Role of Contemporary Landscape Architecture in Public Spaces in Terms of Shaping Architectural Education and Recreation - Selected Examples from China

In full respect of the original, historical, cultural and natural conditions of the original site, contemporary Landscape Architecture can help to convert the site into public space characterised with a full range of functionalities. Extending the social offer of given sites with leisure and recreation options, the landscape architecture contributes to reshape public spaces into better and more sustainable places. Referring to three different case studies exemplifying the transformation of abandoned sites into functional public space during urban and rural regeneration in China, the paper focuses on the research of regeneration of sites converted into public space intended to provide recreation, leisure and educational opportunities to local communities. Through the application of a variety of forms and techniques, the contemporary Landscape Architecture can increase the appeal of public space and its vitality. This paper aims to present the results of the analysis of three different modern landscape designs implemented in abandoned areas. The referred to examples clearly testify for the fact that the contemporary landscape architecture can effectively promote the integration of education and leisure to create open space compliant with the ecological principles of sustainable development, i.e. where identification and assessment of the relationship between Landscape Architecture and the surroundings, identification and assessment of the diversity and attractiveness of public space and possible Landscape Architecture solutions can turn into direct benefits for the space users.


Introduction
Today, despite the fact that rapid urbanization exerts a big impact on people's lifestyles, which, in turn, also have brought about changes in the public space structure, contemporary Landscape Architecture tends to neglect the values of cultural identities of the cities, reverting to the values of the natural environment.
A landscape designer is free to draw inspiration from the natural world, to imitate serrated mountain peaks or the types of cultivation, incorporating therein the expression of his emotions or culture. Thus, the outcomes of landscape architecture can be perceived as the works of art that are free of any false pretences of art for art's sake and that incorporate such aspects as social inclusion or enhanced sustainability [1]. 2 Some researchers on the contemporary landscape have voiced their opinions that there are more similarities between traditional and modern landscapes than it was previously suggested. The results of their research have also shown that traditional models have been successfully incorporated into contemporary urban public space designs in China. [2]. Bo. Yang 's research points out that the Chinesestyle gardens predetermine the perception of a traditional Chinese landscape both by the Chinese and the foreigners. Thus, such gardens can easily serve as models for designing some smaller areas of modern public space. Human behaviour has come into the focus of the psychologists and sociologists, as well as the urban planners, architects, landscape architects and all those involved in the process designing man-made environment [3].
Chinese rural areas encompass a variety of public space types: farmers' markets, streets or roads, squares, churches, etc., which, however, depending on cultural, social, religious and other factors, assume different local attires. Any public space has its distinct function to serve, these typically include: a place for recreation, meeting space, space for farming activities, public celebrations and festivities or sometimes even religious rites. [4] The subject matter of this research paper is to analyse the role of landscape architecture in the creation of urban public space and in the identification of the possibilities of its practical applications in public urban space. Failing to adopt a studious approach to the issue, some urban planners tend to disregard the opportunities landscape architecture can offer to urban public places, undermining the essence of a city and its public space being a multi-layered, complex structure, where unity and contrasts, noise and silence can go along and play their unique roles, taking up a relevant sharing in the overall perception of the identity of a given city. The paper further moves to research and to identify the potential areas where landscape architecture can contribute to the perception of urban public space, based on some examples of such a contribution. A landscape architect, whose work gets incorporated into urban public space, needs to be aware and know what means to use to harness the space potential to meet the desired objectives. [5] Landscape architecture as a field of professional activity and an academic discipline focuses on the shaping of various scales of the landscape [6]. The typical design projects include such issues as: increased urban engagement, creation of a wide sense of communal inclusion and diversity of vibrant public spaces by improving transportation, the quality of inhabitants' lives and connectivity through general public access.
The research presented in this article is aimed to analyse the impact of contemporary landscape architecture on public space in terms of the architectural education, recreation, design techniques, ecology and communal functions. For the purpose of three different case studies of respectively Chinese rural, suburban and urban areas were selected. These are: the Chinese rural area revitalization project Zhongguancun -playground park for children, Fire Culture Park in Chengdu and the innovative campus design combined with rice paddy landscape within the premises of the Shenyang Architectural University.
The results of the three case studies emphasize the role of contemporary landscape architecture in the conversion of abandoned public areas as well as in the promotion of education integrated with recreation and leisure in compliance with sustainable development. Through the identification and assessment of the relationship between Landscape Architecture and the surrounding environment; assessment of diversity and attractiveness of the public space in question and assessment of the beneficial role of landscape architecture, we can easily arrive at viable solutions for local communities.

