The site, with an area of 40 square meters, is located in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, at the junction of Nanjing Forestry University and Suojin Community. The site has formed a land-use pattern with a diverse group of stakeholders – a mix of teaching and residential interests. As the site lies on the boundary between campus-owned and community-owned land, it had been poorly managed, evolving into a run-down space over the past decade. The needs of varied stakeholders had been ignored: children lack access to nature and the elderly find it difficult to meet their leisure needs.
Our goal is to use the whole process of public participation as a bridge to connect multiple groups, focusing on the symbiotic relationship between the campus, community and people from different age groups. We extracted the square-shaped architectural layout around the site and used it as a constitutive element. Four different functional spaces are used: leisure and interaction, ecological science, photo commemoration and edible plantings.
Throughout the participatory process, we communicated in various ways with the key stakeholders: residents, students and university staff, including opinion solicitations, interviews, roundtable discussions, co-construction, and pre- and post-construction questionnaires.
We consolidated and sorted the existing resources of the site, and then conducted interviews with key stakeholders and launched a waste recycling campaign to uncover the local memory. We also held a roundtable discussion with stakeholder representatives. Discussions revolved around site spirit, the reuse of old objects and child-friendliness. In response, we incorporated a ‘zero-waste’ design approach and created opportunities for interaction through recycling artwork. We received spontaneous reactions from stakeholders: residents brought in plants from their homes and built insulated trellises; children and students joined to plant and erect explanatory signs; and many people helped paint the old objects to freshen them up with new colours. Residents and students also formed volunteer teams to water the plants regularly.
We started with the wall of an unused garage that backs up to the site. The wall was painted by using a combination of spray paint and acrylics to guarantee workability and durability.
Stakeholders co-transformed the old objects that were collected in earlier phases. The leftover paint was used on the grass-planting bricks, and the renewed bricks became paving and seating facilities. Discarded PVC pipes were assembled to create cactus-shaped installations. Students’ old model works were refurbished with artistic boxes; discarded timber was reformed into artistic decorations and science boards; and tyres donated by residents were transformed with twine into seating areas.
We use eco-friendly paint as the decoration for plant ponds and ecological bark as ground cover. Concerning plant selections, low-maintenance, non-toxic, non-harmful and non-thorny plants were chosen, which are conducive to sustainable development.
The garden has become a ‘second classroom’ for students and teachers, who stopped there to converse and identify the plants. The elderlies congregate in the garden and chat with their friends. Children come and feel the roughness or delicacy of the plants, and then make promises to ‘see you downstairs’ tomorrow. As night falls, the solar-powered lamps in the garden gradually brighten, and all the warm yellow lights merge, as if saying to the crowds passing by: ‘Welcome back’.
After the garden came into use, we collected 303 feedback questionnaires. The results show that the average length of time that people stay in the site increased by 250%, and people’s satisfaction with the site has increased from 27% to 95%. In addition, 67% of people affirmed the benefits of the scientific signs and expressed their willingness to participate in follow-up maintenance. We also created an intellectual property image for the site, Lin Bao, which was extracted from the main components of the garden.
During the participatory process, we always practice the concept of ‘low maintenance’ and ‘zero waste’ and the overall construction of the garden cost only €3,500. We have received continuous attention from the public, reported by 13 mainstream Chinese media outlets, and the cumulative number of readers reached 510,000+, which has had a high social impact.
In the future, we will realise more possibilities for public participation in urban renewal. We look forward to using the principle of ‘from the point to the surface’ to activate the grey areas of the campus and community landscape, allowing everyone the chance to be the ‘designer’ of nature.
College of Landscape Architecture, Nanjing Forestry University
The Landscape Design Team: Yunfeng Yang, Yixhong Yang, Xi Lu, Yijin Dong, Yiwen Zhou, Dongchen Wu, Jingyi Ye, Weinuo Zhou, Yuqiu Huang, Keqing Wang, Yuting Liu, Xi Wang, Wenjing Chen, Wenxin Yu
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Location: 159 Longpan Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
Design year:2022
Year Completed:2023
