Moderator:Professor Wu Zhiqiang is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, an urban and rural planner, and a professor at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University. He was in charge of the planning of the Shanghai World Expo Park. At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held last year, as the highest award of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Professor Wu and his team won the "Outstanding Artificial Intelligence Leader Award" (English Super AI Leader, abbreviated as SAIL Award), which is very powerful, and there are only six "SAIL Star" awards in the world. The name of the project is Shanghai Jinding "Smart City" CIMAI platform research and innovation, which is a very professional name. Academician Wu, can you introduce to us what kind of project this is and what is the direction of research?
Wu Zhiqiang:As we all know, a city is like an intelligent living organism, and a city has a brain, not only hands and feet, only muscles and bones, but also a brain. However, after operation, it was found that one brain actually could not operate, and all the data of more than 20 million people had to be transferred to one brain, and this brain would become "big brain", and when the head was big, everything had to go in. So in response to this situation, we have done a new version of the experiment in Jinqiao and Pudong in Shanghai, that is, it is not just a brain, it is a brain group.
Moderator:It's a lot of brains.
Wu Zhiqiang:Quite right. It's that we use a technical term called "many-brain structure". For the first time, one brain crossed over and became a group of brains. And what we did this time, it is a different brain, how to run together, the professional vocabulary is called "heterogeneous brain", this is a group combination, like so many children like us, there is a class leader, there is a deputy class leader, there are study committees, everyone is using their brains, this class must be good, better than a person using his brain.
Moderator:Academician Wu, we would like to ask you to give our young friends a speech in words that they can understand, what is urban planning and why should a city be planned?
Wu Zhiqiang:Actually, I can go back to my childhood when I was a child, and I grew up on the side of the road in Nanjing, Shanghai. In fact, when I grew up, I always found that the car ran like this; is to do so in the house; Originally, it was a road like this, but it seems that it could be done better. Because of this hope for a better idea, I applied for the urban planning major of Tongji University, and after entering the urban planning major, I found that something was wrong. Urban planning is not a practical problem for a small plot of land like mine, but in fact, from the perspective of urban planning, it carries the realization of the living form of human beings for the next generation, and even the dream of the whole society.
At this time, you find that there are a lot of things to learn, such as economics, sociology, management, road engineering, the structure of different houses, botany, aesthetics, as if you have to learn a little bit of everything. You will feel that the concept of urban planning and urban and rural planning is a general subject, and you have to do a good job in planning, not as simple as me drawing a few drawings, but you may have to study many engineering problems and scientific problems.
Moderator:Have you noticed a detail just now, Academician Wu said that you should also learn aesthetics, you must have aesthetics, that is, you must have a judgment on how to call the space of this city and this countryside "beauty".
Wu Zhiqiang:That's right. Therefore, after a very complete and systematic training, it is found that in fact, human beings have dreams to build cities, but this dream needs to be coordinated in the process of construction and operation. What is this coordination? Coordination in a space requires a very precise configuration, so urban planning is simply a dream of completing the first class, designing a sustainable, life-rolling process in the same space.
Moderator:You just said that there is an experience that when you go abroad and see some foreign urban planning practices, does its concept give you a new impact?
Wu Zhiqiang:When doing urban planning in Germany, there was a big impact. First of all, in the late 80s, they were all doing sustainable development, and green and low-carbon had already begun. So this part of the stuff is actually very new to me. I think we need to learn the concepts of green, sustainable, low-carbon, and low-energy consumption. Second, in fact, in the past, when we did urban planning, we were more material, that is, roads, houses, spaces, roads. Later it turned out that Germany did a lot of historical and cultural emphasis in the middle of the process. This place is an old house, what is the story of its house, who lives here and what happened. You know the story of every house, you won't just tear it down, you know there are so many more stories. Just like this method later, when I was doing the World Expo in Shanghai, I said that a small two-story house called the Translation Hall, you will think that there are more such houses in Shanghai. But in this house, in the middle of the modernization process of the Chinese nation, a large number of scientific and technological documents were translated, including the Mendeleev periodic table read by our classmates, which was translated here. I think it's better not to tear down this house casually, just leave it as a very important small building in the middle of China's modernization process at the World Expo.
Moderator:You just talked about the World Expo, you are the chief planner of the Expo site, and after so many years, I would like to hear your views. What should be the planning of the whole city, its vitality, and its core concept of continuity?
