Thesis Writing

Nomadic Spaces In An Urban Context

- a study on reconstructing mobile hawkers system

Shiyu Cao scao2635@uni.sydney.edu.au

iDIxin Wei dwei0979@uni.sydney.edu.au

University of Sydney/ Master of Architecture [MARC6000]

Tutor: Sebastian Tsang/ Coordinator: Duanfang Lu

2022.06.07

There is no doubt that hawkers have played a significant role in China’s society, economy, and culture. In recent discussions, however, such topics have been characterised as undesirable, outmoded, and chaotic in the context of modern urbanisation. Nonetheless, this thesis report will examine the potential and positive impact of hawkers as a cultural presentation to its surroundings and urban structure as a whole from a different angle. The study will begin with the nomadic nature of hawkers, supported by Gilles Louis René Deleuze’s theoretical framework, to argue the necessity of street hawkers as one and whole.In order to accomplish this, the research will map the lost spaces in Chongqing’s capital city and investigate the spatial relationships between hawker activity areas and urban renewal.

HongYaDong, a commercial district for social media influencers, will be the primary focus of this study. The construction of space is accomplished through the movement of the crowd, whereas the hawker cart is created by materialising the behaviour and gestures of hawkers. The design permits the use of a three-dimensional transportation system as a mobile hawker space carrier. It also investigates whether the hawker cable cart can become a new container for traditional culture and have a positive effect on the revival of traditional foods and crafts. And how, as a symbol of nomadic space, it can restore vitality to the rigid city. By analysing the shape of the hawker cable cart and the city’s cable system, this research will give urban transportation a new cultural significance and provide a new space for hawkers to survive from a vertical perspective. It will provide a new case study for transforming the urban transportation system and urban landscape.

An overview of the hawker cart station

List of Illustrations

Contents

I Abstract

II Contents

III List of Illustrations

IV Introductions and backgrounds

Part one: Introduction

- Problem findings

- Introduction to theoretical support

- Methodology

1. Support research

2. Research limitation

Part two: background

- Current Situation of Chongqing Street Hawkers

- Theoretical Analysis of Situation

V Design projects

Part one: Cable car system

Part two: Cable car design & Tower

1. Gesture - the cart 2. Movement - the tower VI

f. 0.0 Cover diagrm illustrated by author

f. 1.1 An overview of the hawker cart station

f. 2.1 History of street hawkers

f. 2.2 Opinions on whether or not street vendors contribute to the city’s vitality.

f.2.3 Opinions on whether people in their community can still purchase traditional goods from street vendors.

f. 2.4 Opinions on what people enjoy about night markets (street hawkers)

f. 2.5 Opinions on whether street vendors are vanishing from modern cities

f. 2.6 Opinions on whether or not the decline of street hawkers signifies a loss of traditional culture

f. 3.1 Mapping of Urban Village

f. 3.2 Mapping of Night Market

f. 3.3 Mapping of Hawker’s Route

f. 4.1 Mapping of Lost Spaces & Memories

f. 4.2 Mapping of Hawker Cart Stops

f. 5.1 Layout - Level 1&2

f. 5.2 Layout - Level 3&4

f. 5.3 Layout - Level 5&6

f. 5.4 Deisgn process of primative form

f. 5.5 Module Prototype

f. 5.6 Design of one of the small carts

f. 5.7 Tower modules

f. 5.8 Daily activity analysis of Chongqing citizens

f. 5.9 Movement analysis & tower layout

f. 6.1 Section of Hawker Tower

IV INTRODUCTIONS AND BACKGROUNDS

Part one: Introduction

- Problem findings

There was once a time in China when street hawkers were considered a part of the traditional culture and a symbol of the prosperity of cities. However, this soon altered as a result of China’s revitalisation and urbanisation. As dilapidated houses and neighbourhoods are demolished, these hawkers progressively disappear. Every city’s ultimate objective is orderliness and consistency. Thus, the existence of hawkers became inappropriate in some way. In certain cities, night markets were formed to serve as gathering areas for hawkers. In most cases, however, hawkers are excluded from the broader urban planning.

It appears that these street workers cannot coexist with modern cities, making them the opposite of modern civilization. Nonetheless, as a result of the deportation of hawkers, Chinese cities gradually lost their identity and uniqueness, resulting in a decline in culture and vitality. Therefore, this thesis will examine the significance of hawkers from this perspective. Meanwhile, the project also proposed a possibility to reconstructed the current hawkers system and fulfilled the loss space in Chinese cities in a practical way.

