AOM: As a part of public facility, what actual benefits does the street furniture bring in to city itself and citizens living in there?

Kin Wai Michael Siu (Hereinafter Called “Michael”): Actually, public facility isn’t designed for only one person but for vast majority of people. Street furniture (SF) isn’t private property but public one.

And SF usually situated on the street, no matter you like it or not. People usually have their own distinctive favors, for example, some people don’t like iPhone and they may pick up Galaxy alternatively. But for SF in the public spaces, people most of the time can’t choose. So if SF can be designed in a good quality, it can help people get a better quality everyday life.

In most of times, from mainland China, Hong Kong to European countries, citizen very care about their home and personal belonging but seldom consider the benefits of public facility. For example, many people in China own very good quality homes with a lot of beautiful interior furniture. But when you go out, there have very poor quality furniture in the public. In order to offer people a much better quality life, we must pay attention to public facility, especially street furniture.

In particular, the rich may stay their beautiful home all the time but some people are not so rich, even poor, so they shall go out and use the SF outside. In this way, public space as well as SF is important to this group of deprived people. Therefore, the object of SF is to let most of people enjoy public life, no matter how poor he or she is.

For the city itself, SF can also promote and keep a good image of it. In some cities in China, as well as in South Africa and America, the reality is rich people get pretty nice home but with poor public environment. So people located in a certain city mayn’t feel good. Just imagine if there have pretty good quality SF, all citizen must get a good feeling about the city, whilst the city can gain a good reputation and a country can get that as well. For example, when you go to Spain, it remains a good city image with good-designing and good quality SF, and in Milan, London, Copenhagen are the same.

AOM: Street furniture is also one form of out-of-home media, so how to integrate the interaction capacity into its functionality? Could you please share with us some relative cases?

Michael: Nowadays, interaction capacity has become one part of SF functionality. For example, in the past, if you want to buy a ticket, you then go to the bus station and get it. With high-technology involved, such as, ticket machine probably embedded on SF, and people can go there and get their tickets automatically, which is so convenient. Besides physical function people are looking forward to, they are more likely to talk about its interactive design. With multimedia into consideration, people get willing to communicate with interactive devices and can use telephone to interact with SF.

So SF can offer a lot of updated information to ordinary people. In old days, SF only provides a single or limited function, but now they are getting diverse functions. For example, we used to see video at home or cinema, but now we can watch TV while waiting for a bus, buying a cup of coffee and reserving a musical ticket. Another example is that people can draw money from the street furniture with ATM not limited in bank only. So SF with interactive functionality provides people more choices, facilitating and varying their lives.

Especially for disabled people such as the visually impaired, current bus station becomes more informative so they can get more information and services by mobile phone. When street furniture turns to get the information-communication capacity, the disabled people can get more assistance from SF. For example, in the past, the visually impaired do not get support from the bus station. Nowadays, when the bus comes, the bus stop can deliver some information to the visually impaired. And, an old man who cannot walk wants to get the bus, then the bus station gets what is going on and delivers the specific information to the bus driver on advance. Then the bus driver can be informed that an old man needs help and waiting at a bus stop ahead. Therefore, SF becomes more intelligent and smarter than before and especially benefits these who have special needs.

There is an excellent example on the interactive part. It is the i-Give, a first highly interactive donation system. Street fundraising is neither interesting nor attractive to young people anymore, so members of the public seldom find out any detailed reasons why a donation is needed. Based on an in-depth study of changing lifestyles and user behavior, I-Give is invented, allowing people to make their donation with electronic money cards and rewards donors with digital souvenirs, such as animations and ringtones.

i-Give实物图

i-Give also can connect with other SF to form a large scale public system fit for today’s ever-changing urban lifestyle. In Mong Kok, i-Give can be attached to various kinds of SF for varies, flexible urban applications.

在香港旺角，融合了i-Give的街道家具
AOM: How is the street furniture in China Mainland behaving? Are there any distances between Mainland China, Hong Kong and overseas? For the street furniture designers in China, how to improve the situation?
Michael: In China, SF becomes better than before. In the past, some SF were designed and built by other countries, but now more street furniture are designed by China itself. The real actuality of SF in China is they are quite expensive but aren’t good quality and don’t meet people’s actual needs.

For example, there is a rubbish bin at the Tianan Men square, I think its design is pretty good. But after few periods of time, it is tended to be damaged by people, for many vagrants want to get residue from the rubbish bin, which results in its damages. So we should consider if culture meets well with the SF. For SF designers, they should consider who will use a SF and when and how people will use it? In China, SF designers shall care more about people and their needs and preferences. In other ways, they should figure out whether the SF located in China is suitable for Chinese people.

