URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES OF RESILIENCE Between re-profiling and retrofitting streets canals and city by Temesgen Abegaz

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES OF RESILIENCE Between re-profiling and retrofitting streets, canals and city

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES OF RESILIENCE Between re-profiling and retrofiring streets, canals and city

Paper submitted for H209a-urban design strategies

Professor: Bruno De Meulder Student: Temesgen Abegaz Yimam (r0647432) August, 2017

Abstract Climate change has already disrupted cities, rural land and water bodies in different parts of the planes. Cities in delta regions are highly susceptible to these threats as sea level rise is an imminent threat. Appreciating these facts, this paper documents Urban design strategies proposed for the city of Wujiang. It starts by underlying the need for urban resilience in cities around the world with special attention to the environmental and ecological aspect of cities, especially the relationship of cities with water. While urban resilience is defined as withstanding disasters and risks this paper strengthen this fact also by adding several elements of urban resilience . Landuse change urbanization model(trend), speculative urbanization are all that the Wujiang has to with stand. So, urban resilience and sponge city concept are further interpreted. Whereas sponge city concept is not new in China, the design strategies reflect contextual and site specific designs to mitigate, reduce pollution in one hand , and frame and guide future development. The urban design strategies, in each part refer urban design projects which draw inspiration and current trend in specific design aspects.

The design strategies

shift in scale from street level to city scale mega parks with in a theme of urban resilience in which existing problems are tackled at the same time future is envisioned.

Table of contents INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 Reinterpreting urban resilience..................................................................................1 CONTEXT.........................................................................................................................2 Urbanization in YRD.................................................................................................2 Situating Wujiang...................................................................................................... 3 Understanding Wujiang.............................................................................................3 PRADIGMS OF URBAN RESILIENCE..........................................................................8 Sponge cities..............................................................................................................8 Blue and green aspect of infrastructure..................................................................... 9 Landscape urbanism as a remediation:.................................................................... 10 FRAMING WUJIANG....................................................................................................12 Prospect and opportunities in a recurring urbanization........................................... 12 Case Study............................................................................................................... 15 Urban design strategies :Wujiang as a testing ground.....................................................20 Re-profiling as a strategy.........................................................................................21 Intervention in the existing tissues.......................................................................... 23 Retrofitting wujiang: Parks for the city................................................................... 26 Thematic parks of Wujiang..................................................................................... 30 Framing future development................................................................................... 32 Development in strategic location........................................................................... 35 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................... 39 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................... 40

INTRODUCTION Reinterpreting urban resilience Urban resilience has become a important term in sustainable cities and urban development discourse. The ever growing of cities and man-made system continuing to function in the face of disruption, the concept of Urban resilience shades new light on approaches of city making in this age of rapid change and uncertainty, where fast shifts can trigger adverse consequences, which are difficult to foresee and prevent.(S. Caputo & etal, 2015). The United nations published a report on resilient cities in which the concept could be implemented within the urban planning and design domain for research in disaster as well as to establish a better relationship of cities and urban areas with their surrounding natural environment (S. Caputo & etal, 2015). It details resilience s the ability to of a system, community, society or city exposed too hazard, to resist, absorb and recover the effects of a hazard promptly and efficiently while resilient cities is characterized by its capacity to withstand or absorb the impact of a hazard through resistance or adaptation, which enable it to maintain certain basic functions and structures during a crisis, and bounce back or recover from an event (Twigg, 2007; UNISDR, terminology). While there are different components of urban resilience, I.e. infrastructural, economical, social, and institutional the important infrastructures of cities, water bodies and buildings, the city in general are facing more of climate change related problems like flooding, sea level rise, pollution, earth quake.

Figure 1 Suzhou city flooded in 2015, source (Shanghaidaily.com, 2017)

CONTEXT Urbanization in YRD The eastern part of china is the most important area of the country in economy, agriculture, and technology and is the most urbanizing area. Located in the Yangtze River Delta, these area is a productive landscape with a sponge territory. And over the last three decades this region,

like the other regions of china, experienced

experiencing rapid urbanization. The first phase was in the 1980s when the region was still dominated by the planned economy with very low urbanization levels. However, linkages between capital and labour were promoted among Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. The region entered the second phase of development in the 1990s when Shanghaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pudong New Area became the national strategy of a new wave of reform. .The final phase of development started in 2000 when economic regionalization was elevated by deepening market reforms.Many higher level cities annexed their surrounding counties and county-level cities and turned them into new towns and industrial parks

Figure 2 Urbanization in YRD area, chart showing suzhou area urbanization second highest in the region ( Source:

)

Situating Wujiang Wujiang is located in the southern part of the yangtze delta region between big cities like shanghai, suzhou and Hangzhou. Located next to lake taihu, the city is rapidly growing and expanding, a similar phenomena in cities in the yangtze delta area.