- Introduction to theoretical support

The design rationales are founded on an examination of Gilles Louis René Deleuze’s theoretical framework, as well as architectural philosophy that departs from the same conceptual foundation. The project’s goal is to discuss the possibility of establishing a nomadic street hawker system in order to revitalise the city’s vibrancy.

- Methodology

The report will use a variety of approaches, including questionnaires, to gather preliminary data on the existing condition of street hawkers as well as citizens’ options and opinions on such a social phenomena. Meanwhile, to compensate for the limits of the study technique, the reports will be combined with various fieldwork research concentrating on the working conditions of street hawkers in order to establish a solid foundation.

f. 2.1 History of street hawkers

1. Support research

The questionnaire for this study contains eleven questions, including ten multiple-choice questions (consisting of nine single-choice questions and one multiple-choice question) and one short-answer question. The questionnaire was developed with two primary objectives in mind: first, the evolution of the street vendor’s market over time. Second, the impact that the changes had on the city’s growth. Eighty interviewees were selected at random from various districts and regions in Chongqing. This study aims to provide a foundation for the understanding and findings of the current situation of street vendors in Chongqing, as well as the public’s perspective on the matter.

50 per cent of the interviewees are between the ages of 15 and 30, with the rest evenly distributed between the ages of 31 and 60. Even though 7.5 per cent of interviewees stated that they are not interested in street hawkers or other forms of night markets, 97.5 per cent of interviewees still hold a positive view of street hawkers, believing that they bring vitality to the city and its environs.

In the meantime, 85% of interviewees believe that street vendors and night markets (of all types) are declining, particularly the traditional ones. Only 31.25 per cent of respondents say they frequently encounter or purchase traditional products in their neighbourhoods. 71.25 per cent of respondents believe that the loss of traditional street vendors signifies the abandonment of cultural traditions. In response to the open-ended question, 74 valid responses were collected, and 75 per cent of interviewees held a negative view of the disappearance of street vendors. All the discussions, whether positive or negative, centred primarily on the ability of street vendors to shape their surroundings and the city. Frequently mentioned responses to this question include ‘City is losing its identity and vitality,’ ‘Night markets have their own vibe, distinct from shopping malls or restaurants,’ and ‘similar products may be offered in different cities, but each city’s interpretation is what makes it unique.’

In conclusion, citizens have overwhelmingly positive attitudes towards street vendors and night markets. They acknowledged the significance of street vendors and their impact on the existing environment. In the majority of Chinese cities, however, such chaotic, crowded, and marginal spaces are regarded as “negative spaces” and are frequently disregarded in daily life. In light of this, the questionnaire has also expressed concern regarding such a circumstance.

2. Research limitation

Due to temporary travel restrictions and controls in China, the questionnaires were distributed online. Because questions were predetermined, it has limitations. It examines the street hawkers system in Chongqing from the perspective of the general public and focuses on the cultural and spatial aspects of the current system. Nonetheless, the thesis will integrate other research articles to engage with diverse perspectives.

f. 2.2 Opinions on whether or not street vendors contribute to the city’s vitality.

f. 2.4 Opinions on what people enjoy about night markets (street hawkers)

A. The vitality

B. Representation of cities’ culture and traditions

C. The traditional foods/ crafts D. A nice place to spend time with friends and famliy

f. 2.3 Opinions on whether people in their community can still purchase traditional goods from street vendors.

f. 2.5 Opinions on whether street vendors are vanishing from modern cities

f. 2.6 Opinions on whether or not the decline of street hawkers signifies a loss of traditional culture

Part two: background

- Current Situation of Chongqing Street Hawkers & Mappings

Chongqing is a mountain city endowed with supernatural qualities. In his short story “The Mountain Place,” Maugham described it as a dreary, gray city. “It is enveloped in mist because it is perched on a steep cliff at the confluence of two major rivers, therefore it is surrounded by river water...... Rugged mountains surround the city……” This piece from the 1920s describes the towering mountains, flowing rivers, and rough terrain of Chongqing. The city consists of steep staircases, stilted buildings constructed on the mountains, ropeways over the river, “bangbang” human porters, and peddlers hauling stretcher bars. The peddlers always go through the tiny alleys, connecting individuals.

In 2018, Chongqing became an online celebrity metropolis through social media in a short amount of time, and the city’s old landmarks have been eradicated by the urban makeover of uniform buildings and streets. Only the last of the ropeways across the river survive as tourist attractions, when once there were densely packed stilted buildings. There are no longer any street vendors, and only a handful of unemployed “bangbangs” remain. The major metropolis of Chongqing is being rapidly and substantially urbanized. To determine the link between street vendors and urban space.

