From Collaboration to Co-creation: Pathway of Digital Platform Public Art Participation and Aesthetic Education Symbiosis in Public Spaces of Free Trade Port Cities

Abstract

The rapid development of the Hainan Free Trade Port urgently requires enhancing the cultural quality and aesthetic value of urban public spaces. However, traditional public art participation models frequently encounter significant challenges, such as the marginalization of public roles, limited community engagement, and the gradual weakening of essential aesthetic education functions. To address these critical issues, this study proposes a novel theoretical perspective of "participation-aesthetic symbiosis." It systematically demonstrates how emerging digital platforms can effectively transform conventional participation models from traditional "expert-led collaboration" to dynamic "multi-stakeholder co-creation," thereby achieving the organic integration and sustainable development of social aesthetic education. Through comprehensive case analyses of historical arcade districts and modern coastal parks, the study designs and implements a lightweight digital platform framework. This innovative framework seamlessly integrates "creative mapping, collaborative creation, and dynamic feedback mechanisms," empowering active public participation in artistic co-creation. Furthermore, it simultaneously cultivates essential aesthetic perception, enhances cultural expression, and fosters advanced spatial negotiation skills among community members. The research findings provide highly practical and scalable pathways for environmental art education to actively support the "soft environment" infrastructure development of free trade ports. Ultimately, this study significantly expands the practical implementation scenarios for social aesthetic education, offering a robust methodological reference for future urban cultural planning and participatory design initiatives in rapidly developing global port cities.