The restaurant we have visited in Sanya is a truly interesting space. The site can be entered anywhere from any directions. It combines the kitchens, the dining area and the market itself. Everything is open and exposed. The guests can buy the typical Hainan seafood and vegetables from the market and directly deliver them to the kitchen. The restaurant tables are allocated nearby the kitchen and the cooking process is visually visible from the sounding environment. I was certainly enjoyed very much of the interesting experiences and outstanding taste of the food. However, this place is going to be demolished and redeveloped in the near future, same as many other local markets, housing, and places in the Sanya city. It is surely a wild disappointment to watch the culture and behavior are forced to be washed away due to the change of the space.
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The open plan dining area |
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The open plan market |
I see the space as an extremely important urban spot of the city. It is not only an attraction to the tourist, but also the very unique character of local culture. It defines the image of Sanya and represents of the typical factors of local fish industry, cooking style, and shopping behaviors. It is the describable active edge that keeping a city alive in many cases in the world.
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Landmark apartment building on the phoenix island |
The most significant landmark building in the area is located at the very end of the artificial island- phoenix Island. It is the image of the city and represents the most luxury and wealth living style in Sanya city. The architecture is outstanding and privatized as individual apartments. There are many examples like this in Sanya as well as many other parts of developments in China. The best image of the city is privatized, and not recognized as the image of the city but the symbol of social class polarization confliction. It represents the difference of wealthy group and poor classes of Sanya. The development is fancy but lost its basic ethic value.
The best way to understand a city is to walk through it and think through it. Sanya city is quickly transforming from an agricultural city to a famous resort city. The transformation has brought many impacts on local habitations. Farm land is replaced to be luxury holiday resorts and fancy touristy facilities. Fishing boats are replaced with luxury yachts. The price of living has risen significantly. The changes are constantly polarizing between the low cost family self-contained living style of farming and fishing conflict with the luxury living style. Local culture and lifestyle is being slowly washed away during this process.
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The magnificent view of the St.Regis Sanya Yalong Bay Resort |
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XinCun Fisherman’s village 新村港渔村 |
The high speed of the development is dangerously impacting on the local environment. Many projects are rushing through without enough study on environmental protections. Sanya is on the both routes of bearing the fancy name of beautiful resort city and the name of environmental damages. On the other hand, the culture also has been smashed and discarded with this endless urban sprawl reality. Sanya citizens are forced to change their lifestyle to be lining up with the high speed city development. Could the city still be identified as Sanya after its beauty and character are lost in the drain? The situation should be more controlled and the development should be deeply rethought to be as the best result for Sanya. Copying the design of other city or successful cases regardless of Sanya conditions are simply not the solution.
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三亚港 Sanya Harbour, The future heart of Sanya. |
The people in Sanya are always closely linked with the ocean, through farming, defense, exploration, sports and adventures. The culture of Sanya is agriculture and marine culture. I personally believe the best way of urban development in Sanya is the theory of urban farming, which combines the farm with the urban environment. It would create interesting urban cape as an image and support citizens with fresh food; provide the opportunity to maintain the existing culture and push the city development to the not only a famous resort city but also the symbol of sustainability living.
The space 