The global epidemic has not only changed people’s life style, but also profoundly affected the development of urban design. As the last piece of puzzle of Wuxi Xidong New Town central area, our project site is sitting adjacent to Wuxi East High Speed Railway Station in the South and Cuiping Mountain Tourist Park in the north. Our project covers the transition area of 563 ha. between the built-up area and the landscape area. We launched the urban design exercise aiming to establish a new urban growth model for Wuxi in the post epidemic era.
The design focuses on implementing “resilient city” system at different levels. The “Ring of life” – the Cuiping + Jiuli Rivers open space structure has framed a safe blue & green network. A public sports park plays as the health anchor. The Ring connects a series of existing and potential destinations of fitness spaces, local cultural attractions, and significant public amenities in the region, creating a vivid, tangible and accessible journey of health. The master plan proposed reasonable density balancing with the natural resources. Flexible and buffering open spaces are designed for pre-emergency use responding to sudden heavy rain and flooding as well as pandemic control. The resilient settings aim to dissolve and resist the external impacts, while keeping the major urban environment and functions remaining normal. Within a comfortable walking distance, residents would share the basic public amenities such as sports, culture, leisure and safe food for a healthier, more interactive and community-based life.