俞孔坚：城市荒野，另一种文明

圆明园遗址公园中正在消失的城市荒野（2005年4月7日摄） © 俞孔坚

城市荒野：另一种文明

俞孔坚：北京大学建筑与景观设计学院教授、美国艺术与科学院院士

城市中的荒野是工业文明桎梏下的野性遗漏，是由金属与玻璃构建的寂寥城市的凄美回眸和慰藉。好奇与探索的天性让人类文明在发展的道路上一往无前：从非洲草原走向亚洲丛林、欧洲冻原、美洲荒漠……于是，粗糙的矿石被打磨成光滑的玉器，黏土变作了洁白的瓷具，燧石的火星烧去了原野的荒芜，殖民地中的野花经过培育成为了贵族花园中的奇葩，自由流淌的溪流被改造为光滑的河渠，沼泽被开垦为田园和城镇……这是一条逐渐背离荒野的文明之路，城市、农田和园林在化石能源和机械力的推动下，不断取代原生的自然；自然的野性被日益驯化。“光滑”“精致”“高雅”和“温顺”等渐渐成为当代文明的重要特征。现代城市是当前最高层次文明的载体和象征，却已被演绎为用塑料、金属和玻璃搭建的宫殿——光鲜亮丽、不着尘埃，野草和昆虫失去容身之所，自然和野性只存在于电子屏幕和声光电的感官刺激之中。失去野性的人类，正如豢养在拉斯维加斯五星级酒店玻璃房中的老虎，寂寥而萎靡。于是，野性和荒野被重新提起。

城市荒野之于人类文明和城市化，恰如困兽囚笼中的一棵绿树、一丛野草或一条溪流。从发生学意义上讲，部分城市荒野作为原生自然的遗存斑块或廊道得以在城市中幸存，如残存的湿地（哈尔滨群力湿地公园等）；此外更多的是挣脱了文明约束的次生自然，如在荒废的灰色基础设施中恣意繁衍的自然（纽约高线公园的前身等）。城市荒野并不局限于荒野景观（wildscape或wilderness），还包含保留了野性（wildness）的、不受人工干预的自然过程和生物——从自由流淌的径流、未被改造的土壤和栖息其中的微生物、自由繁衍的乡土植物，到从水泥地中挣扎而出的野草和排水沟石壁上顽强生长的灌丛、随季节而生长凋落的树叶、能够感知天时的鸡鸣和蛙声……

从生态学意义上讲，城市荒野作为自然生态系统，依照自然规律做功，并以其自身逻辑建立起深邃的秩序，是保障城市生态系统健康和可持续性的要素。它为人类社会提供了不可或缺的生态系统服务，诸如净化空气和水、调节城市微气候、维持乡土生物多样性等。

从文化和心理学意义上讲，城市荒野的审美启智功能让人类探索未知的天性得以释放——这正是推动文明进步的原动力。于我看来，东西方哲人的深邃思考和智慧大多来源于荒野：如释迦摩尼的菩提树、穆罕默德的希拉山洞、王阳明的龙场山洞，以及梭罗的瓦尔登湖等。生态心理学认为，人与自然的日益分离将有损人类健康，而人类的健康源于地球的健康，疗愈人类身心疾病有赖于人与自然关系的修复，以及自然生态系统的修复^[1]。景观感知的相关研究表明，景观的复杂性和可探索性决定了自然环境的美感^[2]。相较而言，园艺化的景观（如修剪整齐的草坪）显得索然无味——它们纵然代表着文明进步、能令人获得须臾的喜悦和激动，却唤不起人类的探索欲望和冲动，也难以传达诗情画意的美感。

