The architectural wonder of impermanent cities | Rahul Mehrotra

翻译人员: Archi Xiao 校对人员: Bighead Ge

On this planet today,

今天在这个世界上，

there are about 50 cities that are larger than five million people.

有50个人口超过500万的城市。

I'm going to share with you the story of one such city,

接下来我想分享其中一个城市的故事，

a city of seven million people,

一个拥有700万人口的城市。

but a city that's a temporary megacity, an ephemeral megacity.

但是这个特大城市 是临时搭建的，很短暂，

This is a city that is built for a Hindu religious festival

这个城市是为了 印度教的节日而搭建的，

called Kumbh Mela,

节日的名字叫大壶节。

which occurs every 12 years, in smaller editions every four years,

这个节日每12年举行一次， 每4年以小一点的规模举行，

and takes place at the confluence

就在印度恒河和亚穆纳河两条河流

of the Ganges and the Yamuna rivers in India.

汇合的地方举办。

And for this festival,

为了庆祝这个节日，

about 100 million people congregate.

约1亿人聚在一起。

The reason so many people congregate here,

这么多人聚在一起，

is the Hindus believe that during the festival,

是因为印度教徒相信在这个节日，

the cycle every 12 years,

12年为一个轮回，

if you bathe at the confluence of these two great rivers

如果你在这两条河的汇合处沐浴，

you are freed from rebirth.

便可经历重生得到自由。

It's a really compelling idea,

这是个非常打动人的信念，

you are liberated from life as we know it.

我们可以理解为从生命中得到解放。

And this is what attracts these millions.

正是这个信仰吸引了上亿人，

And an entire megacity is built to house them.

而一个特大城市为了 容纳这些人也随之落成。

Seven million people live there for the 55 days,

700万人在这里住上55天，

and the other 100 million visit.

还有另外1亿人前来参加。

These are images from the same spot

这是同一地方在不同时期拍摄的照片，

that we took over the 10 weeks

一张是10周以前， 城市尚未开工建设时拍的，

that it takes for the city to emerge.

一张是特大城市 快要成型的时候拍的。

After the monsoon,

季风过后，

as the waters of these rivers begin to recede

当这两条河流逐渐消退，

and the sand banks expose themselves,

河床开始显露出来的时候，

it becomes the terrain for the city.

这就成为了特大城市的地带。

And by the 15th of January,

到了1月15日，

starting 15th of October to 15th of January,

从上一年10月15日 到下一年的1月15日，

in these weeks an entire city emerges.

也就这几个月的功夫， 一整个城市拔地而起。

A city that houses seven million people.

一个能容纳700万人的城市。

What is fascinating is this city

令人惊奇的是，这个城市

actually has all the characteristics of a real megacity:

拥有一个真正的特大城市 所有该有的特点：

a grid is employed to lay the city out.

城市的布局井然，

The urban system is a grid

城市系统就像是一个棋盘，

and every street on this city

城市里的每一条街道，

goes across the river on a pontoon bridge.

就是横跨河流的一条条浮桥。

Incredibly resilient,

它异常地坚韧，

because if there's an unseasonal downpour or if the river changes course,

就算遇上反季节的暴雨 或者河流改道，

the urban system stays intact,

这个城市系统仍能保持完好无损，

the city adjusts itself to this terrain which can be volatile.

这个城市会调整自己 来暂时适应这种地势。

It also replicates all forms of physical, as well as social, infrastructure.

同时它也复制了城市里 该有的物理和社会基础设施。

Water supply, sewage, electricity,

用水供给、下水道、电气，

there are 1,400 CCTV cameras that are used for security

还有1400台用于安保的闭路电视

by an entire station that is set up.

就在搭建起来的电路站之上。

But also social infrastructure,

同时还有社会基础设施，

like clinics, hospitals,

如诊所、医院，

all sorts of community services,

各种各样的社区服务，

that make this function like any real megacity would do.

使之如真正的特大城市那样运转起来。

10,500 sweepers are employed by the city.

这座城市还雇佣了10500名清洁工。

It has a governance system, a Mela Adhikari,

它还有自己的管理系统， 一个Mela Adhikari，

or the commissioner of the festival,

也可以叫做节庆的行政长官，

that ensures that land is allocated,

以确保土地被合理分配利用，

there are systems for all of this,

有各种系统支撑城市，

that the system of the city, the mobility, all works efficiently.

确保城市系统和流动性 都能高效运转。

You know, it was the cleanest and the most efficient Indian city

那是我住过的最干净、最高效

I've lived in.

的印度城市。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And that's what it looks like in comparison to Manhattan,

这是它跟曼哈顿的对比照，

30 square kilometers,

30平方千米，

that's the scale of the city.

这就是这个城市的规模。

And this is not an informal city or a pop-up city.

