Urban Aesthetics Recreation

Q-City International Young Designer Competition (Yulin, China) “Urban Aesthetics Recreation” as the theme and lets Yulin Acropolis, the fresh national historical and cultural city, as the base, which aims to lead people to find an urban aesthetic carrier of harmony in diversity, establish an exclusive aesthetic system of Yulin Ancient City, and create a beautiful urban life benefiting to both residents and tourists.
Urban aesthetics is a significant part of the urban renewal, which is not only connected to the public's aesthetics of the city, but also related to the creation of the urban vitality. It involves all aspects of urban life, which is not only reflected in landscape art and public facilities, but also in the enduring urban spirit, the air filled with breath of life and the humanistic atmosphere of various places. Therefore, the construction of urban aesthetic system needs to be rooted in the exploration and understanding of local people’s livelihood, industrial economy, cultural gene, environmental elements, urban administration and operation, use systematic and comprehensive thinking, get rid of the development mode of large-scale demolition and construction, repairing the old as the old and industrialized production, and adopt the concept of acupuncture transformation to refine and create works with condensed wisdom, so as to activate the urban business form and respond to the core theme of urban renewal: high-quality urban development.
Taking the diversified forms of urban furniture, landscape& floral art, public art and visual system as the carrier, this international competition invites young designers as well as college teachers and students, from home and abroad, in architecture, landscape, environmental art, digital media, public art and visual design to participate in the research on reconstruction of urban aesthetic system, and solicits new urban functions, new forms and new modules with both urban functions and ancient city style. The competition hopes that the participants will break the professional boundary, think about current public life and activities of "new residents" in the ancient city in the future, stimulate the regeneration of urban vitality, form the unique character and cultural tone of the ancient city, and finally jointly create a dynamic historical and cultural city with tastes of both contemporary life and aesthetics.

As a prefecture level city in Shaanxi Province, Yulin is located in the north of Shaanxi Province,of China, with a total area of 42,920.2 square kilometers and a permanent population of about 3.8589 million.Yulin is located at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi provinces and also at the intersection of Mu Us Desert and Loess Plateau. Yulin was established in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which is a state-list famous historical and culture city. It has11 national intangible cultural heritages and many famous scenic spots, such as Zhenbei Terrace, Yulin Acropolis and Red Stone Gorge. In 2021, GDP of Yulin exceeded 540 billion yuan, reaching top 50 in China’s total economic aggregate, 5th in western cities and 1st in the urban agglomeration of Huhhot-Baotou-Erdos-Yulin.
Yulin is a National Famous Historical and Cultural City, with Yulin Acropolis as the essence. Yulin Acropolis has been the political, economic and cultural center of Northern Shaanxi since its establishment. It is also the only ancient city of the Ming and Qing Dynasties completely and well preserved on the north of the Great Wall, which has the reputation of “the South Pagoda (Lingxiao Pagoda) and North Terrace (Zhenbei Terrace); six famous towers (Drum Tower, Kaige Tower, Bell Tower, Xingming Tower, Wanfo Tower, Wenchang Pavilion) crossing the old street”. It is not only the important symbol of Yulin to become a National Famous Historical and Cultural City, but also the unique resource for Yulin Acropolis to create the city landmark. Yulin Acropolis is different from many other over-commercialized “hollow ancient cities”.Yulin Ancient City is inhabited by a large number of native residents. The reproduction of several generations of Yulin people is the culture of this ancient city. The soul of the ancient city is continued by the leisurely urban memory.
The Main Street is the essence of Yulin Acropolis, with the characteristics of “six famous towers (Drum Tower, Kaige Tower, Bell Tower, Xingming Tower, Wanfo Tower, Wenchang Pavilion) crossing the old street”. It is not only filled with breath of life for several generations of people in Yulin, but also carries the long cultural memory of the ancient city, which owns unique humanistic value. However, with the development of economy and culture, there are still some issues in the development of city Main Street, such as the needs to improve the living conditions of local residents, the lack of driving force for the future operation of the ancient city, and the overall enhancement of the landscape atmosphere. Therefore, the development of the ancient city should mainly focus on how to promote the overall space quality and improve people’s quality of life.