Nature as the Driving Force to

Urbanization Structure in Shenzhen

0930-129-1804
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Structure of urban planning analysis in Shenzhen

The structure of the project is a composition of several hypothesis for
the near future of Shenzhen. These speculations of the near future are
focused on three phases:
The actual situation (Shenzhen 2015)
The near future (Shenzhen 2020)
The future (Shenzhen 2030)

Shenzen in the context of the Pearl River Delta: Past and

current trends and the anticipated development
Chinas transformation as an open economic market began in the 1980
with the creation of three Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in the Guangdong province and two in the Injian Province. It then gradually continued to give this status first to coastal cities, later to border cities and
to all the capital cities of inland provinces and autonomous regions.
And the process continues in large and medium sized cities inland

The Pearl River Delta System

The Pearl River Delta System is a set of large and consolidated urban
cities along both sides of the Pearl River. The enormous demand of
employment attracted a pool of wealthy, middle-income, professional
consumers with an annual per capita income that puts them among
Chinas wealthiest. Investors from all over the world use the Pearl River Delta region as a platform for serving global and Chinese markets.1
A high performance mobility infrastructure has already been approved
and is underway for all the Pearl River Delta System, which includes
highways, bridges and the high-speed train lines joining the mayor cities on both sides of the Pearl River. New transport links between Hong
Kong, Macau and Zhuhai in the PRD are expected to open up new areas for development, further integrate the cities, and facilitate trade
within the region. TheHong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, currently under
construction, and the proposedShenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge, currently
in the planning phase, will consolidate the Pearl River Delta as a Regional Megalopolis.

Shenzhen as part of the Pearl River Delta

The interdependence between Shenzhen and Hong Kong has long existed. Students, workers, tourists and goods go back and forth between
Shenzhen and Hong Kong on a Daily basis. Once the high-speed mobility
network in all the Pearl River Delta is in operation, it is only natural to
foresee a similar interdependence and transfer of people, business and
products at a regional scale.
The population growth was unprecedented, and urban plans were unable to foresee this complicated situation, which accounts for the
spontaneous urban trace and the proliferation of urban villages.
By 2000 the economic activity, though still mostly in the secondary sector, started shifting to the tertiary sector. The population had either
very low education levels or was highly educated. A significant percentage of Chinas PhDs worked in Shenzhen.
In the near future Shenzhen will be mainly dedicated to the tertiary
sector, its population will be more intellectual, have higher living standards, higher incomes and demanding more services. Nowadays the
citizens are more conscious of their environment, the lack of a diverse
and inclusive mobility infrastructure, and in need of identity
As for the transformation of the city, from being initially a city with a
clean and sustainable landscape with cultural heritage, it has turned
into a polluted, impersonal and overcrowded city.
The city was planned as an occidental modern city, car oriented with
high-speed spectacular motorways, to facilitate import and export
transactions and a transit city between Hong Kong and inland China.
Planning was mostly at the large scale, without regard to mobility in
the local and regional scale.
The hasty economic growth of Shenzhen outpaced the urban plans
therefore not enough attention was paid to preserving the landscape or
sustainability, cultural and social interaction issues.

Population growth
The fast population growth of Shenzhen for more than two decades
was accounted for by migration from inland China attracted by the
industry. The primary and secondary sectors need a greater amount
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of work force. Since 2000 the megalopolis in the coasts of china have
been shifting their economy to the third sector. The industry is moving inland and pulling along with them the flow of migrant workers of
this sector. The new migrants are fewer, with a high education profile,
persons attracted to the growing needs of the tertiary economy. Among
other reasons, the above stated accounts for the steady decrease in
population growth within the megalopolis.
The population growth in Shenzhen from 2000 to 2010 was of 5.5%.
From 2010 to 2020, it is estimated to grow at a rate of 2.5%. From 2020
to 2030 it will decrease at least to 2%. The population in 2000 was of
11 million, by 2020 it will be around 14.2 million and by 2030 it will
have reached around 17 million.2

The Large Scale

Preservation
Our project places nature as the urbanization structure in Shenzhen. At
the large scale, we preserve existing natural zones and recover others.
The main concept in our proposal is the preservation of natural resources as mountains, rivers, mangroves, coastlines, urban villages as
well as the interconnection between these and in continuity with the
city in a sustainable manner. We intend to extend the chain of mountains with green space up to the coast at several points. Continuity is
accomplished by reconverting land use into public green space, and
crossing train lines and highways at strategic points.
A chain of mountains that traverses the middle of the city will be be
off limits for further construction. The natural green spaces will be
preserved and others reconverted, making the landscape productive,
promoting endemic flora and fauna to thrive, reducing pollution, and
retaining water.
Villages of course will be preserved. They have an intrinsic relation
with the rest of the city and are an example of urban development at
the local scale that gives solutions to a variety of needs that are not
solved in other more modern structures.
There is life on the streets in the urban villages, people walking from
place to place, small-scale commerce. The urban villages should be
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preserved, not removed; they have a sense of place, the elements of

true urbanity and social and ecological diversity and resiliency3

Urban development and regeneration.

