Paper

Rejuvenation of a Once Beautiful Greenway: Beijing Tongzhou Grand Canal

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Abstract

Many years ago, the Beijing Tongzhou Grand Canal was the northern destination point of the journey along the Jing-Hang Grand Canal in China. It once operated as a shipping gateway through the country to Beijing y, and was a historicly significant greenway of China. Now, the Grand Canal is an important urban district for modern Beijing and requires greater attention to strategic planning. Our design team was hired by the municipal park department to produce a new master plan for a total area of 120 hectares along the waterway which had fallen into decay through the compounding consequences of a 2400 year history. The master plan provides guidelines for future development of this area. The scope of the project includes Phase I landscape design to improve a 80,000 square meter Tongzhou Grand Canal Cultural Plaza. The project landscape architects designed with an eye towards respecting and preserving the culture and environment by using local historic elements. They also applied sustainable development methods in their planning and design practice i.e. strict water management guidelines organized within the site serve to collect, store, and preserve rain water for plant materials. Retention ponds and dry wells were introduced to local landscape practice etc. Through a masterplanning process and phase I - Grand Canal Cultural Plaza site plan design, this portion of the historic canal has become a charming greenway corridor that the community is proud of and patrons are enthusiastic about.

Keywords: greenways, rejuvenation, beijing, china, tongzhou grand canal

How to Cite:

Tang, Y. & Chen, Y., (2016) “Rejuvenation of a Once Beautiful Greenway: Beijing Tongzhou Grand Canal”, Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning 5(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/fabos.655