Intimacy-私密与空间

IntimacyFirst of all, we do need to clear about the world “Intimacy” and “public realm”.At that time, when anything happened could be quickly publiced just in a few seconds, intimacy seems to become essential and prerequisite condition in human life. Intimacy relates to privatest area in which one can get absolute freedom without being disturbed by others over time, space, activity and social interaction. In this space, the inner self of a person could be comfortably expressed. Intimacy, if being understood in negative way, indicates a lack of relations, isolation with the outside.In The Production of Space, Lefebvre (1974/2010) states that each body produces space by itself, and that space is a small field around the body that exists with the body all the time. This space could be named as personal space and easily observed in daily life. For example, when people are standing in line, they do not stand directly next to one another, but with some distances between each other. An invisible boundary surrounding the person’s body is instinctively created to protect people from others’ so close contact. In differentiation of personal space of Edward T. Hall (The hidden dimension,2001), intimate is one of the fourcategories, along with personal, social and publicspeaking distances. An intimate zone is reserved forclose friends, lovers, children and close familymembers. A personal zone is used for conversationswith friends, to chat with associates, and in groupdiscussions. A social zone, is reserved for strangers,newly formed groups, and new acquaintances. Afourth one, public speaking, is used for speeches,lectures, and theater; essentially, public distance isthat range reserved for larger audiences.Everyone needs intimacy to different degrees. The size of desire intimate space varies depending on several factors, such as personalit y, cultural norms, age, gender, … Introverts may require more private sphere than extroverts may.Intimacy, which is generally associated with a private, and public realm are contrary notions but coexist and reciprocal. Public realm relates not only public space, but also public activities. In Institutional Space, Domestic Space, and Power Relations (2001), Julia W. Robinson identified these elements into three distinct spatial categories and territorial types: public-linking to the outside world, private relating to community activities within the residence, and intimate activities linked to the individual. According to A. Madanipour, private means limited accessibility and public means higher accessibility.In Serge Chermayeff and Christopher Alexander’model (Community and privacy: Toward a new architecture of humanism, 1963), they suggested that the public and private domains must be connected to their counterparts through semi-public and semi-private domains. Robinson extended spatial hierarchy into 7 parts, which she terms as territorial gradient (the public civic domain, the public neighbourhood domain, the semi-public or collective domain, the semi-private domain, the private, domain, the semi-intimate domain and the intimate domain)Between public and private domains are boundaries, either visible or invisible. Intimacy has an ambiguous mental spatial boundary. Boundary is used to distinguish the characteristics, functions, and sizes of separate spaces. N. Blomley mentions that “boundaries are succinct statements and the only symbolic forms that signify possession or exclusion in a space with direction” (Flowers in the bathtub: Boundary crossings at the public-private divide, 2005). They affect both spatial properties and human behaviors.NeighborhoodThis paper presents research on intimacy at the neighborhood level in inner-city areas in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. The objective is to find out the way intimacy is set up and the degrees of intimacy in these areas.Ho Chi Minh City, formerly named Saigon, is the largest city in Vietnam. It has been rapidly urbanized and developed during over 300 years. It is composed of 13 core districts (Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, Tan Phu, Phu Nhuan, Tan Binh, Binh Thanh, and Go Vap) and peri-urban areas (Districts 2, 7, 9, 12, Thu Duc, and Binh Tan). In core areas, population density is extremely high, which ranges from 18,000 to 44,000 persons per km2.In the perspective view of urban fabric,neighborhood could be considered as intimateunit. When getting into the territory of aneighborhood, one immediately has opposedfeelings to dynamic ones in main streets,something almost quiet and private. It is socio-spatial and cultural place in which face-to-facesocial interactions occur everyday. Inneighborhood territory, residents have a choice of spaces between private and public ones.It is interesting to find out that there are many similarities between spatial configuration of traditional Vietnamese villages and these high-density neighborhoods. The both structures represent highly autonomy and community characteristics. A traditional Vietnamese village is often surrounded by bamboo shrubs, which provide shade and protect villagers from invaders. Front-side houses enclosuring modern neighborhoods play a role as bamboo bushes to mark territory of the neighborhood. Traditional village gate is reminiscented by large banners and official regulatory signs at entrances of these residential areas.In urban planning of Ho Chi Minh city’s central zones, neighborhood areas are divided into numerous small land lots by orthogonal grid. The chaotic and compact urban form today has been constituted because of spontaneous and unregulated construction. Structure of neighborhood is composed of three main elements: houses, alleys and in-between spaces.The typical plot of household land is a 30-50 square meter rectangle, 3- 4 m wide and 12-25m long. Built on these areas are tube-house type- a flatroofed row house that is often accessed from the narrow side and constructed with fire walls on the remaining three sides. One house typically holds a family, ranging from 1-6 people. Tube house is the most common type of houses in Vietnam. The house itself is an intimate entity, which play an essential role as an envelope to protect individuals. Its surroundings visibly mark the boundaries between house and outside-house ambient. The layer ofspace within the house and between the house and the street create a spatial hierarchy from the most intimate space of the individual to the public arena.Space and its elements should be able to increase or decrease privacy according to the customized needs of its occupants (Georgiou, 2006). The following ways of privacy protection are distinguished: house position, construction, barriers, walls and fences, trees,… Differences in space organization and territorial