Wu Zhiqiang:The core has three contents, first, the city is always man-made, how to interact with nature, balance and harmony, simply put, called the harmony between man and nature. By doing this, the city is basically very viable. If it is specifically harmful to the surrounding environment, the city will not survive in the end, no matter how beautiful it is, it will be far away from nature, and there will be no sustainable development, because you have destroyed the last and all the environment around you, and it is useless to be beautiful, this is the first principle; Second, the city is where different people, people from different places, gather and live at high density, so it is a balance between systems, which we call social harmony between people, which is very important. The material of the city, but in fact it carries the good life of people, is very coordinated and coordinated with each other, which is very important, to put it simply, you see that people living in Shanghai, such a big city, he is from all over the world, a city, it must be inclusive, so that people from different places from all over the world, living here have a sense of belonging, this sense of belonging is to be built, to create, so this is also our urban planning masters, to study the homework; Third, it is very important, but it has not been handled well until now, that is, between the historical legacy and the future innovation, the time phase should be harmonious, and the historical heritage should be used as a driving force for future innovation, which is a discipline, and this discipline may be more harmonious than the two just now, with higher requirements, and it should be harmonious in the time span.
Moderator:I know that in the context of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, you have also been studying the metropolitan area, can you tell us more about the concept of the planning of this metropolitan area?
Wu Zhiqiang:The planning of urban agglomerations, in the history of mankind, used to be accidental. But today, what can you find alive in the world? It is a group of cities that are vibrant, no longer a city how great it is, but a group of cities. Therefore, after looking at so many urban agglomerations in the world at that time, I found that the coordination between such urban agglomerations was particularly important. Then we analyzed Shanghai and the surrounding 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta. After the analysis, it was found that each city has its own strengths and weaknesses, which we call long boards and short boards. After identifying each other, it is found that for example, Hefei is a city with a lot of college students, but we have many cities with very few college students, and the industry is particularly developed, such as Shanghai's financial industry is particularly good, and internationalization is particularly good. So, in this case, we have carried out a lot of identification, accurate configuration, and then to tell these leaders that in fact, what city and what city, plus what city, are particularly productive to do together. Because your strength is its weakness, after trying it out like this, you will find that it works. For example, the number of patents for scientific and technological innovation in the Yangtze River Delta is the number of patents jointly applied for by Shanghai and other cities, and the number of patents across cities, which has achieved large-scale growth. Within a decade, we've seen a tenfold increase in data.
Moderator:You started as a child, as a student, what was your hobby of reading?
Wu Zhiqiang:For example, on the way from Jing'an Temple on Nanjing Road to Wangjiasha, I had to go to participate in the science and technology activities of the Children's Palace, and I had to pass a bookstore called the Used Magazine Bookstore, which was very cheap. Other magazines, for example, cost a dime and six cents a copy, it only costs four cents a copy, and you can buy four copies with the same **. You're going to read lots and lots of tech magazines. For example, there is a shop next door that specializes in model airplanes, and as long as you have a few cents left, you will go there and buy a little wood, buy a rubber band, buy something, and then one day, you can load the plane. More advanced, there are a lot of hardware in the eastern section of Beijing Road, and there are a lot of electrical components in Qiujiang Road, all kinds of small components are connected in series, and when you combine them, there will be a lot of imagination, a lot of ideas, and a lot of exploration. Sometimes I think that now that the conditions are good, a mobile phone will not even let you take out the battery, it has innovated, and you have become a fool. When many children were young, they at least dismantled alarm clocks, electronic watches, and radios. I've dismantled so many things.
Moderator:What have you dismantled?
Wu Zhiqiang:I've dismantled the alarm clock, but I can't restore it. Family is a big thing, but my dad was more tolerant of me and didn't punish me, thinking that after a small alarm clock was removed for me, how to install it, not to install it, but in fact this is a teenager innovation. I think a device, you break it down into components, the components can be replaced, the components can be combined, it is a very important means of innovation. Complementing each other at a higher level and reimagining it at a higher level is something that I think has played a very important role in my own adolescent process. There is always a strong motivation to do things from a hobby.
Moderator:We have a few books here, this one is called "Green Campus and the Future", which is a book that Academician Wu intends to recommend to young people.
Wu Zhiqiang:This is a set of books that I have spent many years and has spent many years recruiting a group of famous teachers and principals from famous schools across the country to compile for our young people. Bring three today, there are actually five. This is a complete series of books that let students know that there are many things around us that can be made greener, more energy-efficient, more emission-efficient, and many innovative things can be done. I believe that these students will bring a lot of ideas, concepts, and technologies home, and they can also bring their parents to work. By the time our community is ready, these students may be ready for the rest of the day. If you think about the students sitting here now, in 10, 20, 30 years, won't they become scientists, and they will continue to change and make this new version, and I think this is a gift that I present to my students today, and I am very happy.
Moderator:If I were a student and I happened to be in school, middle school, or elementary school, and I listened to your class, I would be interested in the future of green construction, including urban planning. I think that many children, after burning ** in their minds, will embark on such a road, and everyone will have their own thoughts. There were many children at the scene, and they also came to communicate with Academician Wu with questions.