谈及“荒野”，我的思绪不由地回到了儿时的两处秘境——一处是村子最南边的风水林，那里葬着祖先的遗骨，林冠蔽日、蘑菇遍地、野花隐约，时而有野兽出没；另一处是我家半亩宅院里的水塘，杂草丛生、鱼鳖藏匿，萤火虫和着各种虫鸣翻飞——它们时刻吸引着我去探寻并收获惊喜，就像鲁迅的百草园。拥有这样的荒野秘境，是我不幸童年的最大幸事。遗憾的是，它们都在我告别童年后相继消失了。先是风水林被园田化的水渠和机耕路切割开，随后林中的树木被砍伐殆尽，黄土深处的蛇洞被挖开，整整一窝赤链蛇（Lycodon rufozonatus）曝尸路面，原先见过的许多鸟兽也从此绝迹；而后，我宅院中的水塘逐渐干涸，最终被填平并盖上了房子。好在这两处荒野秘境尚能偶尔出现在梦境之中，给我带来无限的欢愉。

来到北京求学后，我也曾迷恋过一处荒野，那就是圆明园遗址公园中的废墟。几乎在整个20世纪80年代，这里都是我的最爱，也是我恋爱时流连忘返的去处。深浅不一的坑塘与土丘交错分布，乱石散落其间，零星的精美石雕露出水面，水岸边被芦苇（Phragmites australis）、野慈姑（Sagittaria trifolia）和香蒲（Typha orientalis）等植被覆盖，走近时会有鱼蛙受惊，搅动起“啪啦”的水声。早春时节，遍地的苦荬菜（Ixeris polycephala）、毛地黄（Digitalis purpurea）、诸葛菜（Orychophragmus violaceus）、点地梅（Androsace umbellata）和紫花地丁（Viola philippica）给枯黄的土地铺上绚烂的彩色；此后，山桃（Prunus davidiana）、毛樱桃（Prunus tomentosa）、鼠李（Rhamnus davurica）、黄刺玫（Rosa xanthina）等相继开花。夏天的荫凉来自杨、柳、榆、槐、椿等乡土乔木，每一种乔木都因地势之高低和土地的不同湿度而统治着各自的群落，喜鹊（Pica pica）、灰喜鹊（Cyaponica cyanus）、乌鸦（Corvus sp.）和各种啄木鸟（Picidae spp.）栖息其间。秋天则被黄栌（Cotiuns coggygria）、山杏（Prunus sibirica）、银杏（Ginkgo biloba）和芦苇抢了风头，饱含野性的花青素让树叶红得热烈。我尤其喜爱冬天里的漫步——听冰裂的回声，看乌鸦在白杨树梢盘旋、苇穗在寒风中颤动，细赏残雪下的碑刻和悄悄觅食的麻雀。

但就在2008年北京奥运会举办前夕，为了向世界展示北京的文明和城市化水平，在“高雅化”和“美化”的名义下，这处举世无双的遗迹和最具北京特色的城市荒野，几乎在一夜之间被铲除：湖底铺上了防渗膜；荒野不再，取而代之的是光鲜的草坪与牡丹（Paeonia suffruticosa）、月季花（Rosa chinensis）等各色园艺花木，以及喜庆的灯笼。

为此，全国学界掀起了一场具有历史意义的捍卫圆明园废墟荒野的“抗争”运动^[3]。而这场由生态学者和环保人士发起、全国大部分媒体参与其中的大讨论，赋予了圆明园注解文明与荒野的标本意义：这里最早是天然山前沼泽湿地，后来被开垦为稻田，形成素有北方“江南”之美誉的农业文明景观；继而为康熙、乾隆所钟爱，仿江南文人山水构筑起象征帝国大一统和富华的皇家园林；而后又被西方列强所焚毁，成为西方工业文明之崛起和中华农业文明之衰弱的标志；接着被撂荒，自然恢复其统治地位，百年的风霜雨雪和生物群落之演替，使圆明园遗址变成了拥有丰富文化与自然遗产的城市荒野。

值得一提的是，当代表中华造园艺术巅峰的圆明园被付之一炬之时，西方的先哲们已经在思考荒野的意义：“我们所说的野性是有别于我们自身文明的另一种文明”^[4]。显然，梭罗所说的“自身文明”是当时西方社会为之狂热的工业文明。近150年后，当圆明园废墟被高雅化和城市化的力量所主导时，一场维护城市荒野的抗争也正在中国悄然发生……这场抗争，正是过程曲折而生动的“两种文明的斗争”^[5]。如今，一种崇尚野性的新的文明——生态文明——正在崛起。

