Sustainable Relationship in Design: The Contribution Wisdom of Academies Landscape in Southern Jiangsu from an “Interpersonal View” Perspective

Shu Xu, Weimin Guo, Xinyi Wang and Zhaolian Xing
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Shu Xu: School of Design, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Weimin Guo: School of Design, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Xinyi Wang: School of Design, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Zhaolian Xing: School of Design, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: In recent years, designers have increasingly emphasized sustainability in landscape design, but they have focused more on the “human-nature” relationship while neglecting the relationship between people. As a result, problems such as inconvenient use of the landscape and waste of resources for management and renovation have been caused. To solve this problem, it is necessary to establish the correct concept at the beginning of design. Traditional Chinese ideas can often provide appropriate reference points for many contemporary issues, including design. Taking the landscapes of ancient academies in southern Jiangsu as an example, this paper tries to explore the methods and ideas of the designers to deal with the “people-people” relationship in the process of construction, as an example of sustainable landscape design. Both textual research and metrological historiography were used to examine and summarize the characteristics of the landscape construction of the academies in southern Jiangsu, combined with the analysis of the theory of “interpersonal view”. It is apparent that the landscape construction of the academies in southern Jiangsu is characterized by site selection with favorable geography and people, scale and function with the balance of supply and demand, building construction with thrift and efficiency, and a site-specific and simple courtyard built. The formation of these characteristics originates from the founder’s design concept of care about education and being kind to scholars, saving materials and taking good care of the people, benefiting others before to themselves, and portraying the Confucian idea of “great harmony in the world”. The thought and design concept of the landscape construction of the academies in southern Jiangsu can provide a reference point for landscape designers to solve the sustainable problem of the “people-people” relationship in landscape design.

Keywords: academy landscape; ancient scholar; “interpersonal view”; confucianism; design concept; design motivation; design purpose; academy garden; academy architecture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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