Figure 3 : Location of Wujiang: source ( Chung, C. (2015)

Understanding Wujiang Wujiang city, evolved to be a rapid growing city of high rise towers and a strong industrial influence is one of the major cities in the region with a population of 1.275 million. It is a city build next to Taihu Lake and along the Grand Canal. A city which was water based and sensitive to water, it has been transformed into a rigid grid based urbanization. The city is expanding to unbuilt territory towards the South and West of the city. The speculative nature of this urbanization resulted in more built areas in the city thus, adding pressure to the already problematic water network. The development which is mostly residential disregards the water. The logic of the city development, which followed the development of the industrial zone, is now abiding by a more speculative nature. Infrastructure is laid in the sponge landscapes and development will happen in a grid of 400x400m making these â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;islandsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; more impervious and a threat to the ecological value of the area (see figure 5) 3

Figure4 summary of evolution of the city Source : (studio work)

Figure 5 traces of recent urbanization model Source : (studio work)

Wujiang is an archipelago of islands structured by series canals emerging from lake taihu and that are inter connected. The canals are more organic and small in size in the old center while they are structured grids and bigger in the new development areas. The new development areas are also build by diverting the natural course of the water bodies and creating land our of the spongy land. At the same time, the interconnected canals of wujiang are part of a wetland corridor that stretches up-to Shanghai creating a network of ponds , lake and canals. These networks of water bodies are in fact important character of the territory known for its agriculture and important economic centers. While the water played an important role in agriculture, settlement and city making, today it is not embraced as pollution level rises every where in the territory. Cities like wujiang face serious environmental problems, on one hand existing city pollutes the canals on the other hand new developments exacerbate this problem with insensitive planning and design approach. 5

Figure 6: Map showing archipelago nature of Wujiang city Source : (studio work)

Figure 6: Map showing pollution level in the wetland corridor Source : (studio work)

PRADIGMS OF URBAN RESILIENCE The increase in environmental degradation and the notion that cites are at the center of this process has resulted to find n urgent and radical approach in city making and development. ‘’The melting of ice sheets (e.g. Greenland and West Antarctic), hurricanes (e.g. Katrina and New Orleans), tsunamis and floods (e.g. Seychelles and Pakistan), earthquakes (e.g. Istanbul, Tehran, Mumbai) and the peak oil problem since 2006 have challenged the status quo of city living, and have resulted in serious economic, social and environmental disruption’’((Ercoskun, 2012, PP. 5) While the concept of urban resilience is vast and can be interpreted in many aspects of urban systems, the physical form of city which is structured by urban planning and designs plays an important role in shaping the city and structuring the different elements of a city to decrease impacts and adapt future disasters.

Sponge cities Cities have layers of complex system of social, spatial, environmental, economical, infrastructural elements. While many are revealed and can be exhibited, cities also hold hidden yet important functional elements , like mobility infrastructure or drainage system. It was not long time ago that rain water on cities would be collected and disposed off as fast, efficiently and invisibly as possible through drains, gutters, downspouts pipes out of our living domain and into some hopefully far-off stream, canal or river. With the increasing mantra of resilience and sustainability of cities and urban environment, the out of sight and out of mind approach to rainwater, drainage and water bodies is changing to a more water and environment sensitive design approach for cities to have low impact development. Sponge city is a recent design paradigm that is first coined in china. As well as in other cities in the world, the sponge city concept is a counter strategy to engineered design of drainage system. The sponge city can absorb rain water through permeable pavements, rain gardens and wetlands, or reuse the water locally for irrigation, parks deceasing risk of flooding of city and pollution of water bodies.

