Dragons In Harmony

The first open space in Chinatown we saw was Hing Hay park where it usually serves as a resting area for the seniors of the Chinatown because of it's big plaza. There was a ping pong table that stood out in particular for attracting any pedestrians to play. Hang Hay park is currently being redevelopment where they youth convinced seniors to come out to meet about the designing of the new looks/use of the park space. The design of the facade reminded me of a traditional Chinese tea room.

The next open space we saw was the "Dragon Park". Dragon park had been redevelopment before and very recent. During the planning phase, IDEA invited residents to their meetings and designed a more special and safer park. Kids were the main group targeted but the park was then redesigned to allow their guardians which were usually their grandparents to take part in activities such as tai chi while watching them.

Then we stopped by the green sidewalks which were sidewalks with extending bulb-outs and designated greenery planted within the sidewalk and extended area. They were made because of a request by the community to make streets faster to cross but also made use of the frequent rain.

Comparing Seattle Chinatown to San Francisco Chinatown, there are less noise, energy and residents. 3,000 residents live in the Chinatown and 40% are elderly but I rarely saw any residents out in the open spaces. Not really my perception of a Chinatown but you can find dim sum! Although it's not as loud as San Francisco Chinatown, the dragons within Seattle rest quietly through out the day.

Taking the ideas of what I saw today, I feel that we should have brown sidewalks rather then green sidewalks back in San Francisco instead because of the drought. Rather then plants, we could just have solar panel benches for light energy and rest.

Today was full of sights and knowledge. Overall, it was cool to see another Chinatown with a wonderful community.


-Andrew(Liang Fu) Wu

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