The workshop in Hu Lu Dao provided materials and models for further research with the topic of large-scale sustainable development. The results of to-date research were applied to local conditions, with inclusion of strategically integrated systems. My group’s focus was on urban morphology and creation of the embedded-ecosystem concept.
Our proposal mimics the functioning of planetary ecosystems, with symbiotic relationship between biotic communities and the resources that support them within a hierarchy of scales. The supporting systems (incl. equipment, facilities and spaces) are created to produce food and energy, to catch and recycle rain and waste water, and to collect and reuse solid wastes. All of those systems are organized on the city level, as well as on all micro levels, including neighborhood, block, and building levels, making the city almost self sufficient.
Walkable neighborhoods are formed, with array of services provided within limits of multimodal transportation systems. The inclusion of high speed mass transit provides links of the eco-city with its region, neighboring cities, other industrial and social nodes; the hierarchy of transportation services is provided within newly created gridded street network which coincides with locally defined rules of land development.
A central spine along the Moon River structures the city spatially and functionally. Many social activities and all life supporting systems converge at this central elongated space. The food producing greenhouses and orchards, waste treatment and biogas energy producing facilities, silkworm industry trees and micro-factories are all located along this large green spine. About 52% of the site, or about 420 hectares, are dedicated to cropland, agricultural fields, neighborhood parks and public spaces, life supporting systems facilities and recreational spaces. Optimal sustainable site density was determined by capacity of self-supporting systems, approximately at 49 units/hectare. At this level of self-sufficiency, our proposal accounts for 68% of the total food needs, 80% of fresh water production and 93% of energy production. The total solid waste is proposed for 100% on-site reuse/recycling.
The City-Scale Sustainability
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