Even though the population growth will diminish gradually, we still
have to consider households and services for 4.8 million by the year
2030 and a total of 7.5 million by the year 2040. 4
As we intend to preserve existing green areas, and the site has limited
resources, we have to consider urban regeneration or redevelopment.
A recognized tendency of the primary and secondary sectors to move
up the river and north, looking for lower costs in production, there are
and will be warehouses and buildings which could be considered for redevelopment.
At the large scale, we propose to close the high-speed highways circuit, with access to most of the urban entities, or urban clusters, without bisecting them. High-speed roadways are kept in the periphery.
They give expedite access to industrial zones, harbors and borders. By
avoiding high speed roadways to cross the nucleus of the clusters, the
territory is no longer divided at the local scale , which allows a good
connectivity between all the elements of the city.
The benefits at the local scale will be to diminish traffic. Less traffic
means we can afford to dedicate some of the highway lanes for other
purposes, like bicycle lanes or public space.
By reducing traffic, the habitants will benefit from lower levels of pollution, a healthy social environment, the proximity to nature inside a
thriving urban city. A more diverse and inclusive mobility system for
going to work, exercise and have fun. It will be possible for a person to
go from the mountains to the coastline through a continuous path either walking or cycling. Or be able to see from the window of an apartment nature mixed with other urban elements, instead of predominant
gray.
The metro lines officially planned for 2020 will extend to the periphery. Here again we have urban clusters far away from the center of the
city, which we consider should have independent local mobility structures enabling them to satisfy most of their needs within the vicinity.

City scale
This scale refers to the city of Shenzhen and its suburbs on the east
side of the Pearl River. At this level the preferred means of transportation will be medium speed public transportation like urban buses, local
train, metro.
The purpose is to limit the use of private vehicles, reduce traffic jams
and pollution and enhance circulation in the center of the city and
clusters.
The strategy contemplates union points between high speed, medium
speed and low speed mobility. Efficient commuting between the local,
the regional and the large scale.
Urban villages are zones to be preserved. They will serve as life
sources, as seeds that help expand life into the new urban network.
When a new urban network is constructed, it is a small desert. A period
of transition is needed before people appropriate this areas. This is the
role of the urban villages, their habitants will use and inhabit these
new spaces.
A substantial increment of metro stations in the center of the city gives
us the opportunity to give other uses to motorways. To redesign them
as public spaces and /or cycling and walking lanes and/or for the use
of low speed public transport, like tramways. Recycle existing infrastructure to reduce contamination, promote social interaction and aim
towards a sustainable city.
This signals the opportunity of converting an eight-lane highway into a
six or four-lane highway, and use the redeemed lanes for other types of
transportation.

Boroughs scale (neighborhood scale between the project

zone and the surrounding areas)
At this scale, we can see the impact of completing the highway circuits
and withholding some of its lanes as slow mobility infrastructure inside
the clusters. We are referring to densification of public transport as a
solution and the creation of new passive routes
There will be a series of clusters (urban entities), interconnected by
diverse mobility infrastructure. Each of these will be independent and
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at the same time sufficiently linked with each other to form a cohesive
political territory.
Clusters play different roles in the city. Within each cluster, you can
find three or four types of constructions and activities: residential,
work, public space and industry.
Industry will be found mostly in clusters northwest of the city, near
the airport or by the seaports. The components of each urban entity
will be the same, the amount of each activity will differ; it is expected
that a specific activity will be dominant in some of clusters as they
consolidate.
Urban clusters are meant to be self-sufficient. They have to be mixeduse, even if one or two of its activities is predominant. They can fulfill their basic needs in the vicinity on a daily basis. To accomplish this
they must have efficient mobility at the local and regional level. There
will be less need to commute to other regions, diminishing therefore
the use of highways.
Some of these clusters will have direct access to hubs. Hubs are intersection points of metro stations, suburban train system and high speed
highways. In and around this hubs there is also a concentration of commercial and social interaction.
Intermingling gray infrastructure with nature in each of the clusters
acts as a quality landscape, as a quality rupture in the city. These
green spaces play a role as links with the rest of the clusters and ultimately with the mountains and the coastline. Instead of having a few
big parks the greenery is distributed throughout the city, as an integral
part of the clusters, as a source of social cohesion.
The chain of mountains will be connected with the coast, through
green extensions by means of urban parks and pathways that traverse
the clusters.
Today the city is mostly connected by few high speed mobility infrastructures but lacks connection at the local scale. Our project focuses
on making this connections. Rescuing previous natural transit points,
giving continuity at the local scale and at the broader scale. Offering
diverse, low speed and efficient mobility within the cluster, continuity
between clusters and access to high speed mobility towards the periphery.
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At the local scale by 2020. Low speed public transportation like tramways, waking and cycling lanes will be privileged within the clusters
for short distances.

