Location: Guangzhou, China
Client: Guangzhou Development District Design Competition Committee
For over two millennia Guangzhou has been a successful trading port located at the confluence of two regional growth corridors that extend south and east along the Pearl River. Guangzhou has sustained its leading position using a series of strategies that include, transformation from a singular center to multi-centers; development of a new Central Business District; leveraging the established south and easterly growth corridor; development of the Universities City; and the establishment of a bio-island focused on ecological preservation.
The proposed, 53,000 acre “keystone” plan recognizes the importance of the Guangzhou Development Area and recommends an eightfold strategy of: Embrace the Mountains, Connect to The River; Extend the City; Encourage Mixed-Use; Realize Sustainable Development; Offer a Good Life; Foster Innovation; and Achieve Cohesiveness. This strategy facilities a live-work environment through an optimum jobs-housing balance and fosters a work-learn environment by encouraging educational institutions along with hi-technology research and development uses. The plan will transform the Guangzhou Development area from a purely industrial suburb into a regional multi-centered and cohesive eco-town that embraces sustainable development, offers multi-modal transit, and promotes a mixed-use live-work-play environment.