gooood Idea NO.8—Why do we talk about the future?

 

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我们为什么要谈未来
作者：马岩松 原文载于《住Abitare》（微博）

 

在小汉斯（Hans Ulrich Obrist) 新编的一本名为《未来将会是⋯⋯》的书里，他邀我写一小段话，我写道：“未来将会是过去。”

我认为未来本来就是历史的一部分，它是一条永不停止的小溪，曲折蜿蜒，潺潺无声。它的美在于石头溅起的水花。

人们喜欢谈过去，却认为谈未来是“空谈”，其实是因为他们更喜欢把过去当作谈资，而害怕把自己放到真正的历史中去，忘了自我和创造对历史的重要性。

如果把历史当作学问，我们这个时代有学问的人并不少，唐宋元明清一直到五四的故事能讲出几个版本，无非只是用来证明或反证自己所作所为的合理性。这是学问在今天的实用性，是可以用来贴标签卖的。今天的价值观是实用主义的，没用的事我们一律不屑去做，所有的理想、空想、梦想、幻想都能被实用主义打败。

但在历史中，被我们传承的传统却也都是由创造组成的，伟大的文明和成就都充满了想象力，可以说没有革新就没有历史，当然也就没有未来。如何往前走，才是每个时代的核心问题。

对未来的麻木和面对过去的自卑让我们义无反顾地投入了折衷主义的怀抱。怀旧是浪漫的，它往往伴随着伤痕和感人的泪水，但那并不是历史的全部。从新中国成立时的梁思成，一直到60多年后的王澍，中国人认为他们影响了西方，西方人认为他们影响了中国，其实是什么都没有发生，中国以及全球的城市化仍然在绝望中进行。

1956年，与梁思成同时代的日本现代建筑师丹下健三，写了题为《当代建筑创作与日本建筑传统》的文章，之后便爆发了被称为“亚洲最后一个乌托邦革命”的新陈代谢运动。年轻人对日本城市面对的问题积极地 给予回应，一批具有创造力但超前到根本无法实现的设想诞生了，并在当时保守的日本受到了无数的指责和批 评，但他们的作品和思想却对今天的世界和下一代持续地产生着影响，也奠定了日本现代建筑在国际上的地位。他们被尊重，不仅因为他们的想象力，更因为他们积极地投入到城市变革中的使命感和决心。这样的创造力更是来自于一种文化的自觉。

今天的中国城市正处在类似的时期，现代主义时期后的全新城市文明正在成形，对西方曼哈顿式城市的盲目崇拜，对自然、历史和人文资源的践踏，造就了大量粗糙而没有灵魂的城市。我认为中国的年轻建筑师现在应该最大程度地投入到改变这种状况的努力中去！

科学家钱学森最早提出过“山水城市”的理论，当他质疑现代城市充斥着灰色的方盒子时说：“有没有一种现代的城市是可以与自然互相生长，充满了诗情画意，人生活在其中也会感到幸福？”

城市和自然共生其实是东方城市的一个古老话题，北京、南京、杭州，都是如此。在这样的城市中，人便是主角，而且有可能超越对权力、资本和贫富的讨论，而使城市更具有人文精神，这样的城市才能富有灵魂。

而现代主义城市是以物质和技术为基础的，缺少对自然和人类自身精神的体现，即使在政治上实现了所谓的公民民主社会，也是不可能真正具有灵魂的。

那么，未来的高密度大城市有没有可能是以对自然和人性的追求为思想来建造的呢？一座具有高科技的城市是否有可能也具有山水的意境和精神呢？这是古人没遇到过的挑战，但我认为这完全是有可能的。

中国的现代城市问题非常庞大复杂，复杂到每个人都会感到自己无能为力，以致陷入了对现代城市的反感和抨击中，并把它与历史中伟大的城市对立起来。但是我们不要忘了，批判现实是为了获得探索未知可能的勇气，使我们走近心中的那座理想之城。

 

Why do we talk about the future?

Hans Ulrich Obrist invited me to write something for a book he recently edited entitled the future will be…and I wrote: “The future will be the past”.

I think that the future is part of history. It is a winding river that keeps flowing and its beauty lies in the splashes of water against the rocks along the way. People prefer to talk about the past and they consider the discussion about the future is simply empty words. In fact, for them the past is only a topic, and they are afraid to devote themselves to creating real history. They forgot the importance of themselves and creativity.

If we approach history from the angle of knowledge, there are a lot of knowledgeable people in our age. We could easily recount several versions of the history from Tang Dynasty until the May Fourth Movement. Their difference is only used to prove or disapprove our own actions. Today knowledge is something practical that could be labeled and sold. Contemporary values are pragmatic. People don’t bother to do anything that doesn’t serve a practical purpose. Dreams, ideals, imaginations and fantasies are defeated by pragmatism.

But through history we’ve inherited a tradition of creativity. All great civilizations and accomplishments are motivated by imagination. History is created by innovation, so is the future. The essential question of every age is how to move forward. Numbness about the future and feeling of inferiority about the past has led us to embrace eclecticism. Nostalgia is romantic, sometimes accompanied by scars and tears, but that is not what history is all about. From Liang Sicheng until Wang Shu, the Chinese think that they have influenced the West while the Westerners think the opposite, but in fact nothing really happened. The urbanization of China and the rest of the world are still moving forward in despair.

In 1956, Liang Sicheng’s contemporary, Japanese architect Kenzo Tange wrote an article entitled Contemporary Architecture Creation and Japanese Architecture Tradition. Afterwards the Metabolist Movement started, which was called “the last Utopian revolution in Asia”. Young people responded actively to the problems faced by Japanese cities, conceiving lots of innovative ideas that were too ahead of their time and couldn’t be realized. These ideas received a lot of criticism back then, however, their works and philosophies continue to influence the world and future generations, establishing the status of Japanese architecture on the international stage. They earned the world’s respect not only with their imagination, but also their determination and dedication to urban revolution. This type of creativity came from a cultural self-awareness.

Chinese cities today are going through a similar phase. During the post-modernist period, new urban civilization is taking form. Blind worship of Manhattan style Western cities and disregard of natural, historical and cultural resources have resulted in a great many crude, soulless cities. I think that young Chinese architects should devote maximum efforts to modifying this situation!

Scientist Qian Xuesen was the first to come up with the theory of “Shanshui city”. He expressed skepticism about modern cities filled with grey cement boxes: “Is it possible to create a kind of poetic modern city that could grow together with nature and bring happiness to its residents?”

“Co-existence of city and nature” has always been a theme of Oriental cities such as Beijing, Nanjing and Hangzhou. People are the focus in cities like this, and it’s possible to imbue the city with more humane spirit beyond the discussion of power, capital and wealth. Only this kind of cities have the potential to cultivate their souls.
Yet modern cities created with material and technology lack the presence of nature and human spirit. Even if the goal of democratic civil society is reached politically, such a society could not have a soul.Therefore, is it possible to build high-density cities in the future based on the philosophical pursuit of nature and human spirit? Can a city with high technology also possess the spirit of nature? This is a challenge never faced by the ancient Chinese.However, I think this is entirely possible.

The problems of modern cities in China are so great and complicated that individuals often feel so powerless in making any changes, therefore resort to only condemning modern cities and compare them against the great cities in history. However, let’s not forget that the reason for criticizing the reality is to obtain courage to explore the unknown and get closer to our dream city.

Ma Yansong