Portfolio of Yi Zhou

Portfolio of YI ZHOU Email: judithzhou980825@gmail.com Phone:+412 214 2809

Contents

01 Research on toxic systems (Team MUD),Braddock, Pennsylvania “Desire-centered”, community-oriented research on environmental justice 02.2021-05.2021

02 Net Zero Montpelier(Team Transect),Montpelier, Pennsylvania Revitalization of a waterfront downtown area 09.2020-12.2020

03 Dynamic landscape of tidal,Vung tau, Vietnam Replanning & Exploitation of the intertidal zone 08.2019-12.2019

04 Under the migration of settlements, Minjiang river,China Symbolic landscape design of human and nature 04.2019-12.2019

05 Pen drawing,China 09.2017-01.2018

01 Research on toxic systems “Desire-centered”, community-oriented research on environmental justice Group Project from "Urban system studio" instructed by Nida Rehman Team: Schulyer McAuliffe, Siqing Ge, Yi Zhou, Takumi Davis, Lan Qin, Jenny Zhang, Xinye Wang Feb, 2021-May, 2021, In Braddock, Pennsylvania Medium:Rhino Grasshopper GIS AI PS

This research project focus on urban and environmental toxicity in the Pittsburgh urban region and start thinking toxicity in a broad frame - how material effects of industrial processes on frontline communities are inseparable from modes of racialized abandonment, dispossession, and accumulation in the urban realm.

We worked in collaboration with North Braddock Residents For Our Future — a grassroots organization challenging unconventional shale gas extraction and environmental pollution in the towns of Braddock, North Braddock, East Pittsburgh, and North Versailles.

We have been developing original drawings, mappings, timelines, and other visual media to document: landscapes of extraction and toxicity; how residents resist these extractive and toxic processes including North Braddock Resident’s ongoing advocacy; outlining possibilities for envisioning rejuvenative urban futures. Proposals for the built environment, policy frameworks, urban actions, or other outcomes, that envision just and decarbonized futures and address the nexus of health, equity, and spatial justice.

The overall conceptual framework is bases on desire-centered design / collaborative research and design process. We actively avoid essentialized or fetishized narratives of suffering or victimhood in our research and design and strive to develop an ethics of collaboration that centers the desires, agency , and expertise of community members, and works to aid and advance their efforts.

We remain open to and respect the “complexity and contradictions” within community desires and experiences based on historical experiences and relationships within ongoing structures of capitalist development.

As for “Toxic politics” , with recognition that toxicants not as unintended by-products of industrial capitalist systems, but central to them shape forms of exclusion and different experiences of environmental harm how they are problematized within regional political discourse, and how individuals and communities work at different scales of action and agency to counteract their effects / acting against a toxic world, need not just be overt acts of political resistance but also smaller scale efforts to live within such an environment.

(By Schulyer McAuliffe)

Actors maps of events around Fracking issue of Braddock

(By Lan Qin, Xinye Wang)

Location Map

We specified the toxicities on each section and demonstrate the spatial relationship between residential, green, industrial and river: section1-1 - residential area and Grandview golf club & south shore residents; section2-2 - Steel mill & golf club & vacant lands around railines Above that, we highlight the distinction between social and environmental toxicities. Social toxities means- more human-based attitudes and applications (i.e. jobs, culture, opinions. etc.) Environmental toxities include more tangible factors pertaining to physical attributes of land and extend to other organisms (i.e. air , water , ground pollution, physical decay/relationships between structures)

Section 1-1

(By Yi Zhou, Siqing Ge)

(By Jenny Zhang)

(By Yi Zhou, Siqing Ge)

(By Jenny Zhang)

Section 2-2

02 Net Zero Montpelier(Team Transect) Academic Sept, 2020-Dec, 2020 Team: Schulyer McAuliffe, Siqing Ge, Yi Zhou "Urban place studio" taught by Stefani Danes

(By Yi Zhou)

Our site is positioned in a fluvial plane between two large hills, in between these two hills is downtown Montpelier and the seat of the Vermont government. Most of the activities of the state complex and downtown are compressed within this zone producing a transect of rich overlapping social, physical, and natural scenes.

The transect concentrates the spatial and social relationships on our site amplifying the city’s intentions toward net zero.

The collage shows the compressed and overlapping relationships of local and regional transportation, energy-efficient infill buildings, and expanded natural landscapes along the river banks. When combined together along the zipper street of the transect, these scenes produce not only a low carbon lifestyle, but a more exciting and fulfilling living experience in the heart of downtown and the heart of the transect.

Geography takes Montpelier towards a net zero future

(By Siqing Ge) Existing Transect

New Healthy Transect

(By Yi Zhou)

02 Net Zero Montpelier(Team Transect) Plans

Urban fronts

The Zipper Street

Riverfronts

Off-site Development

According to our concept of transect, we explored the full potential of downtown Montpelier and are proposing a new healthy transect from the urban fronts of state street to the Winooski River. This plan revitalizes downtown Montpelier and creates an environmental-friendly path to reach Net-Zero and encourages citizens to have a low-carbon and healthy lifestyle. The new buildings, which are colored in yellow, are infilled to create more economic opportunities and the natural landscape along the river is opened up to the public. New mixed-use buildings and ground floor uses line the interior Zipper street. We envision this place becoming the most livable, attractive and energetic community and downtown complex. Riverfront landscapes celebrate the nature in urban lifestyle. This site plan includes four zones responding to the concept Transect that we have.

