Examining three roles of urban “portals” in their relationship with “places” using social media photographs

《Examining three roles of urban “portals” in their relationship with “places” using social media photographs》

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作者单位: Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom;Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom

摘要: Portals are the transition spaces between paths and places in an urban environment such as the entrance to a square from a connecting street. This paper aims to explore different forms of portals by considering their relationship with places. In doing so, a people-generated image analysis was adopted for two case studies conducted in popular Chinese recreational venues: Sanlitun Village, Beijing; and Xintiandi, Shanghai. Through an analysis of nearly 53,000 Instagram photographs, three different roles that a portal can fulfil are identified and defined as the ‘doorway’, the ‘showroom’, and the ‘place’. These typologies are derived from a deeper understanding of urban space through the ‘eyes of the users’, and this knowledge can in turn influence the design process for the public realm and urban spaces.