Research Background and Significance
The swimming pool is a public space with visual and tactile intimacy. The ownership of swimming pools has always been in dispute, relating to social segregation, racial discrimination, gender equality, and immigrant integration.
In 2600 BC the first swimming pool was built in Pakistan, which is considered to have been used for religious ceremonies rather than bathing or swimming. Later in ancient Greece and Rome, swimming pools were regarded as public spaces exclusive to the upper class, where people bathed, swam, read, and held social activities. It was not until the nineteenth century that swimming became popular as a sport in places such as England, Germany, and Sweden. However, the preciousness of water resources limited the possibility of swimming pools as public spaces in communities where working class or disadvantaged groups lived. Most could only swim or bathe in public rivers and lakes.
In the United States in the nineteenth century, middle-class men did not allow black men and middle-class women to swim in the same pool, which triggered a series of movements to occupy the swimming pool. In response, the rich turned their attention to the private swimming pool as a symbol of wealth and freedom. The swimming pool became a must-have item in the villa even if it was seldom used. The rise of private swimming pools helped lead to the decline of public swimming pools, and the government no longer seemed as invested in constructing them. First, with the rising affordability of indoor plumbing, people’s bathing problem no longer needed to be solved by building swimming pools. Second, swimming is affected by climate conditions such as temperature. In winter, a large number of swimming pools will become empty spaces in the city. At the same time, people are no longer allowed to swim in many rivers and lakes and swimming pools are getting farther and farther away from vulnerable groups.
Public swimming pools have unique community attributes because people often come to the swimming pool from different parts of the city, change into their swimsuits, and have intimate contact with the water in a very public setting. Jeff Wiltse wrote in the book Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America that the social status of people fades away in swimming pools, and everyone can enjoy freedom and fairness in it. Therefore, I believe that the swimming pool not only has the potential to enable everyone to enjoy the public life of the community, but also is a mirror that reflects social justice.
In epidemic and post-epidemic times, virtual public spaces have replaced traditional physical ones. But I believe that the vitality of the city lies in real encounters and the coexistence of people, which can inspire public power. The epidemic has aggravated the inequality of public space. Through examining the importance of public pools, I hope to make more people aware of the importance of this kind of community intimacy and its role in contributing to social justice.