这不是一个不规范的城市 也不是一个快闪的城市，

This is a formal city, this is a state enterprise,

这是一个规范的城市，一个国家企业，

the government sets this up.

由政府一手建立的。

In today's world of neoliberalism and capitalism,

今天新自由主义和资本主义大行其道，

where the state has devolved itself complete responsibility

国家已经发展成了

from making and designing cities,

为城市的设计和建立全权负责，

this is an incredible case.

这是一个非凡的案例。

It's a deliberate, intentional city, a formal city.

这个城市是深思熟虑的， 有意打造的，规范有序的。

And it's a city that sits on the ground very lightly.

这个城市只是搭建于地表之上。

It sits on the banks of these rivers.

它建立在河床之上。

And it leaves very little mark.

几乎不留一丝痕迹。

There are no foundations;

没有任何根基；

fabric is used to build this entire city.

整个城市是用织物搭建起来的。

What's also quite incredible

同样令人惊奇的是

is that there are five materials that are used to build this settlement

打造这个供700万人生活的城市

for seven million people:

只用到了五种材料：

eight-foot tall bamboo, string or rope,

8英尺长的竹子、绳索、

nails or screw and a skinning material.

钉子或螺钉，以及一种表面材料。

Could be corrugated metal, a fabric or plastic.

可能是波纹金属，织物或者塑料。

And these materials come together and aggregate.

这些材料结合在一起，

It's like a kit of parts.

就像是一套零件，

And it's used all the way from a small tent,

可用于城市的所有地方，从小小的帐篷，

which might house five or six people, or a family,

可容纳5到6个人或者一个小家庭，

to temples that can house 500, sometimes 1,000 people.

到能容纳500人， 甚至上千人的庙宇。

And this kit of parts, and this imagination of the city,

这套零件或者说 这个城市的设想，

allows it to be disassembled.

能允许它被快速拆卸。

And so at the end of the festival, within a week,

到了节庆的尾声，在一周之内，

the entire city is disassembled.

整个城市就能被拆卸。

These are again images from the same spot.

这都是同一个地点的照片。

And the terrain is offered back to the river,

当季风来临，河水再次上涨的时候，

as with the monsoon the water swells again.

整个地带再次被河流淹没。

And it's this sort of imagination as a kit of parts

这是一种把城市变成一套零件的设想，

that allows this disassembly

能够被拆卸，

and the reabsorption of all this material.

让所有材料得到回收再利用。

So the electricity poles go to little villages in the hinterland,

电线杆会被送到内陆的小村庄，

the pontoon bridges are used in small towns,

浮桥则用在小城镇，

the material is all reabsorbed.

这些材料全被再回收。

Fascinating, it's amazing.

令人啧啧称奇，非常棒。

Now, you may embrace these Hindu beliefs or not.

你也许不太相信印度教信仰。

But you know, this is a stunning example,

但这是个神奇的例子，

and it's worthy of reflection.

值得人深思。

Here, human beings spend an enormous amount of energy and imagination

在这里，人们耗费了 巨大的力量与想象力，

knowing that the city is going to reverse,

深知这个城市将会被逆转，

it's going to be disassembled,

将会被拆卸，

it's going to disappear,

将会消失，

it's the ephemeral megacity.

这是个短暂的特大城市，

And it has profound lessons to teach us.

给我们上了一堂宝贵的课。

Lessons about how to touch the ground lightly,

这是一堂有关于如何 尽可能靠近地表打造建筑，

about reversibility,

关于逆转，

about disassembly.

关于拆卸，

Rather amazing.

令人惊奇万分。

And you know, we are, as humans, obsessed with permanence.

要知道作为人类，我们都沉迷于永恒。

We resist change.

我们抗拒改变。

It's an impulse that we all have.

这是一种所有人共有的天性。

And we resist change in spite of the fact

我们抗拒改变，哪怕事实上

that change is perhaps the only constant in our lives.

改变才是我们生活中的常态。

Everything has an expiry date,

所有东西都有期限，

including Spaceship Earth, our planet.

包括宇宙飞船一样的地球， 也就是我们的星球。

So what can we learn from these sorts of settlements?

那我们从这些建造过程中 能学到什么呢？

Burning Man, of course much smaller,

就如火人节，规模要更小一些，

but reversible.

但是同样能逆转。

Or the thousands of markets for transaction,

或者出现在全球各地的

that appear around the globe

成千上万的交易市场，

in Asia, Latin America, Africa, this one in Mexico,

在亚洲、拉丁美洲、非洲， 图中这个在墨西哥，

where the parking lots are animated on the weekends, about 50,000 vendors,

一到周末停车场就被调用起来， 可以容纳5万个摊位，

but on a temporal cycle.