Blue and green aspect of infrastructure

Figure 7: â&#x20AC;&#x153;deep groundâ&#x20AC;? winning design by GroundLab for regeneration of center of loggang city, China

Landscape urbanism as a remediation: “Landscape urbanism emerged over the past decade as a critique of the disciplinary and professional commitment of traditional urban design and as an alternative new urbanism approach” (Charles Waldheim ,2010). The critique and practice on landscape urbanism has much to do with perceived urban design’s inability to come to terms with the rapid pace of urban change and the horizontal character of contemporary urbanization . This equally has to do with the inefficiency of conventional urban design paradigms when it comes to environmental condition left by de industrialization. More over the increase awareness and call for ecological sensitive urbanism and design contemporary design culture has shifted to a landscape urbanism. Landscape urbanism in its broadest sense works intrinsically with the blue and green infrastructures. Designing and installing green and blue elements in streets at a smaller scale and neighborhood and city at a larger scale balances the city’s ecology by introduce soft elements into the hard and concrete surfaces. This also modifies the urban setting by introducing parks, green areas and livable streets tht serve multiple functions.

Figure 8 : The impact of the absence of plants and surface sealing on water circulation in the city (Adapted from : Iwona W &etal PP. 147) 10

The interplay between blue and green elements in a city will not only improve the quality of urban environment but also protect water bodies, canals from pollution as is decreases runoff. It decreases flood risks and. But landscape urbanism is no not about individual trees, rows of trees or even green areas: it is a coherent and continuous system that structures urban systems to create better environment (Iwona W &etal PP. 149)

Figure 9: The Blue-Green Network for city of Lodz

FRAMING WUJIANG Prospect and opportunities in a recurring urbanization Wujiangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existing urban condition exhibits both a problem urbanization patters and opportunities that could remediate the problem. With a dense and organic urban fabric in the old center, Wujiangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s periphery is in a constant speculative real estate, relocation and gated community development.

Figure 10 map showing existing condition of wujiang, urban tissues and open spaces. Source : (studio work)

C Figure 11 maps showing urban tissues of new development areas source: Google Earth 13

C Figure 12 map showing existing condition of wujiang, urban tissues and open spaces. 14

Case Study Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan Waggonner and Ball architects & Palmbout urban landscapes Out of site and out of mind water management which manages stormwater through engineered system is failing and needs a rethinking. The Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan provides introduce new framework and design to make the city resilient and sustainable

Issues : Flooding The storm water system of the city removes runoff faster which makes the sewer system inefficient. In-case of rainy seasons the city faces serious problems of flooding, that resulted in broken infrastructures, and disruption in mobility and everyday life of people. Problems related problems are estimated to cost the city millions of dollars for maintenance.

Figure 13 flooding in New Orleans, a constant phenomenon source (Livingwithwater.com, 2017)

Water Assets Wasted â&#x20AC;&#x153;For a region built on a river and an estuary and created out of swamp, water is remarkably hard to findâ&#x20AC;? (Livingwithwater.com, 2017) Except small number of canals, many of the water bodies are wasted, disregarded and do not add value to the city

Figure 14 wasted canals source (Livingwithwater.com, 2017)

Subsidence Existing single-purpose drainage systems are the primary cause of subsidence in the region. The current drainage regime has developed into a destructive cycle in which pumping and low water levels cause the land to sink, which then necessitates increased pumping capacity in order to keep dry, which then leads to further subsidence. Subsidence will cost the region an estimated $2.2 billion in damages to structures over the next 50 years.

Figure 15 percentage of built and unbuilt areas in the city source (Livingwithwater.com, 2017) 16

Principles: Adapting the Flow To revive and retrofit greater new Orleans, a new storm water management is laid by adapting to the flow of water to reintroduce natural systems and to combine it with the engineered system Integrated Living Water System In rainy season slow

and store storm water.By increasing landscape elements in the city and

slowing the runoff across the green spaces and storing them to infiltrate.In dry seasons “Incorporate water flows and higher water levels into everyday water management improves groundwater balance, water quality, and the region’s ecological health.”(Livingwithwater.com, 2017)

Figure 16: General scheme of storm water management source (Livingwithwater.com, 2017)

The important elements of this urban design strategy are scenic subsoil - Back-slope, bowl, ridge and polders. According to the principle of capture-capture discharges, water is collected and retained locally as much as possible and the drainage process is delayed. Flood walls can therefore be broken down, underground pipes become water parks, channels become blue-green ways and trees are planted for infiltration and shadow action. This creates a quality urban environment that can withstand the effects of heavy storms and water pollution.