29年前，我曾独自沿瓦尔登湖漫步，沉浸在启迪哲人思考的荒野之中，脑中回荡着他的妙句——“世界保存于荒野之中”“最有活力的人是最具野性的人”^[4]，这亦是我对于城市荒野的理解。这里的“人”不仅代表人类个体，也可指某个群体、城市、民族、国家，乃至整个人类物种及人类的文明社会。因而，捍卫城市荒野是人类走向更高层次文明的必经之路。

Urban Wildness as Another Civilization

Urban wildness has become the lost pearl in the industrialized city built with metal and glass. Human civilization continuously advances due to humans’ instincts of curiosity and exploration—from African savannahs to Asian jungles, European tundra, and to American deserts.... Gradually, the rough ores were polished into jades and clay was made into porcelains; the sparks lighted by firestones burned away wild plains; wildflowers were cultivated into horticultural flowers in aristocratic gardens; free-running rivers turned into canals; marshes occupied for urban and rural developments…. With fossil energy and mechanical technology, cities, farmlands, and gardens have been constantly displacing the nature, and the wildness is disappearing. Henceforth, “smooth,” “exquisite,” “elegant,” and “docile” now become “synonyms” of modern civilization. Modern cities magnifying the advance of civilization have evolved into a bright, beautiful, and clean palace built with plastic, metal, and glass, where however weed and insect habitats are increasingly eliminated; the nature and wildness, instead, only exists as virtual reality presented by electronic devices. Human beings lost their instinct of wildness, as lonely and dispirited tigers living in the glass cages of fancy hotels. It is time to call for the wildness.

Urban wildness is encroached in civilization and urbanization processes, exactly like the trees, clumps of weeds, or streams in the tiger cages. In a phylogenetic sense, urban wildness exists as primary nature in forms of debris of natural patches or corridors, such as remained wetlands (e.g., Harbin Qunli Stormwater Park), and as secondary nature which is free from human intervention, such as the natural vegetation growing in the abandoned gray infrastructure (e.g., the previous site of the High Line in New York). In addition to such wildscapes, urban wildness also includes the natural process or creatures (such as the natural runoffs, soils and microbes, spontaneous plants, weeds in concrete cracks, shrubs growing tenaciously on the stone walls of drains, leaves growing and falling seasonally, and cocks and frogs singing in different weathers) that are free from human intervention.

Urban wildness is also of cultural and psychological significance. Inspired by the aesthetics of urban wildness, humans explore the unknown world by their instinct, which is the motivity to civilization advancing. The wildness is also considered inspiration source of both eastern and western philosophers, such as the Bodhi tree for Sakyamuni Buddha, the Cave of Hira for Muhammad, the Longchang Cave for Wang Yangming, and the Walden Pond for Henry David Thoreau. Ecological psychology believes that human beings separated from the nature may suffer from health problems, which could be alleviated by re-establishing the human–nature harmony and restoring the natural ecosystem^[1]. Research on landscape perception also proves that complex and explorable landscapes contribute to creating beautiful natural environments^[2]. Their horticultural counterparts (such as well-manicured lawns) are dull—no matter how civilized or pleasant they are, they can neither attract humans to explore, nor convey a poetic aesthetic sense.

Speaking of “wildness,” I could not help but reminisce about two fairylands in my childhood—one was the Fengshui forest in the south of my village, where the ancestors’ remains were entombed, with mushrooms growing under the trees, and scattered wildflowers and wild animals around; the other was the pond in my courtyard, which covered an area of about 300 m2 and homed fish and turtles, with overgrown weeds and dancing fireflies with other insects. For me, they were as attractive and explorative as the Baicao Garden for Lu Xun, which dispelled the gloom in my childhood. Unfortunately, they all disappeared years later: the Fengshui forest was substituted by farmlands with channels and roads, trees cut down, snake holes excavated and dead Lycodon rufozonatus saw everywhere, and native birds and beasts vanishing; soon after, the courtyard pond dried up and was eventually filled up to build a house. Till now, I could still dream about these fairylands of wildness, bringing me much pleasure.