Question:I'm Liang Chen from Yangpu District Youth Science and Technology Station, and I have a question that I would like to ask. In the past, we all lived in Shikumen, and the relationship between neighbors was very close, but now we all live in the community, and in the high-rise buildings, people don't seem to be so familiar with each other. I would like to ask if we want to break down this kind of barrier between people and strengthen the communication between people, what direction can we make in terms of urban planning? Thank you.
Wu Zhiqiang:Good question, very professional. Not only in Yangpu District, Shanghai, but also in the affairs of all mankind. This phenomenon must first be understood, and this is a common human being. Before there were tall buildings, before there were elevators, human beings all lived horizontally. When I lived horizontally, my generation also experienced that the two families had to share a wonton at home. So today, now all of a sudden, they all live in high-rise buildings, and who is upstairs doesn't necessarily know, and they don't say hello when they know, but they just nod their heads when they see it's polite. Is this kind of thing just in China? No, as long as all human beings live horizontally, it is very good, and to put them up in a staircase, and not to say hello immediately, is the common nature of human beings, this is the first point. Why can we communicate when we are horizontal? We have communication space, in fact we live vertically, there is no communication space, the only staggered space is in the elevator, it is very, very difficult to get everyone to communicate. If you want to break this situation, it is like there is a change in space. In the vertical space, there should be a platform in the middle of several floors, which is neither private nor public—large to urban and collective. This kind of collective space will be explored later. If we are among the planners, we must remember to make our life in the city more comfortable.
Question:I'm Jia Chenyu from Shibei Middle School in Shanghai. With the development of transportation now, more and more people are going to other cities to study and work, and even start a family. Then they may hope that different cities have the same urban functions, and that the experience of life in one city and another city is the same. So do you think this kind of development method of "one side of a thousand cities" is worth promoting?
Wu Zhiqiang:I asked another hot word in planning. A lot of cities look alike. But in fact, the city, it has its own genetic part, and the genetic part is not to be moved. For example, this city is in the middle of a mountain and water, it has such a river, it has such a river, it has such a mountain, this is not to disturb it. There are many urban genes in the middle, and a large number of iconic spaces have been created in the middle of history and culture, and these spaces should not be touched casually, which is what distinguishes this city from other cities. In the middle of the traditional gene part, there is also the attitude of people towards the relationship between heaven and earth, which is also its internal gene. In addition to that, a lot of things, it's the cellular part. The cellular part needs to be changed, and if it doesn't, it kills life. Therefore, these two things should be clearly distinguished - what is a gene and what is a cell. If you think of cells as genes, the city will die, and you won't be able to move; You look at all the genes as cells, and that destroys the character of the city. So it is very good to distinguish what is immovable, and it is the content that distinguishes this city from other cities that is fundamentally different. There may be some basic functions that may be the same between cities, but if the planning reflects its personality and reflects its unique culture, then everyone will see that the taste of each city is different.
Question:: I'm He Xinran, a student from the West Campus of the Experimental Primary School Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I would like to ask a question, that is, what is the position of our country in the world in the development of the discipline of urban planning?
Wu Zhiqiang:At the time of urban planning at Tongji University in China, there were only three schools in the world that were engaged in urban planning. With the development of China's urbanization, especially after the reform and opening up, we have summed up a lot of experience, and we actually have a very high status in the world. Among all the disciplines in the world, there are not many disciplines that can get A+ in China, but urban planning is one of the few disciplines in China that can get A+ among the disciplines in the world. So let me tell you, there is no one in the United States and none in the United Kingdom who can get A+ in the world urban planning discipline. You know how powerful the momentum for the exploration of our disciplines is to move forward. Of course, we must not forget that the construction of our country's reform and opening up has provided a huge background for this discipline, coupled with the fact that artificial intelligence and digitalization are now very avant-garde.
Question:I am Min Jiaqi from Shanghai Huayu Middle School, a post-05 middle school student. I have noticed that there are actually a lot of young people in your research team, but what kind of group do you think young people are today? I would also like to ask you to give us some advice on your life goals and development.
Wu Zhiqiang:I've been a teacher since 1985, and I've been a teacher for so many years, and seeing generations of students, I feel that my students are getting smarter and smarter. It's really like this, and I understand more and more. What does it mean to be smart? I just know a lot of things, read a wide range of things, accept new knowledge very quickly, and have the courage to challenge. Unlike in the past, when teachers couldn't think about what they said, could they do better, today's students are more innovative.
Moderator:: Will they challenge you?
Wu Zhiqiang:Of course, I told them repeatedly that in science, in what we do, we are equal, there is no such thing as an academician and you are a student. Because there is one thing in common in front of us, to complete this innovation and make urban life better, we are equal in this and explore together, so my students are very active.
Moderator:You are also often inspired by them.
Wu Zhiqiang:Of course, very, very much, it's a wonderful atmosphere for everyone to do science and technology together.
Moderator:Thank you very much for your questions, and thank you Academician Wu for your communication and sharing, which gave you a lot of inspiration.
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