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JOURNAL OF CITIES AND CULTURE

Dossiers, no. 1, vol. 8March 31, 2023

WANGHONG URBANISM
FOR OUR SINGLE PLANET
by Anna Liu

Tonkin Liu's design for Grosvenor Square. Source: https://tonkinliu.co.uk/grosvenor-square

Can the phenomenon of wanghong urbanism

be harnessed for positive change? Reflecting
on some of her projects, the architect Anna Liu
discusses the challenge of creating landmarks
for a digital world and the potential for design
to catalyse environmental awareness.
[Ed. note: this article is part of a dossier on Urban-Digital Spectacle.]
Every architectural project — from buildings, landscape, to sculpture — presents an
opportunity to create a physical and mythological entity, a place that can be visited in person,
in our minds, through stories told and heard, and through lasting memories for generations to
come. Our aim as architects is to create fascinating and enduring architecture that would
stand the test of time.

When I decipher the analysis of wanghong urbanism presented by Zhang et al from my

position as a professional architect, I am drawn to the idea that each project we design could
be a landmark that captures people’s imagination, becoming manifested in the phenomenon
of hype. I am also drawn to the idea that, rather than taking hype — architects are sceptical of
hype — at face value, we core down into it as mirroring certain timeless, even universal,
truths about our collective subconscious culture. In 2022, our collective subconscious, as
manifested in climate change anxiety and “ecogrief” particularly amongst young people, is
deeply preoccupied with the state of our planet.

I have two questions to pose on this. Firstly, how does architecture capture the true
imagination of a disembodied audience in the digital era, transcending superficiality and
temporality? Secondly, can there be a motivational wanghong urbanism of environmental
activism and innovation, transcending the current tendency for doom and gloom?

In a digital world with ceaseless pressure to communicate, none of us are ever fully present in
one place. As they pose, enthuse, critique, text, and post, visitors to global landmarks are in
multiple spaces mentally. So what creates architectural landmarks in a digital world? To
engage an audience not fully there, should architecture engage all of the senses, amplifying
the sensory immersion – sight, touch, smell, sound, taste – that a project is capable of
creating?

Clients come to architects with a site and a brief often aimed at the regeneration of a place.
Whether it is Doe Lea, a tiny post-mining village in Derbyshire that was sold to the Council
for £1, or the globally renowned Grosvenor Square, every community aspires to be given a
voice, an identity, and to be put “on the map,” taking pride in its place in this world.
Embedded in each brief is the need to articulate a voice, an identity, the need for acceptance,
support, acknowledgement, respect, recognition, approval and even adoration, from the rest
of the world. Wanghong urbanism, therefore, is inherent in the motivation of every
regeneration brief: needing to be heard and seen. Can this desire to be seen and heard be
motivated by a desire to create heraldic, heroic missions towards caring for our planet?

As architects and story-tellers, we help forge a sense of place through finding shared values –
from the past, present, and future – by making connections to nature and between people, and
by helping to imagine what each project can be as a future ideal and a place. This future ideal
must withstand the environmental challenges our future generations will face.

From our twenty years of experience in building public sculpture, architecture, and
landscape, we have learned that even the places most in need of regeneration are resistant to
change. This is a question of trust. Each project is an evolution of trust, through the process
of dialogues, design, and delivery. We have witnessed how this process brings together
different factions and opinions, tapping into shared universal human values, and has brought
about transformative effects on communities. The power and process of design bring together
communities, in a proactive, propositional platform transcending the tendency for doom and
gloom, to potentially deliver positive solutions for our planet.

In the remainder of this piece, I will examine architectural interventions that Tonkin Liu has
been involved in, to explore how our built environment can invent new identities for
communities through design clarity, legibility, and the evolution of community cohesion in
the process of its design and delivery. This in turn compels outward expressions of the
newfound identity that could emerge as wanghong urbanism.

The Singing Ringing Tree

A sculpture that captures the wind to make sound, on the hilltop above the village of Burnley,
has also captured the imagination of many across the UK and from around the world. The
Singing Ringing Tree has won many awards, and was longlisted for the prestigious RIBA
Stirling Award. Since its completion in Burnley, there has been tremendous interest from
tourists, universities, fellow architects, architectural students, and PhD students using the
project as a case study. As well as this, numerous bloggers include the Singing Ringing Tree
on their websites.

Through its relationship with the Singing Ringing Tree, Burnley has attracted many visitors.
Videos of the project have attracted millions of hits on YouTube.

The circulation of knowledge around The Singing Ringing Tree has led to requests to film a
musical performance at the site, and to use it in an advert for Nissan. In 2020, it was launched
on the cover of Thunder’s new album, “All the Right Noises,” and it also appeared on
the Classic FM Instagram. All of these activities contribute to the circulation of knowledge
about The Singing Ringing Tree, leading to further interest in Burnley.
The Singing Ringing Tree. Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu, 2006.