This will make the city to to hold more water to slow it down absorb like a sponge. Pressure on the drain system is hereby greatly reduced.

Figure 17: articulation of neighborhoods with greenaries source (Livingwithwater.com, 2017) Neighborhoods are punctured with patches of green spaces, yet integrated to the bigger system to improve the functionality of water management and public spaces. Examples of this palette are planted channels, bioswales (big wadi's), water parks Traffic nodes and 'water lanes' .

Figure 18: scenario in re-profiled streets source (Livingwithwater.com, 2017) 18

From the street level to neighborhood and to city level the green and blue networks articulates at the same time helps in the water management by infiltrating and reducing runoff. Fragmented Fig 19reprofiled streets

disconnected

and patches

are

redefined in a new spine, as a backbone of the city . While the wetland park on the periphery of the city infiltrate and store the water in dry season, at the same

Fig 0 Transforming the backbone

time filling

the

water

that

table,

reduced causes

sussidence

Figure 21 vision of a resilient New Orleans source (Livingwithwater.com, 2017)

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES :WUJIANG AS A TESTING GROUND The urban design strategies for a resilient wujiang city starts by acknowledging its archipelago nature which also draws inspiration. The city, on one hand susceptible to water pollution storm water runoff and unprotected canals, is once again building new urban areas that are not water sensitive and that are not integrated with the existing fabric. The landscape urban strategies shifts in different scales from the street level to the city level. The first strategy is to manage stormwater runoff within each island by building each island to infiltrate,delay and store and clean water before discharging it to adjacent canals. Live with Water Water is a fact of life on the delta. Making space for water and making it visible across the urban landscape allows it once again to be an asset to the region. Work with Nature The regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diverse flora and fauna already store, filter, and grow with water. Integrating these natural processes with mechanical systems enhances the function, beauty, and resilience of the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water infrastructure and landscape. Figure 22 General scheme of water management in island scale..

Figure 23 section showing how water will be integrated across an island Source : (studio work)

Water in the everyday environment Existing and new water coarses within the city is no longer diverted straight into drainage gutters, but instead forms part of a green network and the basis of an urban ecosystem. The banks of river systems are as green as possible and feature hiking and cycling trails. Streets are renewed and newly profiled to offer plenty of space to slow water movement. Wadis and permeable paving are crucial in this area. The people of New Orleans are also inspired by the new approach of a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;delta townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and on private plots, green roofs and rain gardens are increasingly being incorporated.

Re-profiling as a strategy Re-profiling is a systemic process of changing and restoring the profile of urban elements to revive natural processes and add values to the city. Streets , canals sides, and other parts of the city including undeveloped land are important places to apply this strategy

Re-profiling is site specific that happens in selected areas, but this will be

repeated in several places that could change the relationship of water and the city (see fig. 24 21

Figure 24sample of site specific street re-profiling Source : (studio work)

Figure25 section showing how water will be integrated across an island Source : (studio work) 22

Intervention in the existing tissues Like the re-profiling strategy intervention n existing tissues is a site specific design that will be different according to context. But, the the design approach can be replicated as the tissues show similar character in the city Relocation tissues are typical of a grid city plan. They are mostly private houses of 2 or 3 storeys that are arranged in perfect grid. Almost all of the site is filled with houses and a network of streets leaving no room for permeable surfaces and increasing the pressure on the C.S.O. systems in case of rain.

Figure 26 Intervention in relocation tissue Source : (studio work)

Figure 27 Intervention in apartment tissue Source : (studio work)

The new developments have a typical high density apartment block layout like the figure above. With blocks of 10-12 story bordered by roads which always leave the canals prone to runoff and pollution. In some of the tissues vacant land is available but are soon to be build adding more impervious surface on the site. Using the available land, a local storm water storage is build which by including park programs can be a local park in dry season and a storage and cleaning wetland in rainy season

Figure 28 Intervention in industry tissue Source : (studio work)

Industrial tissues along the canal will have greener infrastructure to delay runoff and cleanse the runoff before it runs in to the canal. Concrete surfaces are reduced in and green spaces are inserted instead Retention ponds and detention ponds store water while the surrounding green figure becomes a retreat for workers. Underused open spaces are planted with trees transforming some of the area in to forest.

