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  • 《景觀設(shè)計學》2020年第4期

    作 者:
    張子豪(ZHANG Zihao),劉潯(LIU Xun),魏方(WEI Fang)等
    類 別:
    景觀
    出 版 社:
    高等教育出版社有限公司
    出版時間:
    2020年8月

俞孔堅?實踐研究:創(chuàng)新知識和方法的范式——《景觀設(shè)計學》2020年第4期“主編寄語”

Practice Research: A Paradigm for the Innovation of Knowledge and Methodology, By Yu Kongjian 


2020年6月9日晚,一場中美國際線上研討會持續(xù)了近兩個小時。這是“實踐研究”系列討論的第一場,旨在揭示大學和規(guī)劃設(shè)計機構(gòu)如何通過研究,就具體實踐問題實現(xiàn)理論、方法和技術(shù)創(chuàng)新,并促進相關(guān)應用與推廣。


本次研討會由麻省理工學院終身教授、著名景觀和生態(tài)學者安妮?惠斯頓?斯本發(fā)起。她曾深入研究美國生態(tài)規(guī)劃的開創(chuàng)者伊恩?L?麥克哈格在賓夕法尼亞大學和他本人創(chuàng)立的WMRT事務所進行的實踐研究(包括其著名的創(chuàng)新性實踐研究成果《設(shè)計結(jié)合自然》),以及兩個機構(gòu)間的互動關(guān)系。她亦非常好奇中國的相關(guān)實踐研究如何進行,并為此于麻省理工學院設(shè)立了專門的研究課題,重點探討過去20年間北京大學建筑與景觀設(shè)計學院和土人設(shè)計的實踐研究,以及這兩個機構(gòu)之間如何互動并進行知識創(chuàng)新,以解決中國城鎮(zhèn)化過程中出現(xiàn)的緊迫問題。受斯本教授的啟發(fā),我回顧了“北大-土人”實踐研究的模式以及遇到的種種挑戰(zhàn),由此總結(jié)了三點思考,與讀者分享:


第一,為什么要做實踐研究?當我們面對全新而陌生的問題,且缺乏成熟的解決方案或技術(shù)支持時,針對性研究便十分必要。例如,由于文化背景、社會制度及地域條件的不同,中國城鎮(zhèn)化進程中出現(xiàn)的一系列城市問題,均難以從其他國家的經(jīng)驗和教訓中直接找到可靠的預測模式和可借鑒的解決方案;同時,現(xiàn)存的理論方法繁多,但哪種方法更適用于當下中國所面臨的具體問題亦不得而知。在某種意義上,這便是“摸著石頭過河”——只有通過實踐研究才能得到真正有用的知識和解決實際問題的方法,在不斷的嘗試中積累經(jīng)驗,最終解決問題。


第二,誰來做實踐研究?一般而言,院校教師、科研機構(gòu)的研究員、學生,以及在實踐一線的規(guī)劃設(shè)計師是實踐研究的主體。但事實上,國內(nèi)現(xiàn)行的學術(shù)考核方式并不鼓勵實踐研究,而是片面追求論文引用,對實踐的理解偏差使得學者更傾向于做學究式的研究,從故紙堆里去尋找課題,熱衷于申請由政府設(shè)立的所謂“縱向項目”,而較少考慮由企業(yè)資助的、用于解決實際問題的“橫向項目”。在成果評定中,直接與社會實踐相結(jié)合的研究課題或多或少會受到忽視。事實上,在“以文章論英雄”的大學里,從職位招聘開始就已經(jīng)注定了實踐研究的弱勢地位,也奠定了院校的研究氛圍:脫離實踐的空泛研究不僅于解決當下的實際問題毫無益處,也使學生們在畢業(yè)后無法快速適應社會需求。長此以往,學科和專業(yè)的創(chuàng)新能力和解決問題的能力便每況愈下,學科也將失去其存在的意義。