The trend set by The Singing Ringing Tree has also led to requests to reproduce the model
around the world. Over the past fifteen years, interest for building Singing Ringing Trees for
sites around the world has come from Uruguay, Taiwan, Ukraine, Argentina, Canada, France,
and Brazil. This has led to the creation of a second tree in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in polished
stainless steel and a third tree in Austin, Texas, painted polished black.
The Singing Ringing Tree on the cover of the Ordnance Survey map for Blackburn and
Burnley.

Tony Wilson, the legendary record label owner whose Factory Records produced a number
of famous bands, including Joy Division, New Order, and Happy Mondays, said the
following at the opening event for the Singing Ringing Tree: “It’s not just an artwork, it’s
actually about jobs and people’s lives. The modern post-industrial economy is driven by
value-added industries where creativity is important. Creative cities and creative regions are
the heart of the new economy.”

Aside from the national and international attention, Tonkin Liu has been heartened by
Burnley’s residents adopting it as their “brand.” Reece, born and raised in Lancashire,
created the award-winning Walking Northerners site, one of the top twenty-five UK outdoor
blogs. Football games, an extremely important part of Burnley’s culture, have adopted The
Singing Ringing Tree into their chants to rival teams at major games. The fans sing to rival
teams: “You may have the xxxx, but we have The Singing Ringing Tree.” Most rewardingly
of all, a photo of The Singing Ringing Tree has formed the cover of the Ordnance Survey
Map for the region. The Singing Ringing Tree has therefore got people out into nature,
walking the hills, to experience a phenomenon first hand, an experience that is different on
every visit. This nature-based, sensory experience – that transforms something from nature
into a sensorial spectacle – is perhaps one of the ways to capture the imagination of a
disembodied audience. But how do we engage all of the senses of an audience not fully in-
place: sight, touch, smell, sound, taste? What creates architectural landmarks in a digital
world?

Grosvenor Square

Fast forward fifteen years: in 2020, our competition-winning design for Grosvenor Square
sought to respond to the issues of climate resilience, to fulfil the future needs of nature and
the diverse needs of the urban community who uses the square. In spite of our preconception
about the absence of nature in Mayfair, the “Wild West End” study attests to the fact that
wildlife species abound in central London: birds, bees, beetles, bats, and butterflies, whose
habitats our proposed biodiverse planting will enhance. Could this discovery, seeing the thus
now unseen, become an experiential, joyful form of wanghong urbanism?

Design for Grosvenor Square (Tonkin Liu).

Our proposals focus on the transformation of Grosvenor Square through creating a simple,
strong, legible, urban identity. Two key memorable moments will be experienced in the
design: one that befits a prestigious historic square – its iconic oval geometry – and another
that tells the story of a drop of rain as it journeys across the garden, down the two waterfall
canopies, along the trickling rills, through the biodiverse wetland planting, into underground
storage for re-use. In this project, rain is celebrated as a precious resource, and a source of
delight; seeing, hearing, and touching rain in an immersive, all-encompassing experience.

Conclusions

What is a landmark? This has been an age-old architectural debate. A tree is a landmark on
the horizon, a distinctive place for meeting. A landmark is memorable and distinct, belonging
to its place, and exuding the qualities true to the people, place, and nature from which it has
sprung. What are the lasting legacies of the creation of landmarks, projects that benefit local
economies through wanghong urbanism? Job creation? Community cohesion? Identity
building? Pride of place is fundamental to each community. This is not a luxury, as many
people consider art and architecture to be, it is a necessity. A proud, cohesive, healthy
community minimises isolation and mental health issues, enabling flourishing with a sense of
belonging. It is important to reate places where people meet, communicate, forge
relationships, deepen relationships, make plans, find prospects, and network.

In our times, our collective subconscious is deeply embedded with climate and biodiversity
issues. However, they are deeply complex and troubling subject matters, and are often at risk
of becoming divisive topics in our culture. Instead, what is currently prevalent in our culture
is an abundance of escapism, in an attention economy of trivia and drama. I would like to
propose that wanghong urbanism can steer the spotlight onto positive achievements that
climate champions have made. In doing so, it catalyses the creation of a mass clarion call for
environmental solutions and activism, capturing the hearts and minds of generations to come.

Anna Liu
Anna Liu is a qualified architect with over 18 years of experience in architecture, art, and landscape. Her
experience has encompassed practice and teaching in the UK, China, Japan, in the US where she grew up,
and in Taiwan where she was born. She founded Tonkin Liu with Mike Tonkin in 2002 and leads the
studio’s public landscape and sculpture projects. Alongside practice, Anna has been a tutor, examiner, and
juror for leading architecture schools and awards, including the Architectural Association, the University
of Westminster, and the RIAS Building of the Year.

Liu, Anna. "Wanghong Urbanism for Our Single Planet."

Mediapolis: A Journal of Cities and Culture 8, no. 1 (March 2023)
Tags from the story
architecture, Burnley, Climate change, London, urban design, Wanghong urbanism