Client:

City of Wuijang Planning Bureau

Consultants:

American Planning Association

Category:

Planning & Analysis

One of the most prosperous and fastest growing counties in China, Wujiang’s master plan will generate energy and vibrant life for this new waterfront community that also serves as the spine for a system of water collection and treatment before it is released into Taihu Lake.

The vision for the waterfront and East Taihu Boulevard, which follows a comprehensive plan for the area that was completed in 2005, involves a new urban waterfront community bearing both a strong urban core and linked to various neighborhoods and a prominent waterfront focused on sustainability. Encompassing approximately six square miles, the project was conceived as a response to the city of Wujiang’s intent to build a new community adjacent to Taihu Lake while also providing a contextually-rooted and environmentally sustainable alternative to China’s current development practices that are characterized primarily by rapid urban sprawl. Landscape architecture serves as a key method by which regional culture is integrated into the plan by establishing the framework upon which the plan is structured. With the water network as a key organizing element, the plan for the community combines this structure with a highly functional grid of interconnected streets, parks and other public spaces to provide an open space network and framework between the various development parcels.

The landscape architect was responsible for crafting the open space framework based on the existing ecological patterns of the site as well as providing detail landscape architectural development of several key areas within the master plan. The establishment of the landscape framework helps provide a long-range plan for the development of open spaces that includes a wide variety of landscape amenities such as urban plazas and streetscapes, community and neighborhood parks, waterfront promenades and nature preserves.