Site Scale: SQ Masterplan

These scale is the result of the general solution for the future development of Shenzhen. The project considers the afore stated principles
applied in a local scale with concrete solutions.
The scheme is to unite the chain of mountains to the rest of the site
with green passageways. We also consider pedestrian lanes that traverse clusters, yards, reach the squares, we observe a change in the
mesh near the urban villages. We also contemplate the preservation of
Urban as life sources which enhance the use and appropriation of new
urban spaces.
We also suggest a new mobility hub which joins the expressway, a suburban railway station not contemplated in the official plans, and metro
stations
We are also considering extending the park to the left bank of the river
all the way to the railroad tracks. Along the railroad track, there are
buildings that will now have a better view. Several bridges connect this
extension of the park with the urban villages.
The biggest building alongside the avenue is a redeveloped warehouse,
turned into a cultural facility, to promote the different art manifestations, which gives identity, and above all a place for social interaction
Everything we see in gray in the master plan, are structures that will
remain; structures that are considered stable, that wont be demolished either because they are new constructions or because they are
part of a consolidated urban mesh.
Every other structure depicted in black are new buildings and urban
development.
In the center of the site (in red), there is a four-legged structure, each
of which is a green branch that connects the mountains with the parks
and with each other. They provide a natural link at the local scale between north, south, east and west, joining the chain of mountains with
pedestrian or cycling lanes that make a hiking trip or picnic possible in
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a single day. You can also reach the transfer station hub with access to
metro, suburban train or express for a trip to Hong Kong, inland China
or any place in or outside the site by public transport.

Transportation
We introduce a new public transportation inside the site. The route
for the tramway is depicted in purple; it crosses the middle of the site
from north to south. There is no other public transportation, which
covers this route now, or in the future development plans. It is an efficient transportation means for short distances, as it has stations every
400 meters, unlike the metro that has a kilometer between stations. It
has a dedicated lane, which makes it more efficient and it environmentally friendly.
This route has a bifurcation that forms a circuit north of the site. It
moves along a green belt, traversing the urban villages and the existing
urban mesh.

The addition of a transfer station hub in the site

A very important addition is a transfer station hub with access to the
metro, to the suburban train and to the express.
This hub is the access point from the site towards the rest of the city,
to the periphery, to the region to inland China or any place in or outside the site by public transport. This hub is ideal for all habitants of
the site who travel to and from Hong Kong on a daily basis. It is also a
strategic point to be within reach of the park and the mountains.
It also means the development of social and commercial activity in the
surrounding area.

Functions
This map shows the different functions within the urban clusters. Some
of them have 4 or more functions while others only have two activities
and still others only have offices or dwellings. These last ones are not
very transited, only the habitants and relations of these clusters use
them to satisfy their everyday needs.
Mixed use clusters can usually satisfy their everyday needs within the
surrounding environment through the use of pedestrian or cycling fa14

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cilities.

Urban Structure Density

This map gives us the density of the urban structures. The higher the
building, the denser the structure.
The site has a pyramidal form, with the highest structures in the center of the cluster which give it a peripheral vision as everything that
surrounds it has a lower level.
This map gives us the density of the urban structures. The higher the
building, the denser the structure.
The site has a pyramidal form, with the highest structures in the center of the cluster which give it a peripheral vision as everything that
surrounds it has a lower level.

Natural structure.
A jerarchical view of alternate circulation routes and their conections. The landscape and the interrelation between mobility and urban
structures.
High speed motorways are in black. Low speed circulation within clusters in red are pedestrian lanes.
Pedestrian lanes or hiking paths through parks and mountains and the
landscape overview

Stategies for umplanned development

The implementation of all these strategies will undoubtedly generate
social and economic dynamics, some of which the project wishes to
promote, and will be expected and others that will be spontaneous.
We consider that to control unwanted behaviors, all this strategies will
have to be accompanied by regulations, supervision and readiness to
redesign whether to enhance a response or limit an unwanted behavior.
Urbanization will only work properly through the creation of overarching structures, and these have to allow ample leeway for the self-development of stakeholders within the created framework.5

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(Endnotes)
1

Wikipedia Pearl River Delta, This page was last modified on 26 January 2015, at 17:21.

Supersized cities. Chinas 13 megalopolises. A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2012. The article forcasts population growth up

until 2020.The estimates for 2030 are our own, but based on the tendencies stated in the aforementioned article.
3

Landscape & landscape infrastructure in China: Interview with Prof. Dr. Kongjian Yu

Supersized cities. Chinas 13 megalopolises. A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2012. The article forcasts population growth up

until 2020.The estimates for 2030 are our own, but based on the tendencies stated in the aforementioned article.
5

Everybody elses Problems. Interview with Prof. Kees Christiaanse.

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