Yilong Futuristic City International Design Competition

Description

ABOUT COMPETITON

City is the habitant for human. However, with global urbanization going on, city problems have been arising ever more, such as air pollution, water source shortage, traffic congestion, worse public security and urban homogenization. Decision-makers and citizens begin to reflect: can cities bear our simple and magnificent dream of a better life? where is the future of city? and where is the future of human beings? Nowadays, Chinese urbanization is progressing in a more rational way. Competition focus in many cities has changed from scale which based on low public service cost to utility which based on high specificity. Urban pattern is changing. During this process, future city has embodied infinite possibilities.

Yilong District is the most promising area in Guizhou, China, and its core area-Qiushui Lake is facing a revolution in urban design, which is also an opportunity to build a futuristic city from scratch. With Qiushui lake area as design objective, this competition is looking for a futuristic and sustainable new city which designed for Yilong. The Yilong Futuristic City International Design Competition is organized by Yilong District Management Committee and CBC (China Building Centre), sponsored by Guizhou Louna Architects Commune Cultural Development Co. Ltd, and media supported by Urban Environment Design (UED) Magazine. Taking the competition as a platform, Yilong Cup will invite international top urban design experts as jury members, aiming at soliciting urban design proposals for futuristic city worldwide. The winning projects are expected to be implemented.

THEME OF THE COMPETITION AND INTERPRETATION

Oriental Landscape and Futuristic City

In the era of globalization, small-mid size cities are the engine of local development, and the potential core habitat residence. The urbanization of Chinese Midwest cities are crucial to the development of a balanced city network of China. In such scenario, we are confronted with many emerging challenges such as climate change, population migration, energy crisis, inheriting regional characters, etc., which demands development of new innovative and adaptive urban approach and more complex urban morphology. Thus, this competition is intended to initiate a conversation on the modern city life founded on nature, involving topics such as local vs global, tradition vs future, Eastern vs Western, landscape vs city, nature vs living habitat, preservation vs development, intention vs reality. The unique mountainous landscape of Guizhou has its own regionalism characters, that inspired many poets to write down grandeur and sensational lines. The competition is focusing on the new relationship between the local typical Chinese landscape and the development required for the future city, the connection between the nostalgia of traditional landscape vs modern way of living, with the foresight of globalization in local regional development.

ABOUT YILONG DISTRICT

Yilong District was established in June 2013. It is located in the joint part of Xingyi city, Xingren county and Anlong county. Meanwhile, Yilong is an important commercial distribution center and trade center of Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. It administers nine towns and two provincial economic development zones, 1258.5 sq km of land area, 236 sp km of planning control area, current population 339,600, planned population 800,000. Yilong is positioned as an International Eco-smart City and a new state-level industrial park with output value of 100 billion Yuan.

Yilong District is founded on the unique Karst Land form. Due to the mild and humid climate and constant erosion of water, the local landscape has unique features from natural erosion and dissolving limestone. There are extensive and complicated underground water network, vulnerable to soil loss and stony desertification. As the human is conquering an increasing amount of natural territory, conflict is emerging. There is an increasing need for construction site, and pressure on the preservation of typical agriculture land. The area has an extremely fragile and sensitive ecosystem. As the core of southwestern China, it is a mountainous region with many small cities and different ethnical minority groups co-living together. Also, it serves as the connection between the southwestern border and the in-land China. Nowadays, the enclosed cities from the agriculture era is arriving at its end, and the city with its global awareness for the future is arriving. How would the development of future cities accommodate the natural landscape, regional culture and diverse characteristics?