections that block the sidewalk, so that pedestrians can easily go straight from beginning to end, so that pedestrians will be more convenient and safe. The design of this intersection is what I call the concept problem, these concepts do not change, traffic and many other problems are difficult to solve.
△Comparison diagram of the current situation and the intersection after optimization
Li Dihua: What kind of environment do people need to walk on the road? The "people" here must be specific people, the elderly, pregnant women, children, people with disabilities... Only by thinking in this way will you know what kind of walking environment our city needs. Everyone's body structure, the body's perception of the environment, may be completely different. Some people can't walk and lift their feet, some people can only walk with their heads on their backs, some people have to walk with their heads down...
Tagawa: So we have to think about the scenes that everyone may encounter, and it is possible to consider the problem of urban construction in a meticulous and thoughtful way.
Li Dihua: Yes, otherwise you will find that what is built will always have regrets.
△ Changing the special-shaped road teeth to a ramp can better reduce the safety hazard
Li Dihua: The most common problem encountered in Beijing's walking paths is that the net width is too narrow, generally around 1 meter 5, two people walking side by side will be very comfortable, but if there is a third person, it will become uncomfortable.
Tagawa: Does net width refer to the width of a pure road after removing trees, trash cans, utility poles, shared bicycles, etc.?
Li Dihua: Right.
Zhongguancun Avenue at our feet is full of legends. On one side of our footsteps is Peking University, and on the other side is Tsinghua University. It is known as the starting point and axis of China's innovation, and the most intensive area of scientific and technological talents in the country. Not only that, Zhongguancun Street was once voted the most walkable street in China. But is it really easy to walk?
Li Dihua: Usually the intersection of the road is the place where water is most likely to accumulate, but our rain grates are not necessarily placed here.
△ Road intersections are most prone to water accumulation
Li Dihua: I still haven't figured out how the requirement that our cities have blind alleys comes from. I looked up a lot of information, and no one knew. These curves are turned and broken blind lanes at every turn, and blind people cannot use them at all.
△ A blind lane with a curve and a sudden interruption
Li Dihua: The ideal height of the isolation pier should reach 1 meter 1.
△ Isolation pier
Li Dihua: Like this isolation pier, I have measured the height of one meter before, and the difference of 10 centimeters is completely different for the protection of people.
Tagawa: What will be the impact?
Li Dihua: With my height, now this isolation pier hits my thigh, and if I walk too fast and hit it, I will be bounced back and backwards, which is very dangerous. If it is 10 centimeters higher, it will reach my waist, even if I walk faster, because the waist is soft, and my inertia of hitting it is to rush forward, and because it is high enough, my hand can immediately grab it as a handrail. We also have many isolation piers that are particularly thick columns that cannot be held by hand, which is more dangerous.
△ Cylindrical isolation pier
Li Dihua: The first condition for a good sidewalk is that the net width is at least three meters. The second is to be flat. Once, in Beijing's Financial Street, I saw an old man on his knees touching the ground with his hand, and he said how I fell, and I wanted to know how I fell. I could see at a glance that there was a thin slit of about 0.5 centimeters left by the paving on the ground, and there was a small height difference between the two bricks.
△ Upturned sidewalk surface
Li Dihua: This is the most typical road surface with arched roots, and locust trees are shallow root plants that are the easiest to the road surface. When we plant trees in cities, we never think about the impact of tree roots on sidewalks. In addition, we are accustomed to paving the road with bricks with a particularly small area, which can easily lead to uneven pavement.
Tagawa: You shared an example before, because the trees chosen are shallow roots, so every year the floor tiles are turned over to cut the roots, and then the bricks are laid flat.
Li Dihua: It is the difference between the concept and the idea. When you go out, you will find that there is a danger of being overlooked due to differences in perceptions. Leveling may seem like a very simple thing, but in fact, it is very difficult to level the sidewalk.
How can you plant trees in the station!
Tagawa: A good sidewalk should be three meters wide first, and flat second, what other requirements are there?
Li Dihua: The third is that the concept should be changed. I am an ecologist and I ask my students not to use the word ecology casually. Almost everyone today whenever they mention ecology, they will take it for granted that it is good, ecological products, ecological farms... When we talk about ecology, what we do is anti-ecological. For example, planting trees on the sidewalk is anti-ecological, and there is only a one-meter square tree pond on the sidewalk, and the tree is unlikely to grow well inside. Is there a solution? Of course, there are trees planted in the green space next to the sidewalk. In fact, in our city, it is easy to ensure the net width of the sidewalk of three meters, and it will not affect people's shade needs at all, but it will greatly improve the quality of the walking environment.
Li Dihua believes that the vague traditional so-called ecological concept is simply understood as long as it is green, it is good, and the more green the better, which is not entirely correct. In his view, people are the main body of the city, there are many important things, but the ranking method should be based on people's needs as a priority, human safety is the most important issue in the pedestrian environment, and other important and beautiful things must be ranked behind safety, even if it is a green tree.
