Chongqing —On October 17, the 2019 International Forum of Sustainable Landscape-City Development (2019 SLD forum) was held at the Chongqing Grand Theater.

 There were more than 70 well-known professionals domestically and internationally attended the conference — photo provided by the organizers.

Under the theme of "Landscape-City Waterfront Public Space Quality Improvements," the 2019 SLD forum gathers high-end international intelligence. There were more than 70 well-known professionals domestically and internationally within the industry that attended the conference to exchange practical experience technology and industry best practices.

In recent years, the development and promotion of urban waterfront space have drawn more and more attention worldwide. How to build open waterfront space for leisure activities, how to promote the ecological balance on the hydro-fluctuation belt, and how to improve the urban waterfront environment, has arisen a special concern over the world.

The group photo of guests of the 2019 SLD forum. Photo provided by the organizers.

“Chongqing has done a lot of exploration and practice in establishing a beautiful city with a beautiful view of mountains and rivers, showing the unique charm of the landscape-city. In the new era, Chongqing's urban development also has a higher goal, but landscape-city also has many constraints and problems to be solved. This is also one of the purposes of this forum,” said She Shi, the chair of China Engineering and Consulting Association.

Topics at the 2019 SLD forum that were discussed consisted of “Waterfront Public Space Planning and Design,” Waterfront Public Space Architecture and Culture,” Waterfront Ecology and Landscape,” Sustainable Waterfront Transportation,” and “Smart City Operation.”

Waterfront area will drive the renewal of the whole city

“Chongqing is a waterfront city surrounded by mountains and rivers and embraced by valleys. It is also an important ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.” Song Chunhua said, the Former Vice Minister of Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the PRC.

Song Chunhua, the Former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the PRC, delivered a speech. Photo provided by the organizers.

"Cities cannot live without water," he said, "waterfront areas are often the birthplace of cities. They are the first areas to develop transportation, logistics, warehousing, commerce, and cultural activities in history. However, after the historic development and construction, the waterfront area has become the city's scarce resources.

According to Song Chunhua, the development of the waterfront area should be made clear in four aspects. First, the government should make overall control. Second, the government should transfer social funds to participate in it. Third, take the waterfront area as the core area of high quality and dynamic area as the primary goal of transformation and renewal. And finally, the development of the waterfront area should meet people's pursuit of high quality of life.

Development strategy of the high-density core waterfront area

Zhang Junjie, President of East China Architectural Design and Research Institute, believes that the construction goal of Chongqing is to position itself as a national central city, and play a leading role in the field of economy, society and culture. However, the high-density core waterfront area of a central city often represents the development level of a city and a country and shoulders the weighty task of enhancing the competitiveness of a city.

"The construction of a waterfront area should fully consider ecological environment construction. "Zhang Junjie said. Photo provided by the organizers.

How to comprehensively consider the protection of urban natural resources and the development and renewal of the metropolitan high-density waterfront area and highlight the characteristics of the urban waterfront area?

He proposed five coping strategies. First, rationally using the plot ratio to achieve the maximum use of land resources and capital resources, to improve the value output of land. Second, make the best use of three-dimensional space in the high-density core area and entirely create three-dimensional public activity space. Third, waterfront public space should be designed to meet the need of various crowd activities and integrate waterfront space and public art to create the unique charm of the city. Fourth, insisting on ecologically sustainable development. The construction of the waterfront area should fully consider environment construction. Fifth, maintain sustainable and long elastic development. Sustainable urban design should fully consider the needs of urban renewal and development.