(By Siqing Ge, Yi Zhou) New Shaws

Street intersection

Taylor Street Intersection

03

Dynamic landscape of tidal

Replanning & Exploitation of the intertidal zone Individual Project Aug, 2019-Dec, 2019, In Vung Tau, Vietnam Medium:Rhino Grasshopper GIS AI PS CAD

Vung Tau is a city located near the estuary. Seasonal sea level changes on the coast of central and southern Vietnam are obvious. The region is vulnerable to seasonal high sea levels during astronomical tides. Under the background of rapid urbanization in this area, traditional agricultural land has been substituted and used for urban and industrial development. However, as the primary industry in Vietnam is still agriculture, it began to combine with aquatic products in the intertidal zone to appear In the form of intensive aquaculture, which takes advantage of the inflow and outflow of tides to increase yield and benefits. With time going on, there proves to have certain problems, such as the discharge of eutrophic wastewater. In addition, Vung Tau and Long Tzi Island are two tourism centers throughout Vietnam, attracting thousands of tourists every year to experience aquaculture and visit coastal beach, so I also consider the qualities of different spaces from the perspective of tourism development.

The intertidal zone is a easily overlooked area between the city and the sea. This transitional landscape faces multiple challenges such as the fragmentation of urban built-up areas, increased pollutant emissions, wetland pollution and flooding. As part of the large-scale hydrological and agricultural network in southeastern Vietnam, I set the intertidal zone and coastal cities (aquaculture, ecotourism development, port and terminal construction) in southern Vietnam as an experimental platform.

The strategy of the project is based on tidal fluctuations and takes landscape infrastructure into consideration. It can be applied to other existing hydrological and agricultural networks to build a new intertidal landscape that can reflect comprehensive hydrological ecological functions and respond to environmental changes in multiple time spans and spatial dimensions.

Ta k i n g V u n g t a u P r o v i n c e a s a n example, chaoru in the southeast coastal area of Vietnam is an irregular semidiurnal tide with an amplitude of 3.0-4.0m . There are two high tides and two low tides in a day.

According to statistics, the annual maximum and annual minimum water levels at Vungtau station change steadily, with the highest change range of only 14cm and 40cm, respectively.

Section 1-1A intends to tell the challenge of tidal and sea level rise, pollution, mangrove destruction.

And the harbor will be gradually submerged by the water. The problem is the most severe in the Longzi Island, where city sewage pollutes aquaculture bank, intertidal, open sea surface. Much of these pollution suspends around the south sea before drifting into the ocean. Meanwhile, the coastal landscape is heavilly ruined by the polluted tides.

T h i s s e c t i o n i n te n d s to re v e r t t h e s i t u a t i o n b y empowering the city semi-construction land ,designing innovation aquaculture and fishery system to incentivize spontaneous ecological cycle system, large-area intensive farming areas are set at the edge of the island, and efficient production is carried out.

Fish-producing shrimp, the ecological islands from the seaside to neighboring cities deal with the water sources polluted by intensive farming and factories.

04

Under the migration of settlements Symbolic region planning of human and nature Individual Project Apr, 2019-Dec, 2019, In Sichuan Province, China Medium: GIS Rhino Grasshopper AI PS CAD

The historical process of human social development must be accompanied by the phenomenon of population migration of different scales. Coordinating the coupling relationship between population migration and natural ecology is the main purpose of this project The upper reaches of the Minjiang River, which is one of the important tributaries of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The total drop of the river is about 3560 meters and the drainage area is 135,881 square kilometers.

In recent years, due to the state's proposal for the ecological policy and the further development of urbanization, the settlements in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River began to move downstream. In the future planning, the high-altitude settlements of the Minjiang River will gradually decrease until the gathering places are abandoned, and the cities downstream of the Minjiang River will further expand with the settlement.

The existing settlements in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River move down, the original settlement habitat is abandoned, soil erosion, land transition and other ecological problems are typical ecologically fragile areas. At mid-altitude areas, there are problems such as fragile ecological environment, serious soil erosion, and gradual simplification of ecological structure. At the same time, it needs to provide a new foothold for migration of upstream communities. However, due to the migration activities of the community, it will inevitably affect the fragile ecological status of the middle and high altitude areas. Low-altitude areas are the main receiving areas for settlement migration. In the future, more optimized urban forms are needed to coordinate problems such as excessive population concentration, land and natural resources.

In this design,I propose a new form of elastic landscape for high and low altitude and try to find the optimal solution for the use of different elevation.

4st-level eco-vulnerable region This region is the typical representative of the lowest ecological vulnerability region, which is located in the middle and high altitudes. Because of its steep slope and poor natural conditions, human factors have the smallest impact. And ecological vulnerability is the lowest.