The study mapped two types of locations that are intimately tied to the existence of street vendors: the first is the residential space of street vendors, the urban village (f.3.1), and the second is the gathering space of street vendors, the temporary market (f.3.2). Comparing the locations of the two types of areas and the range of which they disappear due to urban planning reveals a significant degree of regularity. In other words, temporary markets always form in a radial pattern surrounding urban villages. When urban villages undergo transformation, markets will vanish along with them. However, they will emerge rapidly in the vicinity of the new urban villages. When we overlap the first two maps, we can sketch the hawkers’ walking routes.(f.3.3) The result is that the variety of hawkers’ activities is reducing as the urban village area shrinks. In highly urbanized areas, there will be a very small population of hawkers.

f. 3.1 Mapping of Urban Village

f. 3.2 Mapping of Night Market

- Theoretical Analysis of Situation

Due to the urbanization and standardization of Chongqing, the number of street vendors and the vibrancy of formerly inhabited street spaces are steadily declining. According to Jane Jacob, underneath these obviously chaotic and disorganized places lies a marvelous order that maintains the safety of the street and the freedom of the city. (Jacobs,1984 )This is because the temporary space created by vendors walking and selling on the street creates uncertainty in the use of public space, prompting individuals to spontaneously invent everyday uses of the space, such as the temporary formation of an eating space.(Zhisen,2020) Instead, imposed order is ineffective in facilitating human connection and provoking random occurrences. The city also loses its temporal and spatial diversity.

When the spatial boundaries of buildings are specified and spatial functions are established, people will be unable to freely pick their travel path and space usage. This is a territorialization process in which an urban area is transformed into a strictly hierarchical striated or grid space.(Yongguo,2004)

As autonomous movable units, the behavior of vendors is nomadic. Each of their walking paths is an “escape route,” a deterritorialization designed to circumvent the stringent symbolic constraints. (Yongguo,2004) That is, to disregard architectural composition’s limitations. Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that the restoration of hawkers will animate the inflexible urban area.

During urbanization, Chongqing lost its traditional features, like the cross-river cableway, because it was no longer useful. Furthermore, when Chongqing became an influencer and needed the cable car as a brand name, the cable car’s existence made sense. Human activity gives a city its personality, and items only have significance if they interact with people. (Yongguo,2004) Items vanish because no one needs or utilizes them anymore; hence, the effective revitalization of a city entails providing traditional things new ways to exist.

By merging the hawkers and the cable car, this idea intends to provide a suitable place for the hawkers and a new use for the cable car. This revitalizes traditional culture and activates urban space.

f. 3.3 Mapping of Hawker’s Route

Part one: Cable car system

The physical characteristics or peculiarities of street vendors from all over the world are comparable. They sell their wares by driving a modified pedicab or carrying a stick while walking through streets and alleys. However, this group of individuals contributes to the distinctiveness and identities of various regions or nations. The characteristics of these street vendors were shaped and formed by the area in which they resided, which in turn affected the areas in which they worked or resided. Even between neighbouring cities, there are subtle differences between neighbourhoods and districts.

Yet, through the development and urbanisation of contemporary cities, the construction of new architectures and buildings has diluted the uniqueness. Particularly in China, each district or zone is clearly divided. Examining on a grander scale, city planners disregard the complex site conditions, cultural practises, surroundings, and daily needs of various users. The area becomes uniform and centralised. The chaotic and crowded “negative spaces” created by the behaviour of marginalised groups, such as hawkers, are known as “negative spaces.”(Zhisen,2020) These locations are neglected and deteriorating. With this process, the city’s vitality and creativity vanish. In a sense, it is possible to establish an invisible boundary. The glorification of streets, the inclosure of neighbourhoods, and the clarification of building boundaries all sever the tenuous connections between spaces.

