白金男

  Balk Kumnam: public design essential to China

  韩国首尔成均馆大学艺术学院教授白金男：

  中国的公共设计必不可少

  There was a rarely known remote village in South Korea, where all the buildings wore a dilapidated look. One day, a group of students from an art school arrived and painted the walls and rooftops of the buildings and public areas with fresh looking pictures. Now the village has become a popular tourist attraction.

  That is the charm of public design, an art to make public space more attractive, Balk Kumnam, professor of the College of Art at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea, told a “City, Design and Harmony” academic forum for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network conference yesterday.

  Five years ago, South Korea started to pay close attention to public design and each year set aside money for public design from taxes paid by the people.

  “Public design is closely linked to people's daily lives and, as in a few countries, a lot of innovative ideas for public design in South Korea have come from ordinary people.”

  The economic development of a country should go hand in hand with the environment, otherwise money would have to be spent to rebuild the environment, the design expert said.

  China, a country with a booming economy, should also pay greater attention to public design as soon as possible, he said.

  “Many countries will be jealous of China in terms of its long history and profound culture, which have laid a solid foundation for public design, allowing the country to explore and turn a wide variety of cultural elements into physical designs.”

  But public design involving only government agencies would soon lose popularity and fade. Those worked on together by the government and the people would be well-received, the professor said.(Ｊａｎｅ Ｌａｉ)

  韩国有一个鲜为人知的偏远村庄，在那里所有的建筑看上去都很破旧。有一天，一群来自艺术学校的学生抵达这个村庄后，在建筑物和公共场所的墙壁、屋顶上进行粉刷和彩绘，还附上让人耳目一新的照片。如今，这个村庄已经变成了一个热门的旅游景点。

  “这就是公共设计的魅力，它能使公共空间变得更具吸引力。”韩国首尔的成均馆大学艺术学院教授白金男在昨日联合国教科文组织创意城市网络大会“城市，设计与和谐”学术论坛上表示。

  5年前，韩国开始密切关注公共设计，每年从税收中拨款用于公共设计建设。

  他认为，一个国家的经济发展应该与环境建设携手共进，否则将不得不把钱花在环境的重建上。中国是一个经济蓬勃发展的国家，也应在公共设计方面尽快给予更多的关注。“许多国家很羡慕中国，因为中国有着悠久的历史文化，为公共设计奠定了坚实的基础，使国家能探索并将大量的文化元素变为物理设计。”白金男说，“然而，单靠政府机构是不够的，公共设计需要政府和人们一同努力并为之珍惜。”

  （张舜 编译）