Mid-altitude region This area is a typical representative of the middle altitude area in the upper reaches of Minjiang River.

It has a large population,small building density and more woodland, but the bare land area is the largest of three altitude types, and natural disasters occur frequently.

2nd-level eco-vulnerable region This region is a typical representative of the region with mid-ecological vulnerability, which is located in low and middle altitude. Its natural resources are much better than those in high altitude areas. The impact of human behavior on the environment is much greater than that in high altitude areas but lower than that in low altitude areas.

Sunshine hours Ⅰ

Temperature Ⅰ

Annual rainfall Ⅰ

Sunshine hours Ⅱ Sunshine hours Ⅲ Sunshine hours Ⅳ Ecologically fragile areas

Temperature Ⅱ Temperature Ⅲ Temperature Ⅳ Ecologically fragile areas

Annual rainfall Ⅱ Annual rainfall Ⅲ Annual rainfall Ⅳ Ecologically fragile areas

1st-level eco-vulnerable area

High-altitude region This area is a typical representative of the high altitude area in the upper reaches of Minjiang River, where Zangs people live, with smaller population, higher building density, less cultivated land and more bare land.

Natural disasters often occur.

This area is the typical representative of with highest eco-vulnerability. It is located in low altitude area,where abundant resources make the population huge, and is affected by downward migration from high-altitude settlements, which leads to overreclamation and frequent occurrence of natural disasters.

Humidity Ⅰ

Soil erodibility Ⅰ

Slope Ⅰ

Humidity Ⅱ Humidity Ⅲ Humidity Ⅳ Ecologically fragile areas

Soil erodibility Ⅱ Soil erodibility Ⅲ Soil erodibility Ⅳ Ecologically fragile areas

Slope Ⅱ Slope Ⅲ Slope Ⅳ Ecologically fragile areas

Annual evaporation Ⅰ

Slope & Aspect Ⅰ

Elevation Ⅰ

Annual evaporation Ⅱ Annual evaporation Ⅲ Annual evaporation Ⅳ Ecologically fragile areas

Slope & Aspect Ⅱ Slope & Aspect Ⅲ Slope & Aspect Ⅳ Ecologically fragile areas

Elevation Ⅱ Elevation Ⅲ Elevation Ⅳ Ecologically fragile areas

Low-altitude region

3rd-level eco-vulnerable region This region is a typical representative of low ecological vulnerability region. It is located in high altitude area, lacking resources.

But its ecology is still fragile due to the overgrazing of Tibetan and Qiang residents.

This area is a typical representative of the low altitude area in the upper reaches of Minjiang River. It has a large population, mainly Han and Hui nationalities. It has a large building density,fewer bare land and more cultivated land, fewer woodlands and serious disasters.

annual sunshine duration

annual average temperature

annual precipitation

annual average annual evaporation relative humidity

soil erodibility

slope

aspect

elevation

This chapter mainly describes the process of settlement migration. I redefine habitability by three leading factors of three different altitudes and then arrage migration routes and temporary settlements in order to guide them to move downward from original settlement points.

The low-altitude areas mainly considers the layout of the migration and the development plan of the town.

I redefine livable area according to the risk of floods.

Gradually people move to areas with low risk of flooding.

The mid-altitude areas are flexible residential points when designing settlements. I redefine livable area according to slope and aspects because Qiang people mainly rely on arable lands to farm. Gradually people move to areas with better sunshine condition.

The focus of high-altitude settlements is based on ecological restoration. I redefine livable area according to soil erodibity because Zangs people mainly rely on rich grassland to herd. Therefore they are guided to areas with intact patches of pasture.

The urban pattern of high, middle, and low elevations in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River has changed significantly over time,and population migration has also increased. There has been a migration from high,middle altitudes to low altitudes.Ecosystems at all altitudes have also changed and gradually returned to stability. Ecological problems such as soil erosion and dry river valleys expansion have also gradually been solved with the return of grazing land to forests at high altitudes, agricultural economy at mid-altitude systems, and planned urban development at low altitudes. On the whole, forest coverage in the upper Minjiang River increases year by year.

Low altitude city with restricted boundary

Low altitude city with open boundary

City with restricted boundary is surrounded by paddle,sorghum and corn field. They can stop the city from expanding unlimitedly, meanwhile they offer crops and serve as transition space to natural lobular scrub forest.

City with open boundary interact with natural forest by constructing forest park, waterfront park and fruit garden.They not only enriched the function of the city but also purify polluted air. By dotting open space within and on the border of city, people are attracted to visit these places which can spontaneously lower people density and improve living standard.

Therefore, by gradually changing quarries and arable land into construction land, low altitude cities are able to hold more people migrating from higher altitude.

05 Pen drawings Backyard in Olympic Forest Park (Left) Yi Zhou 14"x17" | Pen drawing Academic 2018 Traditional Chinaese Pavilion (Right) Yi Zhou 14"x17" | Pen drawing Academic 2018

Model of Minjiang River Project

Portfolio of YI ZHOU