这只是一个临时的区域。

The farmer's market in the Americas:

美洲大陆上的农贸市场：

it's an amazing phenomenon, creates new chemistries,

这是一种不可思议的现象， 催化出了新的化学反应，

extends the margin of space

使得空间得以延伸，

that is unused or not used optimally, like parking lots, for example.

这是未被使用或者 未被充分利用的地方，如停车场。

In my own city of Mumbai,

在我的城市孟买，

where I practice as an architect and a planner,

我是一名建筑师，一名规划师，

I see this in the everyday landscape.

我每天都能看到这样的景色。

I call this the Kinetic City.

我称之为“动态城市”。

It twitches like a live organism; it's not static.

她像一个活生生的、转变中的 有机体，并不是静态的，

It changes every day,

每天都在变化，

on sometimes predictable cycles.

以一种偶尔能被预测的周期在变化。

About six million people

大概有600万人口

live in these kinds of temporary settlements.

生活在这种临时的建筑中。

Like -- unfortunately, like refugee camps,

举一个不太恰当的例子：类似难民营、

the slums of Mumbai, the favelas of Latin America.

孟买的贫民窟、拉丁美洲的贫民窟。

Here, the temporary is becoming the new permanent.

在那些地方，临时正成为 一种新的永恒。

Here, urbanism is not about grand vision,

在那里，城市化并不是宏大的愿景，

it's about grand adjustment.

而是宏大的调整。

On the street in Mumbai, during the Ganesh festival,

甘奈施节期间，在孟买的街道上

a transformation.

会出现一个转变。

A community hall is created for 10 days.

一个为期10天的社区大堂建了起来，

Bollywood films are shown,

放映着宝莱坞电影，

thousands congregate for dinners and celebration.

成千上万的人聚在一起吃饭，庆祝。

It's made out of paper-mache and plaster of Paris.

这栋建筑是由纸浆和石膏做成的，

Designed to be disassembled,

可被拆卸的设计，

and in 10 days, overnight, it disappears,

十天以后，一夜之间消失不见，

and the street goes back to anonymity.

街道又恢复如初。

Or our wonderful open spaces, we call them maidans.

又或者是那种美好的 开放空间，被称为广场，

And it's used for this incredibly nuanced and complicated,

用作板球运动的场地。 板球是一种非常微妙又复杂的，

fascinating Indian game, called cricket,

非常好玩的印度游戏，

which, I believe, the British invented.

我相信是英国人发明的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And in the evenings,

傍晚时分，

a wedding wraps around the cricket pitch --

一场婚礼围绕在球场展开——

Notice, the cricket pitch is not touched, it's sacred ground.

请注意，板球场不能被碰到， 那可是神圣的领域。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But here, the club members and the wedding party

但是在那里，球队和婚礼派对

partake in tea through a common kitchen.

在一个共同的厨房里一起喝茶。

And at midnight, it's disassembled,

午夜的时候场地就会被拆卸，

and the space offered back to the city.

把占用的空间归还给城市。

Here, urbanism is an elastic condition.

在这里，城市化是一种弹性的条件。

And so, if we reflect about these questions,

如果我们回想一下这些问题，

I mean, I think many come to mind.

可能脑海里会浮现好几个。

But an important one is,

但是最重要的一个就是，

are we really, in our cities,

在我们的城市里，我们是否

in our imagination about urbanism,

凭着我们对城市化的设想，

making permanent solutions for temporary problems?

想要用永恒的方法来解决一时的问题？

Are we locking resources into paradigms

我们是否把资源固定成一种范式，

that we don't even know will be relevant in a decade?

甚至并不知道十年之后是否依然有用？

This becomes, I think,

这是在这项研究中，

an interesting question that arises from this research.

我提出的一个有趣的问题。

I mean, look at the abandoned shopping malls in North America,

看看在北美郊区那些被遗弃的

suburban North America.

购物广场。

Retail experts have predicted that in the next decade,

零售专家预测在10年之后，

of the 2,000 malls that exist today,

现存的2000个购物广场中，

50 percent will be abandoned.

百分之五十会被遗弃。

Massive amount of material, capturing resources,

这里面庞大的材料，获取的资源，

that will not be relevant soon.

很快就没用了。

Or the Olympic stadiums.

或者世界各地的

Around the globe, cities build these

奥林匹克竞技场，各大城市动用

under great contestation with massive resources,

庞大的资源竞相建造，

but after the games go,

但是奥运会一过，

they can't often get absorbed into the city.

这些竞技场往往不能融入到城市。

Couldn't these be nomadic structures, deflatable,

为什么我们不能将其变成 可移动的、可收缩的建筑，

we have the technology for that,

我们有这样的技术，

that get gifted to smaller towns around the world or in those countries,

把它送给下届主办国 或世界上其他更小的城镇，

or are stored and moved for the next Olympics?

