Tom Leader - TLS Landscape Architecture, California

"It’s important to join communities we work with so we can gain their trust, get to learn their priorities, values, deep passions, and hot buttons. It’s the same with their sites. One of the great values of being new to the problem and the site is the fresh eyes that we can bring to what is really powerful, beautiful, and provocative. These features or qualities may be so familiar that they have been hiding in plain sight."

"We’re always looking for those things that the city is already made of, that make cities unique, turning the familiar into the strange and beautiful experiences that resonate with native culture and create vivid memories that could never exist anywhere else."

Shanghai Sanlin Eco Valley due to be completed in 2022:

The above is a design for a 241-hectare urban park aiming to become the “Green Lungs” for a city of 24 million feeling the impacts of climate change and exploding urban density. Situated on the Huangpu waterfront (New Bund), the surroundings host 'a great festival plaza and landmark arch framing views into the park and a new mountain overlook containing an art museum.' The design aims to weave together 'diverse strands of Sanlin culture' with a varying topography of hills and valleys' made from rubble from urban demolition, housing and underground garage construction. This topography variation 'allows for the greatest degree of biodiversity and multiple ecosystem cultivation including Cypress bogs, aquatic gardens, emergent wetlands, lowland meadows, and vast upland forests.' Between the areas of native forestry, sites for urban sports, sustainable farming, a sculpture park, a children’s ecological learning center, and wind harvesting have been made. the shape of the site creates a wind tunnel funnel allowing a summer breeze through the living areas, adjacent to areas of the city hence acting as a barrier to the colder winter winds. New canals, streams and ponds feature throughout the park acting as a huge bio-filtering system which 'cleans canals and runoff as well as retaining and infiltrating rainfall to mitigate the frequent flooding typical of overnight urbanization.'

To me this design is massively innovative and forward thinking. It is truly inspiring to see that connection to nature and sustainability has been applied to every possible aspect of the park. It is not only adaptable to the people using it but also to the city as climate change alters the state the city is in. The shapes in the design are intricate and rounded creating a calm feel to the site. The link to the city's past use and link to water are extremely effective and mean that the design respects the culture of the area. The area of native forestry pictured in the final image looks almost magical and you can really imagine nature thriving there.

Kunming Wujiaba, China:

Another design which caught my eye is the one photographed above. I could not find any information on it however just from the images I can see it is a similar style to the previous. The combination of highly urban space with lush greenery and nature is in my opinion something which will become more and more common as we move into a future with less inhabitable land and more people seeking out natural spots for mental and physical health. I especially find the waterfall off the bridge to be inspiring and something I have wondered about myself. It creates a tropical type of atmosphere especially on a sunny day like the one pictured and could be used for recreation too (kayakers/canoers).