IN-PERSON: Prague – Section A

Abstract

Cultural heritage is a valuable thing, especially in highly developed urban areas. The fast development of the economy, the digital technology, and its adaptation to the young generation in China caused an absence of attention to the long history of a culture that worked as a backbone of urban development. Suzhou is one of the water town cities with many royal gardens in China. Along with the variety of developed areas and ongoing construction, the old town is kept as longstanding local scenery with modern commercial programs to accommodate the touristic population. However, one of the essential features of the old town is that the water canal used to transport goods in ancient times is not utilized anymore. This project will consider that rediscovering the canal’s function would bring remarkable benefits to the old town’s improvement in the city with a revival of the original cultural activities along the waterway. This experimental research focuses on rejuvenating an existing canal to meet the modern needs of users while utilizing the waterway for activities by tracing its history through multiple narration and understanding. There are elderly generations who witnessed the city’s changes in time and testimony of the vernacular activities along the canal. The elder’s storytelling in Suzhou local dialect would be a genuine memoir to the young generations of the past. This project (participatory workshop) featuring the water canal and the locals’ dialect aims to rediscover the value of the forgotten regional cultures and the memory to descend Suzhou’s young generation as cultural heritages. Moreover, the local storytelling connects the generations as a socially sustainable engagement in the community.