Recently completed, Guiwan Park, based on a design by Field Operations, is the first canal built for Qianhai Water City, a newly built city positioned in the vicinity of Shenzhen, China.
Continuing the master plan for the urban core – based on a design by the same firm – the park creates a large-scale ecological infrastructure for stormwater management, flood protection and habitat restoration. In its extension, it includes a total of 51,000 square meters of mangroves, 18,000 square meters of freshwater wetland and 255,000 square meters of parkland.
The three terraces designed – forest, freshwater wetland and saltwater wetland – allow the park’s steep difference in elevation between the main road, which is 6 meters above sea level, to be compensated for. As part of the China’s planned network of “sponge cities”, the park and its terraces absorb and treat rainwater, including that from surrounding roads, capturing 90 percent of annual rainfall.
The project here uses low-impact development strategies for stormwater management, including grass and gravel wedges along the main paths, rain gardens with a sunken greenbelt, and underground reservoirs for a rainwater filtration and reuse system.
Continuing the master plan for the urban core the park creates a large-scale ecological infrastructure for stormwater management, flood protection and habitat restoration.
With a smart-city perspective, Guiwan Park incorporates technologies capable of monitoring soil, irrigation, insects, water levels, and tree conditions.
This data is used by maintenance staff to support operations and monitor the development and maturation of the park’s species. The same data have been used in partnership with local institutions to better understand ecological restoration within urban environments, using the park as a case study.