The project intends to use the hawker cable car system to transport traditional nomadic hawker activities and to break rigid boundaries with a new nomadic design. The project selects the cross-river cable car, which is also a part of Chongqing’s history, as the carrier of hawker nomadic activities because the movable nature of the cable car fits perfectly with the nomadic nature of hawkers, and the mountainous terrain of Chongqing offers advantageous site conditions for the development of the three-dimensional transportation system. The project identifies the once-thriving hawker districts of the city, including night markets, trade markets, and walking paths. It selects representative lost spaces among the locations to serve as cable car stops and temporary marketplaces. With the station as the focal point and the trolley route as the action line, it ultimately forms a smooth, open, nomadic plane that influences the surrounding area. The movement of carts in this system is unrestricted by rigid symbological or regional boundaries, allowing them to jump from one point to another.(Yongguo,2004)

Each route is a “deterritorialization” process that fills the city’s vertical space with a three-dimensional urban transportation system, elevating negative space to a higher urban level.

f. 4.1 Mapping of Lost Spaces & Memories f. 4.2 Mapping of Hawker Cart Stops

People are the primary focus of nomadic space, while the environment serves as the medium. In his philosophical theory, Gilles Deleuze asserts that the interaction between bodies and the physical environment produces the ‘event,’ and that this ‘event’ can affect other bodies and environments within the same field (Yongguo 2004). And in this way, certain locations develop cultures that are unique and distinct. Such cultures are present and ingrained in human actions and man-made creations. However, any changes to the existing physical worlds or human bodies could result in the extinction or transformation of cultures. In the major cities of China, urban renewal intentionally or otherwise expelled or ignored the existence of street hawkers, resulting in a rift between citizens and modern development. The establishment of the hawker cable car system reconfigures the relationship between citizens and hawkers, bringing virality back to the rigid city. This nomadic space, which is always in motion, constantly generates “events” by using individual or collective carts and bringing back the traditional atmosphere to the field. The open space created by the nomadic behaviour embraces and demonstrates the differences between people. The hawkers and citizens continually interact with the space through a variety of activities such as conversation, experience, change, and creation within the system, thereby contributing to the place’s lively and distinctive character. Culture and tradition are then recreated and preserved in the integration and conflict of different groups. (Zhisen, 2020)

Part two: Cable car design & Tower

The design of cable carts and tower stations has been heavily influenced by the concept of rhizome, which aims to evoke the notion of constructing a proliferative and diverse growth system through body gestures and movement. The body is the subject of a particular space, but it cannot be separated from its surroundings (Zhuo 2004). According to Gilles Deleuze, an isolated body lacks intention or significance until it connects with other objects (Yongguo 2004). The reassembly of the body and the physical world can mutually strengthen and empower each other. This may be one of the explanations for the phenomenon of vendor cart confiscation in China during urban management. When hawkers are deprived of their tools, the process of production and creation ceases, making them the same to everyone else. The hawker’s carts or stalls can be viewed as an apparatus or an extension of his body.

Moreover, when people interact, the group’s activities establish the rules of connection between independent spaces through the movement of the crowd, thereby forming a micro-order between units. (Zhuo,2004) Therefore, when the space inside the street hawkers tower is used as a carrier to reproduce the walking path of hawkers in the city, its spatial connection emerges from the hawkers’ original interaction with the urban crowd. Therefore, the design of the system for hawkers cannot be discussed apart from the contexts and tools.

1. Gesture - the cart

Through their gestures and behaviours, street hawkers are able to break down the spatial barrier and establish their own ‘territories,’ according to an article based on field research that examines the daily activities of street hawkers. They positioned their peddler’s carts, cardboard, or taborets at street corners to fill in empty spaces (Jialin 2010). As street hawkers interact and engage with passengers, they create multiple personal ‘fields’ unconsciously. In addition, these ‘fields’ interacted with one another to shape the character of the region. The constant movement of street hawkers and tourists creates spatial possibilities and uncertainty.

Inspired by the study, the design of cable carts began with a comprehensive study of street hawkers, from the materials they use and their movements during production (cooking or crafting) to their interactions with customers. The movements were analysed primarily from vertical and horizontal perspective.

The design of cable cars also incorporates with the architect Greg Lynn’s blob concept. He stated that the form of architecture is shaped by internal and external forces (fields) around it (Mingyu 2009). Consequently, primary shapes were designed based on the findings of the initial study (f.5.4). The final design of cable carts was subsequently influenced by a detailed analysis of different other specific types of gestures.