在中國的城鎮(zhèn)化和市場化的大潮到來之前,規(guī)劃設(shè)計機構(gòu)原本有著非常深厚的研究傳統(tǒng),為解決城鄉(xiāng)發(fā)展過程中的癥結(jié)開展了大量名副其實的研究,因此常被稱為“規(guī)劃設(shè)計研究院”。后來,越來越多的研究院所改制為公司,進入市場;與此同時,在巨變的社會經(jīng)濟環(huán)境中,新問題層出不窮,對知識創(chuàng)新和模式創(chuàng)新的需求也隨之增加。然而,模式套用之風大行其道,諸如“一軸N廊N中心”“南擴、北控、東拓、西優(yōu)”的盲目照搬充斥于大江南北各個城市的規(guī)劃中,“跨江發(fā)展”“向海發(fā)展”成了套路,濱江大道、濱河大道蔚然成風。建筑與景觀設(shè)計行業(yè)中千篇一律、自欺欺人的規(guī)劃設(shè)計招投標、惡劣的低價競標,以及近20年不變的低取費標準,導致規(guī)劃設(shè)計人員鮮少能夠投入足夠的時間精力對實踐中的問題進行深入研究,由此造成行業(yè)內(nèi)劣幣驅(qū)逐良幣、從業(yè)者薪資和企業(yè)利潤低下的狀況,整體上使一個具有研究性的實踐行業(yè)退化為“廉價勞動力”主導的生產(chǎn)性行業(yè)。在自然資源保護與城鄉(xiāng)規(guī)劃系統(tǒng)內(nèi),專業(yè)和行業(yè)難以適應國家行政機構(gòu)的調(diào)整和國家需求的重大轉(zhuǎn)變,亦暴露出過去數(shù)十年來實踐研究的嚴重缺位。


第三,面對當前的不利狀況,如何推動實踐研究和知識創(chuàng)新?首先,我們希望高校及研究機構(gòu)能夠認識到實踐研究的價值,并由此改變各種有損于實踐研究積極性的“指揮棒”——事實上,此次新冠肺炎疫情已經(jīng)以生命為代價,無情地揭示了中國實踐研究的窘境,也迫使有關(guān)部門名義上取消了唯論文和引用率為導向的評價體系[1];其次,少數(shù)有情懷的學者對社會問題異常敏感,且富有研究熱情,他們利用自身影響力引領(lǐng)后輩積極開展實踐研究,這些努力和嘗試應該被鼓勵;再次,隨著市場機制逐步發(fā)揮作用,實踐研究將使研究性規(guī)劃設(shè)計機構(gòu)具備持續(xù)的競爭優(yōu)勢,使他們可以有更高的取費用于長期創(chuàng)新和研發(fā),用更高的薪酬吸引優(yōu)秀人才,以形成市場選擇下優(yōu)勝劣汰的良性循環(huán)。正如恩格斯百余年前所言:社會一旦有技術(shù)上的需要,則這種需要就會比十所大學更能把科學推向前進[2]。因此,規(guī)劃設(shè)計實踐的充分市場化是實踐研究最終獲得重視和可持續(xù)發(fā)展的真正動力。


茍日新,日日新,又日新[3]。實踐研究是面對動態(tài)的社會和自然挑戰(zhàn),不斷創(chuàng)新思想、理論、方法和技術(shù)的必由途徑,對于景觀設(shè)計和城鄉(xiāng)規(guī)劃設(shè)計學科而言尤其如此。說到底,規(guī)劃設(shè)計實踐本身就是針對某一個或一組問題,尋求最優(yōu)解的研究過程。而本期所探討的“原型研究”作為一種創(chuàng)新知識和方法的范式,即為實踐研究的一種。面向未來挑戰(zhàn)的原型研究成果將不斷拓寬景觀設(shè)計學科的發(fā)展路徑,為設(shè)計師及相關(guān)領(lǐng)域的學者提供更具前瞻性的設(shè)計思路和更有彈性的工作方法,以促使我們更好地適應充滿不確定性挑戰(zhàn)的未來。


In the evening of June 9, 2020, a two-hour online China-US seminar took place as the first session of the Practice Research serial seminars, aiming to explore what planning and design colleges and institutions should do to encourage theoretical, methodological, and technological innovations on practical issues and promote associated applications.