Retrofitting wujiang: Parks for the city Both the archipelago nature of the city and the strong grid based urban model has left wujiang with no centrality. Public spaces and patches of greenaries are disconnected all reflecting the need for bigger and more coherent park. From central park of New York to hype park of London or Luxembourg Garden of Paris, parks are â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;lungsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to a city. They provide centrality, improve the built environment, improve the ecology of a city and importantly they provide public spaces for variety of function for the general pubic. Which Wujiang is missing. But reclaiming the available open spaces and transforming them to different parks, Wujiang is retrofitted. With more green space, the enhanced blue and green network in the park can be used to manage water pollution at the same time beautify the city

Case study: Tianjin Qiaoyuan city park, China Turenscape Landscape Architecture

Figure 29 existing condition of the park source (Landezine.com, 2017)

The project is 22 hectares park in the coastal city of Tianjin, china. A derelict site, that has turned in to a dump site , the site was a shooting range before it turns into a polluted and deserted corned in the city. Moreover, the site has become a sink for stormwater drainage surrounded by slums ans temporary rickety structure with quite saline and alkaline (Landezine.com, 2017). The south and east part of the site is densely populated while the west and north boundaries are highways and overpasses. The overall design vision is to create a park that can improve the ecology, diversity and revive natural system of the site at the same time store and purify urban storm water improving the soil condition with natural cleansing processes. The park on the other hand provides the people in the vicinity a new experience of aesthetically pleasant urban park.

Figure 30 Building soil mounds and holes source (Landezine.com, 2017)

The solution for this park was developed through the introduction of adaptation Palettes, which revive the natural process. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A simple landscape Regenerative Design strategy was devised, one that included digging twenty-one pond cavities varying from ten to forty meters in diameter, and from one to five meters in depthâ&#x20AC;?(Landezine.com, 2017).

Figure 31 Master plan of the park source (Landezine.com, 2017)

Through the raining season and due to the shallow underground water, some cavities turn into water ponds, some into wetlands, some into seasonal pool, and some stay as dry cavities. In rainy season water wash and infiltrates , improving the the saline-alkali soil of the dry cavities

Figure 32 Scenario in dry ad wet season source (Landezine.com, 2017)

Figure. 33 Views of the linear park source (Landezine.com, 2017)

The project improve the landscape and introduce a continuously evolving process. It shows simple approaches to park design by introducing natural processes of biodiversity â&#x20AC;&#x153;This keep nature's "messiness"going, letting plants live and expose their genuine beauty to enrich the landscapeâ&#x20AC;? (Landezine.com, 2017). The palette design of the park becomes a symbolic yet valuable image of the park and the city. Once again a park system that integrates stormwater management and cleansing strategies become important design approach to regenerate wasted part of a city by further including urban programs and making it a scenic and pleasant place.

Thematic parks of Wujiang The available open space in wujiang is rapidly decreasing due to speculative urban development that builds more buildings that needed. This also exacerbate the storm water runoff and water pollution problem. In order to maintain the available open space and stop the speculative development, to give the city a much needed parks and to cleanse polluted water, thematic parks are designed with in the city, i.e Urban park, ecological restoration park and wetland park

Figure 34 Plan of the park system Source : (studio work)

The available open-space around taihu lake will be an ecological park to restore the ecology around the lake. Taihu lake is an important water body that provides drinking water the to the corridor, restoring the ecology plays an important role in the general ecosystem. Along the lake and the city, different plants, forest and selected vegetation will be planted to revive the ecology creating wilderness at the same time ecological park that is accessible to the city. The second park is urban park that gives the city a much needed park with urban programs and series of wetlands that can receive runoff and gray water from the urban area before it joins the canal system. South part of the city is a land ready for development, using this land, which is having an already installed infrastructure, an urban thematic park is constructed which is a move also to protect further urbanization in the city. Wetlands absorb polluted water from the grand canal and clean discharging it back to the canal. This is a series of wetland cleaning machine stores and cleans stormwater in rainy seasons and it becomes an urban park in dry season. Another part of the mega park is the industrial cleansing park that deals around the industrial areas. Open spaces in the industrial tissues are used to construct wetlands that absorb polluted water, delay runoff and clean them before water is then discharged to adjacent canals. This keeps the industry areas more greener, improving the quality of the urban environment

