An Abandoned Arcadia – Regeneration of New Vernacular Landscape in Urban Fringe of Guangzhou by Stereoscopic Agriculture

The Pearl River Delta region as a whole is highly urbanized and industrialized. But in the urban fringe, due to the failure of industrial and agricultural development, industrial upgrading and transformation and pollution and destruction of natural environment, many villages are relatively poor and backward. There are a large number of abandoned or idle land, while traditional rural features are increasingly disappearing. How to activate the fringe area has become an important issue in the Delta.

Stereoscopic Agriculture, based on the co-relationship between different organism, is a vernacular method of agricultural management, which combines several groups of biological population in order to establishing a multi-species, multi-layer and multi-level eco-system. Dike-Pond agricultural system in the Pearl River Delta is a representative of stereoscopic Agriculture.

The site is a number of adjacent sandbanks in the middle of the Pearl River flowing through the central area of Guangzhou. The design first carry out ecological restoration of the site and the basic landscape construction through management of brown earth, conservative development of industrial heritage, and construction of water system and public open space system. Then, after classifying site land types, we apply the stereoscopic agriculture model to different area according to local conditions. By the recover and develop this agricultural model in the metropolitan area, the area will be guided to breakthrough disordered industrialization and modern intensive agriculture, and play their potentials and advantages in ecological, landscape, economic benefits.

In a word, the design aims to explore a way to combine contemporary technique with ancient innovation and local context, with applying the feasible method – stereoscopic agriculture to activate the dynamic value of city village in ecological, social and economic ways.