Characteristics of the areas covered by this research paper
2.1. Children's playground in the countryside The first case study concerns a children's playground located in the north of Guizhou mountainous region, in the vicinity of Zhongguancun village, Tongzi County, Guizhou Province, China. The region is much different from Beijing Zhongguancun, which, in contrast, plays a key economic role in the area. The village Zhongguancun, surrounded with the mountains, is a remote location poorly communicated with any larger towns or cities. It takes an hour drive along a mountain road to get to the nearest town. Many children are here regularly left under the care of their old grandparents while the parents have to work in the cities. Because of the economic conditions and poor social awareness, the parents only care how to provide for the children financially until they grow-up, neglecting the process of educating and bringing them up. Coining the idea of a playground for the children, the designer wanted the children left by their parents in the village to feel cared for and loved by the society. That is the reason why designing the playground, the architect was inspired with options of combining the waste materials with nature. The basic information about the project is presented in Table 1 below.  The purpose of creating this park was to integrate fire safety with the social awareness of the inhabitants of the city. The park greenery is so designed to fully reflect the fire safety issues and to combine relaxation options with fire safety education addressed to the visitors. Here, the public can feel the fire dangers, get involved in the firefighting procedures, learn about the history of firefighting, increase the fire safety awareness and improve fire prevention and control skills. Moving the campus out of the urban area to the suburban area of Shenyang has allowed the designer to demonstrate how the agricultural landscape can be successfully incorporated into the urbanized environment and how, at the same time, such issues as food production and sustainable land use can be addressed.
Growing rice has the highest share in the agricultural production of north-eastern China and is the main source of revenue for the region. Characterised with very good quality and being a key factor of the economic growth of the region, Dongbei Rice is well-known all over China. This landscape project was designed to raise awareness of land and farming amongst college students who discontinue farming traditions and become city dwellers as shown in Table 3. On the one hand, the project aptly combines traditional farming sector and landscape architecture, and, on the other hand, it is an opportunity for the students to learn how to grow food and how, through careful design and management, agricultural landscape design can become a tool in converting the limited space around us into productive land.

Comparative analysis based on the three case studies
Integrating the most contemporary social and cultural life with nature and the urban fabric has become a priority in landscape design.

A new concept of contemporary landscape design applied in rural public space.
In the past, rural public space was not in the core interest of either the Chinese authorities or the designers because of the high rising trends of rural immigration to urban conglomerations. However, with the policy of rural revitalization adopted by the central government in China, there are more and more interesting projects aimed at the revival of rural public space. The first case study project of a successful conversion of the terrain around a derelict tobacco factory, skilfully combined the elevation difference to divide the terrain into 4 platform sites as shown in Figure 1. The ring road was designed to link the independent traffic system and the playground facilities together.

Public space in a rural area.
Some of the designers have come to the conclusion that rural public space does not have to serve only the functions related to rural festivities such as the harvest festivals or other agricultural events but could be used to entertain the local children. It must be highlighted that the designer of the Zhongguancun playground, using appropriate tools of landscape architecture (Figure 2), has succeeded in creating educational and amusement options for the children. The first case study clearly shows how to revive rural public space by enhancing social interactions with the children.

Recyclables used in the playground facilities -inspiration for educational opportunities for the children.
Sandpits, used tyres, concrete pipes, waste wood and bricks were all recycled in the construction of this playground in Zhongguancun village, as shown in Figure 3. The waste recycling and sorting room was built from red bricks (Figure 3). In the past, the villagers in China thought little of waste sorting and recycling. A number of measures were undertaken during the rural revitalization process to promote it. Locating the waste recycling and sorting rooms just beside the playground area was intended as an educational opportunity for the children to understand and realize the importance of sustainable waste disposal.  the zones extend through the park from the north to the south, from the entrance plaza, through the fire history plaza and the popular science educational area. The complex purpose of the park has been fully realized through the incorporation of a complete and streamlined fire culture themes, allowing the visitors to immerse into the tour experience and to learn in an interactive way about the principles of fire safety.

Upgrading landscape and new educational conventions in terms of fire awareness and recreation.
The public area of this theme park has been smartly designed to fully integrate natural landscape, i.e. the rows of trees and lawns into the theme of fire safety. The park is in overall intended to combine leisure, entertainment, emergency evacuation, fire culture exhibitions and popularisation of fire knowledge. It is not only a good place for the citizens to relax but also an innovative way of propagating fire safety through entertainment and interaction.

The sustainable long-term use of land and the surrounding environment in the core interest of the Contemporary Landscape
Design. The designer's conception of the campus pursued to meet two major objectives: the creation of a high-quality environment for university students and the incorporation of traditional agricultural landscape components. The fact that the local landscape features highly productive sector of rice growing has engaged both the students and the academics into a dialogue on the options of sustainable use of local resources in view of the food production being a major economic factor in the lives of local communities. As China moves towards modernisation, landscape architects are obliged to address the issues of food production and sustainable land use in their design conceptions to symbolise and to remind the users of the historical and contemporary role of agriculture in China. In this way farming is becoming more and more accessible to the campus students and academics, who can grow plants and observe the processes of their growth, thus gaining new knowledge and opportunities to use their know-how in practice. It, furthermore, increases the awareness of the young people in respect of the value of limited resources.

