Sanlin Bund Eco-Park

Shanghai

The 240ha site is located strategically within Shanghai’s ecological ring planned around the urbanized area of the city. The site’s location at the landmark Xupu bridge marks the south ‘ecological gate’ of the metropolis. Shanghai city invited BAM in collaboration with Peter Walker Partners to compete in a planning design competition for the rehabilitation of the site’s ecological features and the introduction of a new urbanized zone.

The design proposal takes a twofold approach to the ecological systems of the site. First to address the degraded water quality within the canal systems of the site and to answer the demands of the national ‘sponge city’ requirements, PWP+BAM organized a massive biofiltration landscape around the planned urban core. Given the various levels of pollution currently found in the site riverbeds the biofiltration zones are separated into primary filtration wetland in the south where the water is most polluted. The northern zone where water levels may be raised to recreational qualities is planned with cypress bogs a wetland park and trails. The highest water level quality zone is protected around the central playfields zone of the masterplan which includes a filtration ring path designed to produce multistage biological filtration to support a central lake feature with water quality high enough for bathing.

The second landscape feature created by organizing the rubb le from the required demolition of illega l settlements on the site is the creation of a raised Habitat Ribbon, which runs the north south span of the site, connecting into the larger Shanghai green ring network. The Habitat Ribbon takes precedent over some of the human programs of the park, passing over the two major canals with land bridges, and under the primary avenue. This continuous habitat allows for the safe movement of a diverse group of species encouraged to reinhabit Shanghai’s repaired ecological zone.