BOOKTALKS| Urban Landscape Lecture Series—A Memo for the Public Space in Urban Asia

Event Content

“Prov. The public. The Decisive Tomorrow World series of lectures extends to a late-night reading session for selected books in the arts of literature. Launched by the Wen Shin Arts Foundation, Liu Huifang, Assistant Professor of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design, Culture University, invited experts in digital architecture to submit their favorite theoretical works in the fields of landscape, cities, architecture, and more. Unlike previous discussions of pure architecture, we look at cities, buildings, and public spaces from a more diverse perspective, discussing concepts such as Urbanism, Commonality, Publicity, and Future Cities in the book. The third volume “Memo for the Future of Asian Cities” will be produced by Professor Shinko “Public Spaces in Asian Cities” (Public Spaces in Urban Asia) for an introductory lecture, and invited Hu Zhiren, Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington, USA, as a special guest and talk.

Public Spaces in Asian Cities was compiled by Singapore's foremost urban architect and urban scholar (Urbanist) Lin Siu Wei. The book summarizes the erosion of public spaces by the forces of laissez faire in the face of rapid urbanization in Asian cities, especially in a capitalist society such as Singapore that places profit creation first and places public spaces throughout the city as a place for consumption. This offers a positive urban sense of affordability, accessibility, as opposed to traditional public spaces. The book is an inky critique of Singapore's public and space, and invites views from Chongqing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Taipei as cities to participate in the review. Finally, these thoughtful views highlight the importance of spatial justice. Written in 2014, this book reminds us to engage with and understand the realities of the city today — in particular, the importance of creating well-being for everyone in society.