depth could lead to different level of intimacy achieved. For example, privacy values of houses located along main streets might be slower than that of the ones along small alleys in the same neighborhood.In the case of main street, apart from living function, ground floor of house often serves commercial uses (shops, restaurants,…)Very few street-fronted houses are just residential. Narrow front side of ground floor directly opens to public street space. Immediate side by side of living and working makes degree of privacy limited. Distinction between public and private spaces is so blurred.The ground floor is dominant by strangers visiting the shops or restaurants. The intimate spaces of the whole family is generally expanded upwards to upperfloors. These domestic spaces are exposed to outside through one or two sides of house, and sometimes almost hidden behind advertising boards.Those houses located inside the neighborhood are often enclaved by ostentatious gates. In front of the houses are small yards for parking, flowers and plants. There are more space in between public and private. Physical boundaries and buffer spaces offer residents sense of security and privacy. Because of Vietnamese characteristics, semi-private spaces (kitchen, living room) are often put in lower floors, while intimate spaces (bedrooms) are designed on upper floors. The design ensures that owner’s activities are kept far enough from guests’s vision, therefore individual intimacy could be well achieved.Houses could be classified by morphology and number of open sides, which also influence privacy. By morphology, there are full plot built and partial plot built houses. Partial-plot built house offers more mediating space (garden, garage,…) as sequential gaps between house and street than full plot built house. Delimitation of private areas is also increased in backyards. Interaction is regulated by accessibilities. “Interface is a surface serving as the common boundary of two bodies in space, or a common boundary or interconnection between systems, equipment or human beings. It is essentially a space, or field of transition wherein the processes of interrelation occur”. The more open sides a house has, the less intimacy it achieved.A desire for intimacy lead to different proximity in territorial organization. Apart from construction of house, physical boundaries surrounding it play a significant role in creating and sustaining privacy distance. The quality of intimacy is evaluated based on territorial depth, which is measured by the number of boundary from the outer space to the innermost territory. These visual boundaries, such as iron fences, locked gate,trees…, could change visual image of the house. The way physical settings erected will also determine the degree of accessibility and integration possible in that environment (Goltsman, Melntyre, &Moore, 1996).As a result of dense distribution of houses in these areas, in-between spaces are indeed very limited. The close proximity allows audio-visual communication between the residents with people from the street and even among houses as well. This creates difficulties in ensure residents’ privacy. The last part of a neighborhood is alleys. Alleyways can be compared as veins on a leave. Some alleys are wide, but others are extremely narrow (eventually 50cm, just allows one person to pass through). Walking through these alleys, you can see many everyday domestic activities taking place directly. People sitting on tables along the streets, playing checks, talking about their daily issues. Children pla y football and laugh together… This experience allow one to take in the pulse of the city life and to experience vibrant urban rhymths. The quality of alley (width, appropriate lighting, sudden contrast,….) also affects security improvement of neighborhood environment.Furthermore, creating identity is oneof the most important process thatmake strong influence for residents insense of intimacy. An area is moreintimate if people consider it their ownand have been provided with thefreedom to delimit both the intimateand collective territory. Highlightingthe identity of space helps others torespect rules of given space. In other words, it makes a person recognize who this space is meant for, who is responsible for it and who controls it. Therefore, individual territory is prevent ed from strangers’ invasion.ProblemsThe historical planning have been first designed following a logical grid. However, because of rapid urbanization, accompanied with a high population growth and an ongoing influx of migrants, settlement structures of Ho Chi Minh city, especially in inner-city districts, are extremely high density living. Moreover, spontaneous construction makes these areas become more and more chaotic. Therefore, in view of space, size of intimacy for residents is dramatically decreasing. Expanding housing floor areas of residents imposes negative effects on neighborhood. That neighborhood becomes compact cause uncertainty in regulating optimal privacy distance between neighbors. Not only are spatial characteristics of neighborhood in a transformation process, but also psychological ones.The rapid revolution in technology has changed our lifestyle drastically. Now communication, shopping,…could be easily conducted on moderntechnical equipment. Instead of sharing daily issues with families, friends, people seem to spend their time staring at the screens of these devices, even when they are around other people. Houses, rooms become their own safety cocoons, people are expected to get mor private space. Social interaction among residents has been lost, superficial friendliness has been expanded. The more intimacy we get, the fewer community relations form. Because of commercial purposes and changing social composition in neighborhood, it’s residents experience uncertainty. They often feel unsure about who belongs in the neighborhood and what kind of neighborhood it is. Neighborhood space is invaded more by strangers. Physical boundaries (gates, fences,…) are built in more solid shapes, restricting other’s view to interior of house.By that means, a worrying phenomenonof “generic neighborhood” is founded inthese areas. The term “generic” used tobe stated in Rem Koolhaas’ essay “Thegeneric city”, which draws a picture ofhis vision of the city withoutcharacteristics. Neighborhood in ourtime has become more lifeless,unfriendly and lack of identity. Residentsdon’t have profound memories aboutwhere they live. Public spaces which actually belong to residents in neighborhood seem to be soon evacuated. Vietnam has a proverb: “Better a neighbor near than a brother far off”. Close relationship in neighborhood is one of Vietnamese precious cultural values. It needs to be preserved and promoted.。