Li Dihua: Not only "ecology", including "people-oriented", but also many similar words, I have included in the vocabulary that students should not use easily. Reminding students to use these words less is actually a reminder to students to be wary of language's self-deception.
For example, the most unsuccessful case I complained about through 12345 was the removal of trees in the bus stop kiosk. Now in any city, there are trees growing in the bus stop kiosks everywhere. There is no doubt that when building a bus stop, the tree should be removed.
Tagawa: Is it because of the same problem as the newsstand at the station?
Li Dihua: Yes, the same thing. There is also a one-meter square tree pond under each tree. This tree pond can be a disaster for people who are in a hurry and catching a bus.
Tagawa: One more tree in the public environment can cool down, and it has a little more green, and if you remove such a stout tree, it may die... That is, when weighing a thing, different angles of interpretation may have its own truth.
Li Dihua: This is the problem we are facing today, everyone's concept is not ready, do not think that safety is more important. Building a barrier-free urban environment is premised on the pursuit of a better life for all people. But so far, the acceptance of removing the trees in the bus stop kiosks has basically not received unanimous approval.
△ Trees inside the station pavilion
Li Dihua: Why plant trees at bus stops? There is no doubt that this should be a completely open space.
△ Pedestrians leave footprints on the edge of the tree pool
Li Dihua: It snowed today, and you can see that there are a lot of footprints in the tree pond, probably because there are people standing in other places, and the rest of the people have to be squeezed out of the tree pond in order to catch the car.
Tagawa: And in order to protect the trees and to separate the lanes from the sidewalks, railings were also placed on the side of the road.
Li Dihua: Yes, unnecessary construction costs and management costs are constantly rising, so you must not plant trees in bus stops. And because of the planting of trees, the roots began to erode the road surface, and a lot of the ground was upturned. Every year I see people working on the floor tiles, digging up the floor tiles every year or two, removing the roots, and laying the bricks again. Instead of tidying up the pavement every year, please take this lesson tree and plant it somewhere else.
Li Dihua's investigation found that there are 238 reporting and complaint telephones in Beijing, but the best use is the mayor's hotline 12345, not only Beijing, but also many cities have opened 12345 in recent years. Li Dihua used this phone call as an important way for him to participate in and change the urban environment. Not only himself, Li Dihua also encourages others and the uncomfortable environment around them to be more truthful, peaceful and rational, and to promote progress bit by bit.
Li Dihua: Last fall, I organized 17 cities, 17 colleges and universities, more than 20 teachers, more than 200 students, and at the same time complained about the city's bus stations across the country. For example, there are many successful cases of removing the garbage cans that block the road in the bus station, paving the uneven ground, changing the position of the bus stop that obscures the line of sight, expanding the area of the bus station, and so on. But it will take time to make radical improvements, which are to make the bus station more comfortable.
Together with the students, Li Dihua participated in the renovation of the Changchun Garden Community, a teacher's apartment affiliated to Peking University. After the renovation, this old community was rated as a national exemplary age-friendly community. In addition to the problems of barrier-free sidewalks, outdoor rest, rainwater and so on, the design team also found that the green space in the community has become a problem, some wild trees affect the indoor lighting, and even safety, after multi-party communication, the design team finally got permission to appropriately narrow the green space, and removed some small trees.
Li Dihua: Green plants are very important for regulating people's psychology, but sunlight is equally important for regulating people's psychology, and the interaction between people is also important for regulating psychology. We can't let the big trees block the sunlight from the windows, and we can't let the hedges be an obstacle to my watching the activities of my outdoor neighbors.
Tagawa: But I also want privacy, how to balance these two points?
Li Dihua: In fact, the concept of privacy has been abused in China. Now many people, in the name of privacy, are actually drawing boundaries for their private lives and then encroaching on public resources. If we think about it from another angle, we will find that the green space of the community is not private. Where are the private boundaries? It's your window, so your privacy should be protected by curtains.
Tagawa: There are now some elderly people living alone in many old neighborhoods, and you said that because of the shade of plants in front of the window, they will have the desire not to go out of the house.
Li Dihua: Yes, this phenomenon is called learned helplessness, and it is a very broad term in psychological research. The specific performance is to live in the community, especially the elderly residents who live on the first and second floors, and the sunlight in their homes is blocked for a long time, so the home is very dim. Slowly their habits will become late afternoon, and even when the interior is very dim, they will not turn on the lights. They are also reluctant to go out of the house, and they are even more unwilling to communicate with people, which is a kind of learned helplessness. Like when we walk on potholed, high, low, very narrow sidewalks, no one complains, it's also a kind of learned helplessness.
Learned helplessness is when you feel uncomfortable and you immediately accept it without thinking of changing it. All I'm doing now is trying to break that state. I think I feel uncomfortable in the environment, so I'm going to change it.
Edits: 612