Figure 35 scheme showing how storm water storage and cleaning in the parks Source : (studio work)

Framing future development Urbanization has been unprecedented in the region and it is continuing to grow in the coming decade. Statistical data shows 100,000 people are expected in the suzhou region over the next 15 years. With more migrant people coming to the cities and industry areas, Wujiang is expected to house part of these migrants coming from other parts of the country. The question is how to establish and structure future urbanization with better water sensitive urban design and strategic urban projects The first strategy is to build within the the existing city and stop building in the peripheries. This will insure a well connected, dense and better urban environment for the new developments while at the same time providing more public, commercial and mixed facilities for the existing city Locating strategic areas for future development is important as to integrate existing city and new development. New water sensitive urban design and, architecture details will be Incorporated to deal with water management. Case study : Antwerp nieuw zuid studio associato bernardo secchi paola viganĂ˛

Fig 36 Location of the project source (Antwerpen.be, 2017)

The project has large structural elements the connecting complex South of the Antwerp Ring and the districts of Zuid and Brederode. On the north side is the thick 19th century fabric of the South and Brederode while On the southern side, the edge of Hoboken and Kiel shows a lake Suburban 20th century building logic of loose objects in the green.

An urban park first theme covers the broad area of the quays to Station Antwerp Zuid. This concept shows an interesting mediation between the logic of the

City and

the logic of the landscape. A customized mobility structure : the urban structure is a canvas that organizes the new district with minimal linear rationality.

Important is an orientation that Searching

between the quay zone and the urban park.

Fig 22 spatial structure of the maser plan source (Antwerpen.be, 2017)

Fig 38 Master plan of the new development source (Antwerpen.be, 2017)

Water management: The principle of water management in the Nieuw Zuid district makes it an exemplary project. Rainwater is maximally reused, stored and infiltrated and contained. only in extreme cases of overflow, storm water are sent to sewer lines . Wadi is provided along the paths which is calculated on a return time Twice a year. The wadi's catch all the water of paved public space and all the Roofs of the houses (insofar as this water is not reused or buffered on a Green roof). If the wadis flood, the water goes to a large wadi in the wadi park Sent to be buffered on site.

Fig 39 scenario of new development.

Source (Antwerpen.be, 2017)

Development in strategic location The third strategy is to identify strategic location for dense development. The location of thee developments is along improved grand canal and close to existing infrastructure and city center. The new developments bring in new models of urban development that are water sensitive and that can bring better urban life. The grand canal is one of the strategic locations that could be dignified. Stretching from Beijing to Hangzhou it crosses wujiang, creating a a spine. This area has high land value and is strategic. Along this canal, there are potential vacant plots inside existing urban tissues that can be developed in to an important new urban model (see figure below)

Fig 40 Master plan of new development Source : (studio work)

Storm water runoffs are collected by bioswales and permeable pavements which are channeled to retention and detention ponds while delaying the speed of runoffs and allowing for infiltration into the ground. Storm water is stored in retention and detention ponds to be reused and purified via natural processes. The cleaned storm water is then gradually released into adjacent canals overtime destinations for purification of storm water runoffs.

Fig 41 Wujiangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Port, Highway and Landscape Interplay Source : (studio work)

Figure 42 plan of the new urban models Source : (studio work)

While the architecture of individual blocks is left fr the architects, the urban design model is based on a water sensitive scheme. The neighborhoods are designed to have a flood-able area that is uses as a public space in dry seasons and as a wetland park in rainy season.During cloudbursts or excessive rain, excessive runoffs at the retention ponds are channeled to detention ponds for peak storage capacity.

Fig 43 wet season scenario showing

Fig 44 3d section of the new urban models Source : (studio work)

Fig 45 3d section showing storm water management Source : (studio work)

CONCLUSION With growing population and inevitable urbanization, Wujiang should embrace new urban development. The urban design strategies presented encourage more planting than planning suggesting that the city should be first prepared for the future before it builds the future. This Utopian vision seems impossible to implement but with the creation of awareness ultimately putting it in planning and design policy of the city, It will have an impact on the future of the city, bigger impact on the corridor scale and most importantly an exemplary model.

Figure 46 Partial aerial view of Wujiang and vision in the corridor. Source : (studio work)

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