Rapporteur | Steffen Nijhuis Associate Professor, PhD Supervisor, School of Architecture, TU Delft
Introduction
On September 26th, 2021, a special session on Resilient Development and Adaptive Planning in the Greater Bay Area was organized by the School of Architecture of South China University of Technology (SCUT) in Chengdu through a combination of online and offline methods. Associate Professor Steffen Nijhuis from TU Delft gave a presentation entitled Designing Resilient Coastal Interfaces in the Greater Bay Area. He proposed a theory of Landscape-based Regional Design for the adaptive transformation of the Greater Bay Area. The four parts of the presentation are design assignment to achieve sustainable development, implementation-oriented methodology, regional design practices in the Greater Bay Area, and the future approach to adaptive design.
There are more than 600 cities in the world with at least 80 million people threatened by climate change as well as sea level rise. The Pearl River Delta is the fastest urbanizing delta in the world, and is one of the most populous, innovative and comprehensive urban agglomerations in China. We must learn from the experience of other regions and also show the world our experience in dealing with climate change and achieving adaptive transformation.
1. Design assignment to achieve sustainable development
In order to realize the sustainable development of the Bay Area cities, Prof Nijhuis emphasized that we should plan and design from the perspective of landscape, get rid of the past single development thinking, balance the development of the whole regional in economy and society, and explore the evolution of the Greater Bay Area landscape and the need for development space based on a balanced development prospect. There are four assignments regarding the sustainable development of the Bay Area.
1) Natural Landscape First;
2) Regional Design and Research;
3) Social-ecological inclusive;
4) Transdisciplinary, multi-cultural.
In Europe, landscape means not only territorial scenery and natural resources, but also the interaction between people and natural resources and the historical context of natural and human landscapes. Landscape-based regional design considers urban landscape as an inclusive and dynamic complex system, using principles of landscape, ecology, geography and architecture for spatially oriented research, design and planning. It also uses systematic thinking and complexity theory to advance a more integrated regional planning and design that encompasses the complex network of relationships that make up the urban landscape.
In order to realize a landscape-based regional design, four stages are required.
1) Building a shared knowledge platform across multi-disciplines to analyze and demonstrate the exchange of spatial and temporal changes in urban systems and subsystems to support the development of short-term interventions and long-term strategies;
2) Finding a flexible approach framework to make strategies from an evolutionary design;
3) Provide important developmental planning guidelines and adaptive design guidelines for design exploration by planners and designer. Established innovative governance models;
4) Tests the achievability and sustainability of adaptive design solutions through an evidence-based approach from an action perspective. Create a sustainable business environment.
Four stages of Landscape-based Regional Design
2. Implementation-oriented Methodology
Break down the steps to achieve the vision by backtracking
Prof Nijhuis further deepens the implementable methodology. After stakeholders have established a shared vision and regional strategy, we can consider how the landscape and city go about its function in a retrospective way. We will have a vision of the future or a regional strategy (green section), and through a retrospective process consider what steps need to be taken to achieve this vision (blue section), and gradually break down the vision into an implementable step-by-step action plan. The environment will change during this process, so we will make some adaptive changes guided by the design principles to fit our context and environment (yellow section).
3. regional design practices in the Greater Bay Area
Prof Nijhuis illustrates the design practices with the example of the Greater Bay Area. First, a landscape strategy for the Greater Bay Area is developed, using the natural environment adapted to climate change to support sustainable development, water safety and cultural identity in the Bay Area, forming sub-visions on water safety & climate adaptation, ecological & biodiversity, cultural history & tourism, transportation network & TOD development, knowledge economy & industrial economic development, and urban development. Then, taking the water security and climate adaptability and ecological biodiversity subsystems as examples, we consider the networked nature of the natural landscape through retrospective thinking, and the blue-green ecological network connects mountains, farmlands, and oceans to form a systematic network. To realize our sub vision, we must consider the interaction of different sub systems. The conservation of mountainous forest resources enhances the water quality and ecological environment of rivers, and also benefits the protection of coastlines. Therefore, we propose a set of framework strategies, including three spaces: coastline protection, urban sponge, and mountain sponge, to explore a systematic, integral and multi-layered landscape system from four subsystems: seawater, freshwater, ecology, and cultural heritage, so as to create a robust blue-green network to guide urban development. Finally, in order to achieve a resilient coastal interface, interdisciplinary collaboration is needed to identify the principles of subsystem interaction and related design principles. For example, engineering dikes to ensure waterfront safety, nature-based solutions (Nbs), and engineering to achieve coastline protection and flood management.
A systematic, integral strategy framework
At the same time, we summarize the experience of adaptive practices in different regions of the world and translate them into spatial design prototypes applicable to different interfaces. This includes design sections adapted to coastal interfaces, river interfaces and urban sponge areas, applicable to different spaces such as architectural spaces, public spaces and blue-green spaces. Other possibilities are further explored in the master's graduation design with the Great Bay Area as the study area. For example, the traditional characteristic agricultural space is continued, the existing road structure and the historical river are considered together for design, and the flood-friendly residential form is retained to create water-friendly facilities and give them water storage and water-friendly functions.
Spatial design prototypes adapted to different interfaces
4．The future approach to adaptive design
Prof Nijhuis summarized two typical current approaches of climate change adaptation uncertainty. One approach is a top-down oriented projection model, which mainly seeks to predict the accuracy of climate change risk. The other is a bottom-up resilience approach, which focuses on designing and communicating to reduce the vulnerability of cities to climate change. Prof Nijhuis proposes a hybrid model that considers both the local nature of the design site and the results of other professional projections. In this approach, we can create knowledge about the locality through analysis of data and design of the site, and explore a variety of design possibilities through the continuous digestion and assimilation of information from multi-disciplines.
The design approach to adapt climate change
Next year our joint team will publish a new book in Springer called Adaptive Urban Transformation. Readers who are interested could scan the QR code and you will be able to get information about it when it is published.
Adaptive Urban transformation