Government officers and professional designers buy SF from other countries, not even caring about Chinese needs and pay attention to culture issue. Psychologically and culturally, SF isn’t socially-accepted. I think they should consider why people don’t like the SF and whether SF fits into the particular culture. My advice is not just to buy SF without any serious consideration, you need to be more careful to people and understand why citizens don’t like the SF.


AOM: With the development of new technologies, such as NFC, it seems to inject new strength into street furniture, can you tell us where the street furniture supported by disruptive technologies will go towards?
Michael: In most of times, there are more digital things in China than other countries. And NFC is a new technology which is very useful. If the visually impaired want to dump rubbish, it is hard for them to do it, for they don’t know which one is for recycling or not. And NFC can help them do it though the interaction between mobile phone and rubbish bin, for instance, a visually impaired person sits down on a certain bench which delivers messages to help him or her get location. And, with the help of NFC, SF turns from single function into multi-function. If there is no bus to arrive at a bus stop or any other traffic problems, the SF can deliver a message to people. This situation is more significant when emergency announcement is necessary to deliver to the passengers urgently.
AOM: In the journal article which is contributed by you called Street Furniture Design Principles: Unity and Identity, you think that the key of designing principles is unity and identity. Would you please explain this principle in detail to us?
Michael: Nowadays we aren’t only talking about physical function, but talking about unity and identity from a cultural perspective. Unity and Identity is one of key principles but not the only one. In old times, SF can’t build a good image to a country and city. In a sense, identity means culture identity, or at least with a certain degree. If a city as well as community has a good culture identity, then people in there can have a feeling of belonging. On the other hand, if you go to somewhere where there is no culture identity, you even don’t know where you are by consideration of their SF. Take an extreme case, if you see the same environment setting and SF at different places, it is not easy for you to distinguish where the places are ― and also where you are. Therefore, one day, a citizen may feel identity from its SF, which will be much better. For instance, many Chinese likes red color which represents some special meanings for Chinese, but some people of other countries may not like it in the same way. We should find a proper way to integrate specific culture identity with SF.

AOM: As an essential part of urban landscape, out-of-home always plays an important role in city-image building. So from an expert’s perspective, could you talk about the potentials of outdoor media?

Michael: The relation between SF and people is that SF helps people know more about a city and country. I think the image of city is very important. If we put city identity on the SF, then citizens and visitors can feel identity and people’s lives from SF. For city itself, every city has its special character, such as hi-tech or environment-conservation. Then our SF shall follow this way. In other words, SF shall pay attention to the specific elements. Its color, outlook and function show its characteristics clearly. For example, from the people’s aspect, they will have strong feeling of environment-conservative things expressed directly by the street furniture.

Today, if you are in Sweden, you can see there are a lot of bicycle lanes and facilities. These SF allows people to sit down and enjoy leisure time. The first image for you is the city is very comfortable and environmental friendly. So quality of SF can truly reflect and impact what you really want, and treasure and dream.

