Old People-Urban Communication Space

/kloc-in the spring of 0/996, I rented a house in Beijing Qingta Community. The place was partial and the rent was cheap. One day, my friend and I passed by and saw a row of old people sitting under the big wall. They are wearing dark cotton-padded jackets and trousers, and their age can't be seen in the distance, but they must be a group of old people, very old ones. I thought they grew out of the ground. -Director's self-report.

This is a film that has a deep influence on me. It always makes me unconsciously pay attention to all kinds of humble small spaces in the city and imagine that those places can be used vigorously.

What I want to say through movies today is: communication space.

The old man on the cover is a retired worker of Beigang. According to the director's self-report (Xiaoyangzi mentioned by the old man from time to time in the film), the location of the film was the Qingta community she rented at that time. Combined with the information revealed by the old Cao Man in the film, we can know that they live near Nansha Woqiao in Beijing's West Fourth Ring Road and belong to Xiu Yuan Community in Qingta Community, Fengtai District.

Xiu Yuan is very ordinary. 1999, there are not so many cars parked in the community, and the personnel are simple. The residential environment is not very good, but it is also clean and tidy.

This group of old people who live nearby, except for eating and sleeping, will go downstairs to a chat place to get together every day, which is the protagonist of the documentary.

Not all open spaces are places to stay. It should be cool and ventilated in summer and bask in the sun in winter. It is difficult to walk when you are old, let alone stand for a long time. So they always bring their own Mazar when they go out.

From beginning to end, this film has always been about old people chatting at home.

The first scene: next to a house in the community.

Old Cao, whose legs and feet are inconvenient, may have felt something and tried to tell his son to go back to his hometown. As a result, his son and daughter-in-law did not retain him.

The old people around him advised him that maybe his son just hadn't had time to stay, after all, there were still ten days before he really left. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, he hurried back, because it was late and his family didn't wait for him to eat.

The old people mentioned aimlessly that there was an old Feng who had often met before, and suddenly said no, so he was gone.

Scenario 2: Residential Substation

Although I moved to another place, the content of the chat has not changed.

This new place looks good, it won't be too far away from the community, there are steps and broken sofas, and the old people don't have to bring their own Mazar.

But this place looks like a residential substation, and the sunshine is unstable. The old man decided to find a new place.

A meeting after the Spring Festival was sad. The grandson of an old man died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage in the distance. He suppressed his emotions in his cramped home, but he came to this wall and cried all morning.

Although they underestimate their own life and death, it is extremely unacceptable for young people to die.

Another summer came and three old people disappeared.

The so-called return is their implicit expression of death. The old man looks down on death, and the only concern is whether the other person has pain when he dies. They regard death as something they must face and discuss it optimistically together.

Although many people read about the tragic experiences of the old people when watching this film, they shed tears of sympathy.

In fact, from beginning to end, this is the social way of the elderly! Old people socialize! This is no different from an aunt with flexible hands and feet dancing in square dance and seeing young people eat and sing K to open black.

Modern consumption concept provides young people with various choices, but it belongs to the exclusive place for the elderly over 80 years old. What else can you think of besides nursing homes and hospitals?

It is zero!

There are two main contradictions between the elderly and consumption: 1. Unwilling to spend? 2. Don't go far

At that time, there were many open spaces in Xiu Yuan, which was a day for the elderly to sit down and chat. Even if they go out trembling, holding the wall with one hand and carrying the little Mazar with the other, this is what the old people think every day. However, after 18 years, the roads in Xiu Yuan have been completely occupied by private cars. The sidewalk is shabby and dirty, and it is occupied by illegal structures. As time goes on, the communication space is further compressed.

In Communication between Buildings and Space Life, Jane Gail proposed that outdoor activities in public space can be divided into three types: necessary activities, spontaneous activities and social activities. Each activity type has very different requirements for the physical environment.

Stop-and-go and bask in the sun will only happen in places with suitable external conditions, just like when people go shopping, they always choose tree-lined paths instead of wandering along the north-south elevated road.

In an environment with poor quality, people just want to go home as soon as possible. The inferior quality mentioned here not only refers to dilapidated roads or dirty air, but also includes a spatial intention.

The Arrow Factory Hutong in the street doesn't make people feel unable to stay, but the neat and quiet Wang Hongbin is afraid to stay because of the closed high walls on both sides of the road.

What is a good modern city like? This problem has been discussed in western architectural planning circles for hundreds of years. Jane Jacobs, an American journalist, wrote a book entitled "Death and Life in American Big Cities" (although it is already a bad street, I still want to push it) and put forward a point of view on crime prevention.

If the street is interesting, many people will watch the street and pay attention to the activities on the street, which naturally forms a considerable degree of natural defense.

The incremental era of large-scale construction has entered the second half, and urban planners have finally begun to care about the stock space. (The planner here obviously doesn't mean the planner ...) In addition to demolition, planners should pay more attention to the improvement of urban space quality.

The sidewalk is wide, some people sit on stools, and there is shade. If they can stay, people will be willing to go out and socialize. We always blame the indifference of modern interpersonal relationships. In fact, modern people have little outdoor space for normal communication.

The positive effect process of urban activities is that there are activities because there are activities. The negative process is: inactive, so inactive. (Note: communication space-outdoor space life, a process)

I remember asking a friend who works in a real estate company a while ago why he doesn't do bottom business now, and there is no one on the way back to the community at night, which is a bit scary.

The answer of the small partner is: there is no house for sale in the underlying business. If you can't sell it and get business, it will look very low-key and make the image of the house not very good.

Well, you can do that. It's a long way to go, Xiu Yuan.