This seminar was initiated by Anne Whiston Spirn, a tenured professor of MIT and a reputed landscape architect and ecologist. She has conducted extensive studies on the practice research carried out by Ian L. McHarg at the University of Pennsylvania and the WMRT Firm led by himself, including one of his most notable achievements of innovative practice research, Design with Nature. Meanwhile, she is curious about the practice research in China, and has started a program at MIT focusing on the work of the College of Architecture and Landscape of Peking University and Turenscape over the past two decades, and how the interaction between research and practice has promoted knowledge innovation to address the pressing issues of the urbanization in China. Inspired by Professor Spirn, my thoughts on the patterns and challenges of practice research by Peking University-Turenscape can be concluded into the answers to three questions:


First, why do we need practice research? Targeted practice research can help improve our understanding to new discourses and generate theoretical guidance or technical roadmaps to new challenges. For instance, issues arising midst the urbanization in China see few references of prediction patterns or solutions from other countries, given the regional differences in cultural contexts, social institution, and geographical conditions. Also, the applicability of the current wide-ranging theories and methods remains unknown to Chinese cases. In some sense, it requires the spirit of “crossing the river by feeling the stones”—Only by conducting practice research can we gain the knowledge and methodologies to address authentic practice issues with constant attempts.


Second, who does practice research? They can be college faculties and students, researchers, and planners / designers. However, the instructional evaluation of faculties of most Chinese design colleges measures the number of published papers and citations, rather than practice research, leading to a pedantic ecology where scholars are keen on studying the subjects commissioned by the government, instead of those sponsored by private enterprises coping with the problems in practice. In addition, the subjects on social topics are usually less studied. This “paper-first” instructional institution also defines the faculty structure of colleges and universities, neglecting practice research in curriculum design and teaching systems. The research that divorces from practice is bound to fail to solve actual problems, and such a college training would not guarantee the graduates to be prepared for real design tasks. This deteriorates the innovation capacity and problem-solving ability of design professionals and hinders the development of design disciplines to respond to contemporary missions.


In China, before the aggressive urbanization and market reform, many state-owned planning and design institutes had a good tradition of “practice as research” with authentic cases of urban-rural development; Afterwards, with the rapid changes of China’s socio-economic environment, these institutes have finished their transformation into capital-driven firms, which have faced new challenges in knowledge and technical innovation and working-mode reform so as to fulfill the profession’s contemporary tasks. However, generic planning schemes are popularly employed, and stereotypes like “axes-corridors-centers,” “cross-river development,” or “coastal growth” are prevailing across China. Worse, the fraudulent or vicious bidding and the low payment standard never raised for almost 20 years have hindered the industry’s inputs in practice research. As a result, planning and design professionals have seen a degradation in research capacity and innovative intelligence, who now become nothing but “cheap labor force” for repetitive works, failing to respond to the new requirements of the state’s institutional reforms in natural resource conservation and urban-rural planning.


Third, how to promote practice research and knowledge innovation? First of all, colleges and research institutes should re-emphasize the importance of practice research for design disciplines, and then abolish the mechanisms impeding research enthusiasm—Alarmed by the cost of lives during COVID-19 pandemic and the problems exposed in this period, the “paper-first” evaluation system of college faculties has been called off by related departments[1]. Moreover, researchers who are enthusiastic for addressing social issues through design interventions and influencing younger scholars to put more efforts in practice research should be more rewarded. Also, the increasingly market-oriented industry is reshaping the climate in the fields of planning and design, where the institutes good at practice research would be more competitive in business and talent recruitment. As stated by Friedrich Engels over a century ago, one market demand works better than ten universities to stimulate technical progress[2]. Therefore, the healthy development and long-term promotion of practice research relies on the growth of the market-oriented industry.


As an ancient Chinese adage advises, if one can make things better for one day, he should make them better every day[3]. In face of the ever-changing social and natural challenges, practice research paves the path for innovations in theory, methodology, and technology. This is particularly true for Landscape Architecture and Urban and Rural Planning, because planning and design practices are essentially a research process to find out the optimal solutions. As one type of the practice research, “prototype study” discussed in this issue offers a paradigm for the innovation of knowledge and methodology. Oriented to future challenges and uncertainties, it would help extend the horizon of Landscape Architecture, providing designers and scholars with prospective design insights and flexible working methods.


REFERENCES

[1] Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2020, February 20). Notice from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology on Issuing “Several Opinions on Regulating the Use of Related Indicators of SCI Papers in Colleges and Universities to Establish Rational Evaluation Orientation”. Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A16/moe_784/202002/t20200223_423334.html

[2] Lu, J. (2008). Interpretation of Marxism Literature. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.

[3] Zeng, S. (2018). The Great Learning (Q. Liu, Tran.). Nanjing: Phoenix Science Press.


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