Some governments have cooperated with outdoor media companies in this part. If the co-op runs well, the cost of building SF actually can be reduced. Also commercial ads can give financial support to maintain and update SF. Of course, the government and designers should treat this issue carefully and consider what the major function of SF is. SF should have its original objectives and function that commercial ad may be an option or accessories sometime. In other words, if the outdoor ads are dominant and run unscrupulously and the SF won’t be comfortable, ultimately it is absolutely a bad idea. Outdoor ads can provides support to SF construction and appears properly, which will be fine. All in all, SF isn’t for one person, the benefits of people are top priority. We shall really treat the issue more carefully. Don’t seek for financial supports without thinking about people’s needs and preferences ― especially the government and designers need to put in mind to care the needs and preferences of the deprived and those with special needs.
         街道家具的面面观
         That’s All About Street Furniture
         香港理工大学 设计学院教授/博导 邵健伟
         高品质的街道家具提供高质量生活
         AOM: 街道家具（街具）作为公共设施的一部分，那么它具体能为市民和城市带来什么呢？
Kin Wai Michael Siu ( 以下简称 “Michael” ): 事实上，公共设施旨在为大众服务而不是为个体服务，所以街具是公共财产而不是私人财产。
         不管你是喜欢还是不喜欢，街具就在街道上。人们总是有自己的审美偏好，例如，一些人不喜欢iPhone, 那么他们可以选择三星。但是对于街具而言，人们一般是不能选择的。所以，如果街具能有不错的品质，那么它就能为人们提供一种高质量的生活体验。
        一直以来，从中国大陆到香港、欧洲国家，市民总是很在意自己住所和私有财产的质量，但是很少考虑公共设施。例如，许多中国人拥有一处漂亮的住所，很多美观的室内家具。但是，当你走出家门，街具却很落后和质素。为了能给人们提供更高质量的生活，我们必须给予公共设施特别的关注，特别是对于街具。
        富人可以一直呆在豪华的住所里，但是其他不那么富有的人，甚至贫穷的人，他们一定会外出、使用公共环境和设施。那么对于这部分人群而言，街具的品质是至关重要的。因此，街具的用途是使得人们能够享受公共生活，而不管他/她是属于哪个阶层的。
       对于城市本身而言，街具能够维护、提升城市形象。不管是在中国还是南非或者美国，普遍存在这样的现实，就是富有的人拥有漂亮的住宅但是公共环境却很差，所以居住在那里的市民感觉并不好。如果一个城市具有高质量的街具，那么所有市民都能从街具来感受这个城市，同时城市、国家本身也会享有盛誉。例如，当你去西班牙时，你就能感受到它的街具有很好的设计感和独特文化特色，质量上乘。当然，有机会你可以去米兰、伦敦、哥本哈根等，它们的街具也同样如此。
        互动功能融入街道家具
        AOM: 街具属于户外媒体的一种载体形式，如何把互动功能融入到其中呢？
        Michael: 如今，互动功能已经成为了街具功能的一部分了。在以往，如果你要去购买一张车票，你需要去车站然后才能买到。有了高科技的融入，我们把售票机安装在街具上，那么人们就可以在使用街具的同时，也能自助买到车票，这大大方面了人们的生活。除了街具原有的功能外，人们越来越热衷于讨论它的互动功能。有了多媒体的协助，人们可以通过互动终端设备（手机）来与街具进行互动。
       同时，街具能向民众提供最新信息。在过去，街具只拥有某一种功能，但是现在，它们变得多功能起来。例如，我们本来只能在家里或电影院看到视频画面。但是现在，当我们在等车、买咖啡、买音乐剧票子的时候，就能看到视频电视。另一个互动功能的例子就是如今的人们能直接从街具的ATM上取钱，而不需要到银行才能取钱。拥有互动功能的街具，赋予人们更多生活上的选择，便利、丰富了人们的生活。
       特别是对于一些身体不便人群，如：有视力障碍的人们，街具给他们带来了更多便利性服务。多亏于现代信息化的公交车站，所以他们能够通过手机从车站得到更多信息和服务。原来，有视力障碍的人们根本不能从车站得到任何辅助性服务。但如今，当公交抵达站点，公交车站就能向他们发送信息。例如，一个行动不便的老年人想要搭公交，那么该公交车站就能提前告知司机这个信息，该司机就知道有一位老人需要帮助，在车到站时，司机将帮助其上车。所以，街具变得越来越智能，特别照顾到那些有特殊需要的人群。
