Lying on the grass

This is a picture I took in Leicester Square. You might think it’s just grass, and then people sit on the grass in the sun and talk. But you know, in China, it’s really rare.

And In the last project, I’ve done about why public space is attractive, one of the reasons is because of greening. Green lawns make people feel comfortable and people are willing to sit in the sun or do nothing and more easily to attract people stay there for a long time.

In China, there are lots of green grass, too, but there are signs next to it that say, “No treading on the grass,” or “The grass has life.”

But if the grass is not trampled, it is only ornamental. When a lawn in a public space is forbidden, is that public space in some sense not public space? Is public space a public space that can be used at will or a space designed for public use?

Then I did some research on why the grass in China can’t be trampled. The conclusion is given that there is an upper limit to the tolerance of grass to trampling. There are so many people in China that everyone can easily go bald if they tread on grass. Lawn maintenance is very expensive. It is also said that because the country’s climate is different, so the variety of lawn is different. Maybe there are special grass that you can step on, but most of the space say you can’t step on the grass, so people get into the habit of not stepping on the grass. But that’s hard to change.

At St James’ Park, I saw a lot of people sitting on the grass in the sun, and then I took this picture, I thought it was very atmospheric.

When the man was gone, I lay down on the grass. I resisted at first, but I lay down. Basking in the sun, looking at the blue sky, really want to sleep. Then I began to worry about whether the floor would be clean, whether there would be bugs, what if they crawled into my clothes, whether someone would take my bag when I fell asleep and staff like this. I wanted to enjoy this moment of comfort, but I couldn’t help being tortured by these thoughts.

I posted the photo on my social media, and there were two interesting comments.

One is from my grandpa, he said:It’s not safe to be alone in this wild place, is it?; and one is from my mother, she said:Watch out for ticks.

I think that’s why I was a little resistant to lying on the grass at first. My childhood education gave me such an idea, do not lie on the ground because of dirty because of bugs.

This is actually our perception of treading grass, of public space. Of course, when we design this kind of space, we should consider the problem. If it’s grass you can’t tread on, why not plant something more ornamental? If it’s grass that you can tread on, how can we intervene in the design to tell people: Oh, I can lie in the sun and talk here.

And then I found that you can find a lot of people sitting and lying on the grass, or no one at all. They’re more likely to sit in the  bench.I was just thinking maybe we could put some sort of park bench sculpture on the grass, and then people would be more willing to do the figure sitting on the grass. Of course, I can also combine some knowledge of psychological geography with design to guide people to explore more ways to use urban public space.

What I would like to do for a change is to let go of some thoughts, just lying on the grass, and enjoy the moment in a public space.

1. [1]Hart, Joseph (Jun 1, 2004). "A New Way of Walking". Utne Reader.

2. [2]"Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography". The Situationist International Text Library.