園林所提供的服務不限于休憩和觀賞，更包括為民眾提供滿足實用需求的生活服務。在6世紀前后，歐洲修道院的庭院里有菜圃、果園和藥草園，也有裝飾性質的花園，滿足僧侶們生活的自給自足。此外，當時的教會還兼有學校、醫(yī)院的職能，寺院庭園中的藥草園種植草藥提供藥材，是向民眾提供醫(yī)療等服務的場所。在同時代的中國，隋唐長安城內(nèi)建有公共游賞的園囿，例如曲江池和樂游原，一處臨水、一處登高。杜甫《樂游園歌》中“閶闔晴開詄蕩蕩，曲江翠幕排銀榜”，描寫的就是天寶時期曲江游賞的盛況。也是在這一時期，百姓被“準入”佛寺園林開展活動，“可游、可登、可宿、可食”，寺院園林成為城市活動的集散地。

在漫長的前工業(yè)時代，中西方的園林服務對象主體是王族權貴、教會、士大夫等特定階級，但是也都在一定程度上具有服務于民眾的特征。之后受到啟蒙運動思想的影響，園林從過去主要迎合特權階層審美和需求服務，走向為平民和公眾服務。時至19世紀初，工業(yè)革命的浪潮興起，伴隨著紡織業(yè)、鋼鐵業(yè)等的蓬勃發(fā)展，空氣污染、居住環(huán)境惡化等問題在城市中日益凸顯，為響應城市環(huán)境質量和公共衛(wèi)生提升的需求，城市公園作為一種為公眾服務的福利設施發(fā)展起來。19世紀40年代，英國開始出現(xiàn)城市公園的建設熱潮，并帶動了各國的城市公園建設運動，包括唐寧、奧姆斯特德在美國推動的大規(guī)模城市公園營建。由此，園林不僅是為各個階層的民眾提供公共開放的活動場所，還進一步服務于城市環(huán)境質量的改善，為居民帶來健康惠益。在20世紀初，朱啟鈐主持北京城改造時提出“公園開放運動”，開放了中山公園、城南公園等大型公園，并推廣種植行道樹等市容綠化工作，讓普通百姓享受到城市中的園林生活。

現(xiàn)代風景園林誕生的170余年來，人們對于生存環(huán)境的要求隨著社會經(jīng)濟的進步和地球環(huán)境的演化而持續(xù)提升，風景園林介入人與自然關系的尺度不斷擴張，所提供景觀服務的范疇日益豐富。19世紀末，人們設立國家公園、自然保護地的目的主要還是圍繞創(chuàng)造“公共公園、服務民眾利益和享受娛樂空間”，然而到了20世紀以后，生物多樣性喪失和生態(tài)系統(tǒng)退化的危機凸顯，威脅人類社會的持久發(fā)展，設立自然保護地成為人類減緩對環(huán)境的壓力和對自然提供給人類的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)服務和文化價值實施長久保護的最重要途徑。在國際公約引導和多學科共同努力下，建立了今天仍在不斷擴大的全球保護地網(wǎng)絡，將景觀服務擴展到了保護和修復地球土地的廣闊領域。

從農(nóng)業(yè)文明時代為人創(chuàng)造生產(chǎn)、休憩和觀賞的空間，到工業(yè)文明時代助力人們適應高速城市化進程下的環(huán)境劇變，再到后工業(yè)時代致力于自然保護和受損土地的修復，風景園林通過調和人和自然系統(tǒng)，創(chuàng)造出適合不同時代所需，服務于公眾使用、生態(tài)平衡健康并具有美學價值的人類生活境域。在當下及未來，面對氣候變化、公共健康風險、社會性危機等復雜性挑戰(zhàn)，風景園林在順應技術更新、不斷擴展服務范疇和途徑的同時，要堅守學科始終服務于公眾需求的價值特征，創(chuàng)造真正給居民帶來幸福感的人居環(huán)境。

Landscape Service

Offering a visual feast and places to rest, gardens provide subsistence services to satisfy the practical needs of the public. Around the 6th century, the courtyards of European monasteries featured vegetable gardens,orchards, herb gardens, and ornamental gardens as well,making monks self-sufficient. Moreover, the church also exercised the function of a school and a hospital, offering medical service to the public benefiting from herbs from the gardens. At that time, China boasted the capital city of Chang’an in the Sui and Tang Dynasties when gardens were built for public tours, including Qujiang Pool, a place adjacent to water, and the Leyou Area, a place famous for climbing. “Though the wide open front gate of the imperial place is solemn and magnificent, the plague above it is dwarfed by the tent for touring nobles to rest and feast”are lines quoted fromSong for the Leyouby the famous poet Du fu, describing the booming scene of Qujiang Pool bustling with people. It was in this period that folks were“allowed to” enter the temples and gardens to engage in activities including “touring, climbing hills, lodging and dining”, making the gardens the hub of cities.

In the long pre-industrial times, gardens in China and the West mainly provided services to specific classes involving imperial kinsmen, the church and scholarofficials, despite serving common people to some extent.Later, influenced by the Enlightenment, the function of gardens shifted from mainly catering to the aesthetics needs of the privileged class to serving the public. At the beginning of the 19th century, with the rise of the industrial revolution and accompanied by the booming of the textile and steel industries, such problems as air pollution and deterioration of the living environment became increasingly prominent in cities. To address these problems, urban parks developed as welfare facilities to provide service to the public. In the 1840s, the United Kingdom began to see a boom in urban park construction,and other countries followed suit, including large-scale urban park construction led by Downing and Olmsted in the United States. Therefore, parks and gardens not only functioned as public place available for people of all ranks,but also contributed to improving urban environmental quality and public health. In early 20th century, when Zhu Qiqian initiated the reconstruction of Beijing city,he advocated the “Park Opening Movement”, rendering such large parks as Zhongshan Park and Chengnan Park open to the public. He also engaged in greening work like popularizing street trees to beautify the city. Thus, ordinary people gained access to city gardens.

Socioeconomic progress and the evolution of earth environment have been seen since the birth of the modern landscape architecture more than 170 years ago, and people had increasingly higher demand for living environment. In this context, landscape architecture played an increasing important role in the relationship between human and nature, and offered a wider variety of services. At the end of the 19th century, the purpose of establishing national parks and nature reserves was mainly to “create public parks, recreational spaces and for the interests of the people”. But since the 20th century, biodiversity loss and degraded ecosystems have threatened sustainable development of human society, so establishing nature reserves has become the most important way for human beings to protect environment and permanently preserve cultural values and ecosystem services bestowed by nature.Guided by international conventions and benefiting from multidisciplinary efforts, a global network of protected areas has been established and developed, extending the connotation of landscape services to the protection and restoration of land on the Earth.

From creating space for production, rest and tour in the era of agricultural civilization, helping people adapt to drastic changes in the environment amid the rapid process of urbanization in the industrial age, and to focusing on natural conservation and restoration of damaged land in the post-industrial era, landscape architecture coordinates the relationship between man and nature, and creates a human living environment both of aesthetic value for public use,thus suitable for different eras. At present, facing complex challenges such as climate change, public health risks,and social crises, landscape architecture profession must adhere to the value characteristics of serving public needs,while adapting to technological updates and continuously expanding the scope and methods of services, so as to create a living environment that truly brings happiness to the public.

Editor-in-chief: Professor ZHENG Xi

October 1, 2022