        互动街道家具案例分享
        在互动这一方面，i-Give就是一个很棒的案例。i-Give是一款互动募捐系统。如今的街头募捐已变得很无趣，不再吸引年轻人参与其中，甚至有不少人都怀疑起了捐款的必要性。基于对于人们生活方式和用户行为的深入研究，i-Give应运而生。人们通过电子储蓄卡来进行捐款，在捐款成功后，能得到一些数字形式的回馈奖励，如：动画、铃声等。
         i-Give可以与其他的街具设施连接起来，形成一个公共服务系统，从而满足如今人们生活日星月异的变化。在香港的旺角，i-Give就有可能安装在各种街具上，呈现出多样、灵活的应用形式。
        街道家具应符合当地需求
       AOM: 您觉得大陆的街具如何？与香港、海外的街具相比，它们之间存在什么差距吗？对于中国的街具设计者而言，应该如何改善这种情况？
       Michael: 在如今的中国大陆，街具的质量已有很大提高。在过去，中国的街具一般都是由其他国家设计和建造的，如今已有不少是由自己的设计师所设计的。它所存在的现实问题是造价昂贵且质量不高，甚至无法满足人们的实际需求。
       例如，我曾在北京的天安门广场看到过一款设计感不错的垃圾箱。但是，过了一段时间，这款垃圾箱被人为破坏很严重，因为许多拾荒者会从垃圾箱内掏东西。这个例子就很好地解释了为什么街具需要符合当地需求。对于街具的设计师而言，他们必须设想谁会用到这个街具，什么时候以及如何来运用它们，约详细、具体越好。特别是在中国大陆，设计师们应该多考虑该国人们的需求和偏好。换句话说，他们必须考虑当地的街具是否适合中国人民的需求。
       政府官员与职业设计师通过从海外直接购买街具，就安放在街道上。这样的做法，使得街具根本无法满足本国人们的需求，因为他们没有把文化问题考虑进来。从心理和文化的角度来看，这样的街具是不被当地社会所接受的。所以，我认为政府官员们应该去思考为什么人们会不喜欢这样的街具，它是否符合当地人文地境和文化。同时，我建议不要单纯地从海外购买街具，我们需要考虑人们的需要为先。
        NFC技术赋予街道家具新功能
        AOM: 随着新技术的发展，例如：NFC技术，似乎给街具注入了新的活力。您能和我们谈谈融入新技术的街具未来如何发展？
        Michael: 在多数情况下，相比与其它国家，中国其实拥有更多数字技术。NFC就是一种很有用的新技术。如果一个有视力障碍的人想要倒垃圾，但对于他来说，要垃圾分类是很困难的，因为他无法看到那个是可回收或是不可回收垃圾桶。在这种情况下，我想NFC就能帮到他，通过手机提示，他就能准确地扔对垃圾。再比如，当一个视觉受限的人做在公共长凳上时，这个长凳就能向他发送地理位置信息，帮助他了解自己所处的位置。总之，有了NFC的帮助，街具从单一功能变为多种功能。这种传递信息的功能大大方便了人们的生活，街具可告知人们实时的交通情况以及在紧急时刻，发布紧急公告等。
       具有文化识别性的街道家具
       AOM: 您曾参与编撰《街具设计原则：统一性和识别性》这一篇文章，您认为街具的原则是如此吗？您能和我们详细谈谈这一原则吗？
       Michael: 如今，人们越来越多地不再讨论街具的实际用途，而是从文化的视角，开始讨论起它的统一性和识别性。统一性和识别性是街具设计原则的一部分，但不是唯一的原则。原本，街具并不能帮助国家、城市塑造一种形象。从某种意义上来说，识别性是指文化层面上的。如果一个城市、社区拥有一个文化识别，那么生活在那里的人们就会拥有归属感。另一方面，如果这个地方没有文化识别，那么你无法从那里的街具上了解你身处何地。假设一个极端的案例，如果你在不同的地方看到了相同的街具和公共布局设计，你会疑惑这个地方到底是什么地方？你到底是在哪里？因此，如果人们能通过街具来感受这种独特的文化识别性，那就太棒了！又如，许多中国人喜欢红色，它代表了一种特殊的含义，但是其他国家的人们可能就有不同的偏好了。所以，我们要找到一种适合的方式来把特定文化融入到街具中。
       谨慎处理户外广告与街道家具的关系
       AOM: 作为城市格局中的重要一部分，户外媒体在城市形象塑造上起着举足轻重的作用。从您专业的角度而言，您能谈谈户外媒体的发展潜能吗？
       Michael: 街具使得人们能了解更多有关这个城市、国家。我认为，城市形象是很重要的。如果把城市识别融入到街具，那么市民和游客就能感知这种识别性。对于城市本身而言，每个城市都有它独一无二的特征，可能是高科技、环保等等，那么街具就要符合这个特征。换句话说，街具应特别关注这些特殊元素，如：颜色、外观和功能等。例如，当一个城市有着环保的特征，人们就应该能从街具中感受到环保这一特征。如果你身处瑞典，你能看到许多自行车道和类似的公共设施，这类街具能让人们闲坐、享受时光。这个城市给你的第一感觉就是舒适、环保。所以，街具的质量能充分反映和影响人们的需求、向往甚至梦想。在街具运营方面，不少政府部门会与户外媒体合作。如果这种合作顺利的话，建造和运营街具的花费会大大减少。同时，商业广告能使得街具的维持和更新得到商业支持。当然，政府官员、设计师们应该小心地处理这个问题，要考虑到街具的主要功能到底是什么。对于街具的设计初衷而言，商业广告可能只是一种附属选择。换句话说，如果户外广告成为主角，满城飞舞，那么街具就变得不再舒适，那么这样的做法实在糟透了。虽然户外广告能够给予街具建设、运营带来支持，但是街具毕竟是为大众服务，大家的利益才是首要选择。所以，我们要谨慎地处理好这个问题，千万不要只追求利益而忽略人们的需求和偏好。值得提醒的一点是，相关政府官员和设计师还不要忘记那些困难人群和有特殊需求人群的实际需求和偏好，他们也同样值得我们的关注。