When studying in Beijing, I was fascinated by the ruins and wildness of Yuan-ming Yuan, which was the dreamland in my twenties, as well as a dating place with my beloved. Ponds, mounds, and rocks scattered on the site, and exquisite stone carvings stood in the lake. Phragmites australis, Sagittaria trifolia, and Typha orientalis grew on the lakesides; When approached by people, fish and frogs splashed in the water. In early spring, Ixeris polycephala, Digitalis purpurea, Orychophragmus violaceus, Androsace umbellate, and Viola philippica brought colors and vibrancy to the land; since then, Prunus davidiana, Prunus tomentosa, Rhamnus davurica, and Rosa xanthina bloomed one after another. Native dominant trees with leafy shade in summer, such as poplars, willows, elms, locust trees, and trees of heaven, formed vegetation communities with varied terrain and moisture conditions, where Pica pica, Cyaponica cyanus, Corvus sp., and several Picidae species inhabited. Colored-leaf trees such as Cotiuns coggygria, Prunus sibirica, and Ginkgo biloba, as well as Phragmites australis, together created an alluring autumn wildscape. In winter, I loved walking on the frozen river surface, enjoying echoes of ice cracking, watching crows hovering over the poplar trees and reeds trembling in the wind, and appreciating the inscription covered by snow and the quietly foraging sparrows.

Sadly, on the eve of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the world-level stunning heritage of urban wildness manifesting historic characteristics of Beijing was almost eliminated in the name of beautification. The lakebeds were covered with anti-seepage geotextile; wild plants were removed and replaced with Paeonia suffruticosa, Rosa chinensis, and other colorful horticultural species, ornamented with festive lanterns.

At the same time, scholars all over the country set off a “protest” movement to defend the relics and the wildness of Yuan-ming Yuan^[3]. This nationwide debate, initiated by ecologists and environmentalists and supported by public media, highlighted Yuan-ming Yuan’s symbolic significance in human civilization and urban wildness. The original site of the park was a natural marsh in front of mountain, and then reclaimed as a rice field, forming a landscape of agricultural civilization reputed as the “Watertown of North China”; during the reigns of Kangxi and Qianlong from the 17th to 18th century, the park was expanded into an imperial grand garden that imitated the remarkable poetic landscapes in lower reaches of Yangtze River; afterwards, the park was destroyed by the war between the rising western industrial civilization and the collapsing Chinese agricultural civilization; over the past century, natural succession dominated the site again and made the park an urban wildness with rich cultural and natural heritage.

It is worth mentioning that when Yuan-ming yuan—the pearl of Chinese gardening art—was ruined, western philosophers were exploring the implications of wildness: “What we call wildness is a civilization other than our own.”^[4] The “civilization of our own” mentioned by Thoreau here undoubtedly referred to the industrial civilization fanatically pursued by the western world. However, nearly 150 years later, the fight against the prevalent beautification and urbanization happened. This defense of urban wildness is exactly a “conflict between two civilizations.”^[5] Today, a new civilization that embraces wildness—ecological civilization—is rising.

I still remember the days when I walked alone along the Walden Pond 29 years ago. During my immersing in the wildness, the ideas of Thoreau echoed in my head—“In wildness is the preservation of the world,” “the most alive is the wildest.”^[4] It is exactly my understanding of urban wildness. For me, “the most alive” here can not only refer to a person per se, but also to a certain group, city, nation, country, and even the entire human race and human civilization. Therefore, defending urban wildness is the only way for humans to move toward a higher level of civilization.

^{[1] Roszak, T. (2001). The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology. Newburyport, MA: Red Wheel / Weiser.}

^{[2] Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1989). The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.}

^{[3] Yu, K. (2003). Be Kind to the Ruins of Yuan-ming Yuan—Speech at the Symposium of “Restorative Planning for Yuan-ming Yuan”. Beijing Planning Review, Supplement, 53-55.}

^{[4] Thoreau, H. D. (1906). The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin and Company.}

^{[5] Yu, K. (2020). The Conflict between Two Civilizations: On Nature-Based Solutions. Landscape Architecture Frontiers, 8(3), 4-9.}