A new district for Shenzhen, rising

from  the sea

In the context of an urban planning competition for a new marine city in Shenzhen at the Pearl River Delta, several ideas and concepts were developed aimed  at creating a man-made natural environment to be colo-nized gradually by urban settlements, called Mangrove City. New mangrove forest belts parallel to the Pearl River were planned for an ecological pro-tection of the new urban infrastruc-ture on the landside without harming the existing ecosystems. Over a period of 10 years, i.e. during the afforestation with Mangroves as a natural barrier to floods, the new urban quarters will be stepwise devel-oped, strongly interacting with this new environment. 

IPROconsult was asked to support this urban planning competition with its expertise on the complex water management of the newly created island resp. belt structures.

Consulting Services

IPROconsult was charged to develop proposals for sustainable adapted so-

solutions for this urban planning com-petition, using examples of interna-tional benchmarks and focusing on these main topics, within the scope of IWRM (Integrated Water Resource Management): Green and environ-mentally friendly design (flood control, waterlogging prevention, retention of water resources, prevention of water pollution for ecological sea reclama-tion at the estuary, prevention of the effects of typhoons and sea level rise).

Status quo and recommendations

The assessment of the status quo, including a comprehensive analysis of the local challenges, options and potentials under IWRM, confirmed the need for adaptive sustainable solu-tions. International water adapted neighborhoods (like floating or per-meable urban districts by sea or river as well as so called sponge cities) as an example for a sustainable utilisa-tion of water resources were presen-ted together with required water design measures. Targeted recom-mendations could be made.