又或者收藏起来移交到下一场奥运会？

A massive, inefficient use of resources.

这个资源利用庞大且低效。

Like the circus.

其实就像马戏团一样。

I mean, we could imagine it like the circus,

我们可以把她想象成一个马戏团，

this wonderful institution that used to camp in cities,

这个过去驻扎在城市的美好的设施，

set up this lovely kind of visual dialogue with the static city.

在静态的城市中所建立起的 美好的视觉对话，

And within it, the amazement.

其中充斥着一种惊奇。

Children of different ethnic groups become suddenly aware of each other,

不同民族的孩子们 突然发现对方的存在，

people of color become aware of others,

不同肤色的人们意识到其他人的存在，

income groups and cultures and ethnicities

不同收入群体、不同文化、 不同民族的人们

all come together around the amazement of the ring with animals and performers.

相聚在有动物和表演者的， 令人惊叹的马戏场周围。

New chemistries are created, people become aware of things,

新的化学反应产生，人们有所发现，

and this moves on to the next town.

而这一切将传递到下一个城镇。

Or nature, the fluxes of nature, climate change,

或者大自然，流动的自然，气候变化，

how do we deal with this, can we be more accommodating?

我们是怎样处理的呢， 我们可否变得更适应变化？

Can we create softer urban systems?

我们可否创造更柔软的城市系统？

Or are we going to challenge nature continuously

还是说我们是否会 沿用那些刻板的基础建设，

with heavy infrastructure,

用已经在进行却不太成功的方式

which we are already doing, unsuccessfully?

继续不断挑战自然？

Now, I'm not arguing

我不是在争辩

that we've got to make our cities like a circus,

要把自己的城市变成马戏团，

I'm not arguing that cities must be completely temporary.

也不是在劝说 城市都应该全变成临时的。

I'm only making a plea

我只是在提出一个请求，

that we need to make a shift in our imagination about cities,

应该转变一下我们对城市的设想，

where we need to reserve more space

我们需要保留更多的空间，

for uses on a temporal scale.

保留一些供临时用途的空间。

Where we need to use our resources efficiently,

在这些空间里我们需要 有效地利用资源，

to extend the expiry date of our planet.

去延长我们星球的寿命。

We need to change planning urban design cultures,

我们需要改变对城市设计文化的规划，

to think of the temporal, the reversible,

想想那些临时的、可逆转的，

the disassembleable.

可拆卸的规划。

And that can be tremendous

这样的规划可能意义重大，

in terms of the effect it might have on our lives.

就其影响力而言， 可能影响我们的生活。

I often think back to the Kumbh Mela

我常常回想起我和学生们

that I visited with my students and I studied,

一起参加的大壶节， 我在那里做研究，

and this was a moment where the city had been disassembled.

当时正值整个城市被拆卸之后，

A week after the festival was over.

就在节庆结束的一周后。

There was no mark.

并没有留下任何痕迹。

The terrain was waiting to be covered over by the water,

整个地带正等待着被河水淹没，

to be consumed.

等待被吞噬。

And I went to thank a high priestess

我去向一名女祭司道谢，

who had helped us and my students through our research

在研究期间她帮助了 我和学生的研究，

and facilitated us through this process.

指导着我们经历整个节庆过程。

And I went to her with great enthusiasm,

我满怀热情走向她，

and I told her about how much we had learned

我跟她说我们学习到了很多东西，

about infrastructure, the city, the efficiency of the city,

有关于基础设施、城市、 还有城市的运转效率，

the architecture, the five materials that made the city.

建筑物、打造城市的五种材料。

She looked really amused, she was smiling.

她看起来像是被逗乐了，微笑着。

In any case, she leaned forward

她开始身体前倾，

and put her hand on my head to bless me.

把一只手放在我头上，予以我祝福。

And she whispered in my ear, she said,

接着她在我耳旁小声说道，

"Feel blessed that the Mother Ganges

“恒河母亲允许你们

allowed you all to sit in her lap for a few days."

在她的膝盖上待上几天， 这是对你们的眷顾。”

I've often thought about this,

自那以后我常常回想起这句话，

and of course, I understood what she said.

当然我懂她的意思。

She said, cities, people, architecture will come and go,

她说的是，城市、人类和 建筑都要经历生死轮回，

but the planet is here to stay.

只有星球是一直存在的。

Touch it lightly, leave a minimal mark.

轻轻触碰，几乎不着痕迹。

And I think that's an important lesson for us as citizens and architects.

我想这对于作为居民和建筑师 的大众来说是很重要的一课。

And I think it was this experience

我想正是这段经历

that made me believe that impermanence is bigger than permanence

让我相信暂时的状态比永恒更重要，

and bigger than us all.

比我们所有人都重要。

Thank you for listening.

谢谢你们的聆听。

(Applause)

（掌声）