Experts at Chengdu gathering find space to discuss

On Oct 26, the second Sanlian City for Humanity Forum was held in Chengdu, Sichuan province. The annual forum, organized by Sanlian Life Weekly, was themed "Cities and Us: Public in Flux". It aimed to explore the changes and possibilities of the public sphere brought about by the wave of digital technology and the multilayered connotations and creativity of public spaces after being used and interpreted by different groups of people.

Eight speakers from the fields of architecture, art and humanities were invited to discuss public spaces and publicness in cities from their different disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives. They explored how the experience of urban life can be approached from a human-centered perspective.

Dai Jinhua, professor from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University and a film researcher, notes that film art is an essential part of urban life. The process of watching a film is metaphorical, where strangers gather at the cinema and then part ways, enjoying a similar experience and gaining different insights.

"Cinemas bring us together. The cinema itself is one of the important modern spaces," she says.

Professor at MIT School of Architecture and Planning, Yung Ho Chang, discussed the responsibilities and rights of architects, citing the example of his design of the China Academy of Art Liangzhu Campus.

Unlike most colleges and universities, where dormitories, teaching buildings and other areas are separate, the buildings on Liangzhu Campus are connected by a passage and different areas are distributed between floors.