reflexive summary
Blogging is like a diary for me, recording the growth of my experience in the field of urban design, and firstly posting blogs has allowed me to think more carefully and deeply in terms of theory. As my undergraduate degree was in environmental design (landscape), my research at that time focused on the functional role of plants in the site and the connection between open spaces and users, and I did not think about the impact of local politics, economy and culture on urban development. Through the process of blogging, I had the opportunity to learn about the influence of the ideas and theories of famous architects and urban designers on the layout of cities today and in the future. It was also through blogging that I realised how little I knew about sustainable urban development. Before blogging, I had never thought much about the impact of gentrification and sustainable development on cities, so I look back on a time when I was working on a design project and I was still rudely removing some local retail because it didn’t fit my understanding of the neighbourhood. It seemed that the only way to bring vitality to an urban space was to remove those old industries, but that was clearly a one-sided view. But by writing the blog, I have been able to seriously understand and think about the shortcomings of gentrification, which has allowed me to understand the importance of valuing humanism in my design as an urban designer.
The second thing is that blogging gives me a sense of achievement. Sharing what I have learnt and what I know, and making friends with like-minded people, I believe that urban design and art are closely linked, and that art and inspiration need to interact and collide. Not only that, but blogging is also a kind of writing that is done inwardly, it involves only myself from the first word written to the last sentence read, and in the diary I am both the confidant and the confidant. The person I am now can collide with the person I was in the past at any given moment in my thoughts and feelings of communication.
Finally, I would like to summarise the subtle impact that blogging has had on me. Writing a blog helps me to take stock and reflect on the fact that sometimes we are always on the go and forget to slow down. Writing blogs improves my writing and organisational skills. We all involve writing in our lives and work, and writing assignments regularly improves my writing and presentation skills, which is very important because good work needs good descriptions and expressions, and blogging develops my conceptual expressions and inspirational presentations of my design work.
Of course, establishing the habit of posting a blog was difficult at first and I encountered some problems. Because it was the first time I learned how to set up a personal website, each country has its own avenues and windows for social expression, and blogging is not taken seriously in my home country of China. In Europe, on the other hand, blogs are a convenient way to build channels, to promote yourself, and to recruit and market yourself. Before writing, you need to build your ideas, organise your understanding and summary of a particular section, find accompanying pictures and relevant examples. This was a challenge for me as a first-time blogger, but with experience, I have come to appreciate the benefits and pleasures of it.