The use of gestures in cable cart design not only determines the appearance of carts but also serves as a presentation of field generation and as an enhancement of hawkers’ ability. It enpowered street hawkers’ ability to be nomadic and facilitated more interactions with diverse individuals and locations.

f. 5.6 Design of one of the small carts

2. Movement - the tower

The design of the tower begins at Hongya Dong, the largest commercial district in Chongqing. Hong ya dong’s space is top-down at this stage, and primitive spatial planning limits the occurrence of random activities. In addition, the spiritual essence of a traditional culture is encased in a linear, static architectural shell and surrounded by modern skyscrapers bearing potent symbols of political power. This top-down spatial design has led to the original structure’s monolithic nature. Nonetheless, a vital space should be a spatial system that can adapt to the needs of the public and preserve the city’s memories. Under this objective, the interior space of the tower should also be transformed into a nomadic space comprised of “bodies” and “fields,” with multiple unit spaces representing heterogeneous symbols and the spaces between them.(Yongguo,2004) The tower interacts positively with the surrounding natural environment, forming a dynamic spatial system through the interaction of its components, responding to complex and variable human activities and the urban context, and establishing a public sphere between the building and the city. Contrary to top-down spatial planning and to improve the rigid field surrounding the city, a smooth, open nomad space is utilised. (Zhuo,2004)

5.8 Daily activity analysis of Chongqing citizens

Hawker Tower is an urban memory organism made up of a variety of diverse activities, people, and architectural symbols. It is composed of fragments that are interdependent and influenced by one another, and it will continue to grow and differentiate as time and events pass. In such a system, the relationship between individuals is dynamic(Deleuze,2005), similar to the relationship between two ballroom dancers who transmit information through their changing steps. When one member of a group alters, the others will receive a signal and generate the corresponding effect, achieving automatic control and feedback link.

The space within the tower re-creates the historical path of city-dwelling merchants. The design begins by extracting the form and skylight of the old buildings in the main city of Chongqing (due to the topography of Chongqing, the buildings are tall and light through the patio, so these two factors constitute the main characteristics of the buildings) and then abstractly reshaping the architectural memory of Chongqing to generate the basic form of the space inside the tower. As an activity unit, a fundamental form can also be viewed as a “rhizome.” It is fragmented and heterogeneous.(Deleuze,2005) The connection between these “rhizomes” is also the result of human actions. The tower’s crowd is comprised of hawkers, tourists, neighbourhood residents, and students, and the crowd’s diversity generates complex behaviours that vary in time and space. Different groups’ movement trajectories intersect in the plane and vertical space of the tower, enabling the formation of multiple chaotic and permeable spaces with the units. People generate vast fields via group activities, which act on the activity paths of individuals in the field, thereby establishing fundamental norms of connectivity between activity units.

Movement analysis & tower layout

Based on these fundamental orders, the “rhizome” unites diverse fragmented spaces for systematic reproduction, thereby generating a prodigious, disordered, and pluralistic growth system with no fixed growth orientation. “One can jump between any two points, unrestricted by the space’s logos, by simply arranging their nomos in open space, and the units can be cut at any time to create a new “rhizome” according to the order.(Deleuze,2005) However, the units interact with one another, creating a space for people to congregate and a micro order between the units. Changes in the external environment are transmitted to the units within the tower, resulting in interactions between individuals and the subsequent evolution of group behaviour. This process enables perception, adaptation, and environmental feedback. Through the division and succession of units, the space within the tower adapts to the city’s changes by accommodating the external independent nomadic space, which is rooted in the complex urban environment (hawker carts). In another way, the nomadic system self-regulates and generates feedback to the environment via its field, making the surrounding area more conducive to human survival and sustainable development.

f. 5.1 Layout - Level 1&2

f. 5.2 Layout - Level 3&4

f. 5.3 Layout - Level 5&6

This article examines the viability of the hawker cable car system as a nomadic area for activating rigid urban environments. The study begins with a survey of the existing state of hawkers in Chongqing, comparing their activity areas to the extent of urban redevelopment in order to determine the effect of hawkers on urban vitality. Using questionnaires, urban recollections of hawkers are gathered. On the basis of Deleuze’s philosophical theory, the cable car is utilized as a conduit for hawker activities to create a hawker cable car urban system.

This study investigates Deleuze’s philosophical theory and elaborates on the individual and urban expressions of nomadic theory, respectively, from a theoretical perspective. This article examines how, in terms of urban planning, the ancient transportation system revitalizes the space as a container for carrying traditional memories and activities.

This research offers a fresh illustration of the impact of nomadic philosophy on architectural space. It also provides hawkers with a more suitable dwelling area.

Nevertheless, this study has several drawbacks. Due to the impossibility of fieldwork, the study could only be mapped using online data and planning documents. No long-term tracking and recording of modern hawker behavior paths were performed, rendering the data insufficient and preventing comparisons with the past. Future research will involve tracking various hawkers, obtaining additional path samples, doing activity analysis, refining the distribution points of cable car stations, and enhancing the city’s operational system.

f. 6.1 Section of Hawker Tower

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