say do you remember niihaomaa in china 01: peace outside the gated society

while i was walking around in wuhan, i immediately realized that the gap between rich and poor in china was much bigger than i had imagined. there was a clear class segregation visualized by physical boundaries. most of fancy neighborhoods equipped walls, gates and security check in order to probably keep safety or just segregate others. ive never seen a real "gated society" before, so it was quite a shock.

as i was segregated from any of fancy neighborhoods unfortunately, what i did was wondering around ordinary "unsecured?!" neighborhoods without walls or gates, and it was a great opportunity to encounter the reality of china. what surprised me was its rich street culture. famous Jan Gehl's three types of activities (necessary activities, optional activities, and social activities) were naturally found everywhere. people not only just walked to their destination, but also met friends, had a good conversation, went shopping on street markets, and played games together. it seemed to be chinese habit but they even hang their laundries on the street.

when i found these peaceful sights of non-fancy neighborhoods, i came to realize that such areas' quality of the physical environment was not poor at all, regardless of how they looked, and came to wonder what was the gate for. Gehl claimed in his famous "Life Between Buildings" (1980) that optional activities are "dependent on exterior physical conditions. when outdoor areas are of poor quality, only strictly necessary activities occur." yet obviously this good quality of life was found outside "safe and peaceful" gated societies that are supposed to produce good quality of physical environment. i somehow understood why Jane Jacobs kept living where she lived.

it might be true that Gehl's cultural background and that of china is totally different, yet this chinese street culture made me understand that it is not fancy neighborhoods that create a good physical environment, it is the people that create.