新城市主义——中美各不同New Urbanism in America and China

Do you remember the town in the movie The Truman Show? In reality, it’s the small, planned town of Seaside, Florida. It’s representative of a movement among architects and city planners called “new urbanism.” 还记得电影《楚门的世界》（The Truman Show）里那个叫“桃源岛”的小城吗？该镇事实上就在佛罗里达州，是一个规划完善的小镇。不仅如此，它还是由建筑师和城市规划者发起的“新城市主义”运动的代表作。 Until the 1950s, America’s small towns and cities were known for their convenience and comfort. People could walk to school, or stores, or work. Downtown shopping areas were vibrant with customers. Most people did not own a car, but the walkability of the cities combined with the easy availability of trains and buses meant that most people did not need to go to the trouble and expense of depending on a car. In the bigger cities like Los Angeles or Washington, extensive trolley systems allowed people to get around. 直至20世纪50年代，美国的小镇和城市一直以便利舒适著称。人们可以步行去上学，去商店，或者上班。顾客为市中心的购物区带来了生机与活力。虽然大多数人没有自己的车，但城市基本都可步行而至，加上火车、公共汽车的便捷条件，意味着他们不需要陷入养车的麻烦和开销之中。在像洛杉矶或华盛顿这样的大城市中，密布的电车系统更方便了人们的出行。 I looked at a 1915 railroad schedule for my hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee, which at that time was a very small town of less than 20,000 people. Eighty seven passenger trains each day stopped at the Clarksville station. After World War II, we destroyed that great railroad system. 我的家乡位于田纳西州的克拉克斯维尔（Clarksville, Tennessee）。我曾经看过它1915年时的铁路规划图。那时的它还是一个人口不到2万的很小的小镇。每天有87辆客运列车停在克拉克斯维尔车站。第二次世界大战过后，人们毁掉了那个美好的铁路系统。 The classic towns that survive — Alexandria, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina, Annapolis, Maryland — are so attractive that tourists flock just to see them. Isn’t it ironic that people have to go on vacation just so that they can have a walk around town? 类似亚历山大（Alexandria），弗吉尼亚（Virginia），查尔斯顿（Charleston），南卡罗来纳（South Carolina），安纳波利斯（Annapolis），马里兰（Maryland）这些存活下来的经典城镇都魅力十足。各地游客蜂拥而至，只为一睹它们的风采。可非要来此度假的人们，却只是为了在这些小镇上转转，这难道不是很讽刺吗？ New urbanist architects asked the seemingly obvious question: If America’s small towns of a hundred years ago were so nice, why don’t we just copy them? Why do we keep building ugly, inconvenient suburbs when we know how to do better? 新城市主义的建筑师提出过一个看似显而易见的问题：如果一百年前的美国小镇是那么的完美，我们为什么不干脆复制这些建筑呢？当我们知道怎么做会更好时，我们为什么要保留着那些又丑又不方便的郊区呢？ The new urbanists have had some success. In addition to Seaside, Kentlands, Maryland, north of Washington is a great community where everyone can safely walk to schools, stores, or churches. In the UK, the town of Poundbury, which was championed by Prince Charles, has had similar success. Typically, homes in these New Urbanist communities sell for more than those in adjacent conventional suburbs. 新城市主义取得了一些成功。除了海滨镇（Seaside）、肯特兰镇（Kentlands）、马里兰州（Maryland）之外，华盛顿北部也是一个很棒的社区。在那里，每个人都可以安全地去往学校，商店或教堂。在英国，由查尔斯王子支持的庞德伯里镇（Poundbury），也取得了类似的成功。一般来说，这些新城市主义社区的住宅比邻近的传统郊区的住宅卖得多。 Doubtless, these relatively small New Urbanist enclaves are great places to live, but their populations are too small to support many businesses and jobs. Almost all their inhabitants have to drive to work in a nearby big city. 毫无疑问，这些相对较小的新城市主义飞地适宜人们居住。但它们的人口太少，不足以支撑大量的企业和就业岗位。几乎所有的居民都不得不开车去附近的大城市工作。 I recently visited my wife’s hometown, of Yuxi, Yunnan province. It’s a rather small city about 90 kilometers south of Kunming, with about 300,000 people living in a core city area of about 15 square kilometers. Walking around Yuxi, I saw a dream city of the new urbanists. The streets were always full of people who were going to the small retail stores and to the many parks. 最近，我去了我妻子的家乡——云南省玉溪市。它是昆明以南约90公里的一座小城市。面积约15平方公里的城市核心区，大约有30万人口居住。漫步玉溪，我看到了新城市主义的理想之城。街上总是挤满了去零售店和众多公园的人。 Especially in South China, many other small and medium-sized cities have that same pleasant, active atmosphere. For example, walking around shopping districts in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, reminded me very much of American small towns before they were destroyed by malls and interstate highways. 尤其在中国南方，其他许多的中小城市也有同样活跃宜人的气氛。比如，走在浙江温州的商业区，就让我想起了许多被购物中心和州际公路毁掉前的美国小镇。 China’s small cities are denser than any true US small towns or new urbanists towns. High residential buildings and surrounding agricultural land ensures that there are enough people so that stores have customers and companies have workers. New urbanists emphasize using traditional architectural forms, but the small storefronts in China make the streets livelier. 中国小城市的人口比任何真正的美国小镇或者新城市主义城镇都要密集。高层住宅和周围的农业用地确保城市有足够多的人口，这样商店才有顾客，公司也有员工。虽然新城市主义强调传统建筑形式的使用，但是中国的小店铺却使街道更加富有生活气息。 Of course, many people want to move to giant cities for career opportunities. But, the small cities of China offer a pleasant lifestyle and are an attractive model for city planners from around the world. More emphasis should be placed on ensuring they continue to thrive. 当然，很多人都想搬到大城市去寻找工作机会。但中国的小城市为人们提供了一种舒适的生活方式，也为全球的城市规划设计师提供了一个成功的范例。设计师们应该更加重视如何确保城市的持续繁荣。