Contemporary Landscape underlies educational and leisure options in public space.
In the campus designed in the setting of the rice paddy landscape, individual pathways were envisaged as the lines dividing the whole field into small sections. The actual rice paddy plots located around the University campus ( Figure 6) have created the ideal learning opportunities in the area of traditional farming, thus, bringing it closer to the people. Students can be involved in the management and designing the landscape in view of its future agricultural productivity. The students and the academics can be, furthermore, practically involved in the farming processes. The rice paddy campus encompasses not only small open field platforms and sustainable landscape, but it is also provided with an independent irrigation system.

Rice Paddy Landscape is gaining the status of an iconic University Campus, Golden Rice
Paddy campus landscape has become an iconic university campus design. When the rice produced on the campus is harvested and distributed under the brand name "Golden Rice," the whole campus is in the public eye scoring humorous reviews on nature and man. Due to its unique landscape design combined with the production of Golden Rice the Shenyang Architectural University has risen to the rank of an iconic design, viewed as a symbol of a suburban campus.

Comparative analysis of results and discussion
On the basis of the three selected case studies, the paper attempts to exemplify how contemporary landscape architecture can convert public space into places that may exert deep impact on the education and recreation opportunities of the local communities. The three selected case studies were chosen to show the examples of public space designs implemented respectively in rural, suburban and urban areas. A well-organized public space can certainly provide a number of benefits for the local communities, i.e. improved health, including longevity, physical and mental fitness and many other important social and economic advantages. In addition, public space can facilitate social interactions in the villages and in the cities, thus, positively affecting people's lifestyles. Table 4 shows the comparative analysis of results based on the three case studies under the research herein. The following aspects were compared: location, target group, dominating landscape design principle, learning opportunities offered by the project, types of leisure activities and ecological solutions.
The project "Zhongguancun Playground for the Children in a Rural Public Area" is intended to provide some fun activities for the children left in the village by the parents working in the cities. This way these children can be better taken care of and they, furthermore, can enjoy unique educational opportunities. The four-platform design of the site naturally connects the villagers and the children with the space that was once abandoned and now is lively and vibrant. During the construction process, many waste materials were recycled to build the playground. This has created an opportunity for the villagers to learn how to save resources and recycle materials in their daily rural lives.
Referring to the second case study "Fire Culture Park in Tianfu New district, Chengdu, China", this project features a theme park that incorporates the idea of the Firefighters Games in 2019 and that demonstrates a number of cultural characteristics of the landscape upgrading and renovation scheme intended to revive the Fire Culture and increase the fire education options. The project is located near the Fire Brigade Base in an urban area of Chengdu, China. The landscape road system with two stretched smooth crossing road lines looks like two ribs of a fan from the bird view. Such road distribution obviously supported the overall layout of the space planning in the park design. Application of the sponge city ecological technology and the four theme zones also further promote the quality of leisure and entertainment activities for the local inhabitants. So does the special fire-fighting training camp in the park. The children and their parents can enjoy the fun the park offers but also master the fire-fighting procedures though experience.
The case study of "The Golden Rice Paddy Landscape in a campus of the Shenyang Architectural University" explicitly exemplifies how traditional agriculture can be part of a landscape design in an urban and suburban environment and how cultural identity and education can be combined in a landscape typical for agricultural production. Geometric lines used in the landscape design divided the big land area into smaller fields dedicated to rice growing. The water saving irrigation system applied in the rice paddy landscape campus has involved the students into the farming management. It, furthermore, has created a wide range of learning in practice opportunities. This project is an illustrative example of a successful combination of architectural education and after school leisure both for the students and the faculty academics. Waste recycling Sponge city ecological technology Irrigation & saving water a The name in the table: "Playground park" is an abbreviation for "Zhongguancun Playground for the Children in a Rural Public Area"; "Fire Culture Park" is an abbreviation for the "Fire Culture Park in Tianfu New district, Chengdu, China"; "Rice Paddy Campus" is an abbreviation for "The Golden Rice Paddy Landscape in a suburban campus".
The analysis based on the three case studies shows that Landscape Architecture has a number of tools to promote local culture, education and recreation. It can, furthermore, seek alternative strategies to make sites profitable.
At the stage of current research, similar postulates have been prior proposed by some researches e.g. Long (1992) was of the opinion that "Knowledge is a cognitive and social construction that results from and is constantly shaped by the experiences, encounters and discontinuities that emerge at the points of intersection between different actors' lifeworld's" [7].
It is evident that by developing attractive public space and by creating more leisure opportunities, we can increase the popularity of such space amongst the users and facilitate their interactions [8].

Conclusions
Using the examples of the three different case studies that concern the transformation of abandoned sites into attractive public spaces in rural, suburban and urban areas within the framework of a regeneration process in China, the paper focusses on the research of conversion process of abandoned sites into