The Wolong Master Plan

In the Chinese province of Sichuan which was devastated by an earthquake in 2008, a new approach to redevelopment is taking shape – one that puts the landscape first.

The recent devastating earthquake that occurred in the Chinese Sichuan province in May 2008 in many instances permanently transformed the physical landscapes of the affected areas. Not only were the natural landscapes and ecological systems impacted, but so were the urban and physical infrastructure systems. Cities, mountain villages and the rural countryside are still dotted with informal tent cities that largely occupy public spaces whose use and purpose have been transformed into that of a temporary form of urbanism sheltering the homeless and displaced peoples.

The city located closest to the earthquake, Dujiangyan City, has part of the region’s sophisticated system irrigation works and dykes running right into its center. Many of the Dujiangyan Irrigation Works buildings resemble the traditional Chinese wood temples that occupy a significant part of the cultural landscape. While shoddy and corrupt construction practices created buildings that now lie either pulverized or extremely damaged (the so-called “tofu” buildings), the Dujiangyan Irrigation Works buildings remain intact and standing. Their presence is particularly symbolic of the cultural landscape and identity of the region, since the irrigation system was built 2,300 years ago during the era of the Warring States. The system made Sichuan the richest agricultural area in China. Although declared a World Heritage City for tourism in 2000 by the Chinese government, the region still remains primarily agricultural.

One of the areas most impacted by the earthquake was Wolong. This was the area located closest to the epicenter of the earthquake. Wo-long means “crouching dragon,” an allusion to the sacred Dragon Hills that provided security for numerous villages in rural China. Villages located in the Wolong area were completely and permanently erased from the landscape by the land-and mudslides that occurred after the quake. The Wolong National Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas, established in 1963 by the Chinese government, was also heavily impacted by the earthquake. This nature reserve houses more than 150 highly endangered giant pandas. Much of their habitat was destroyed by mud-and landslides, which caused serious damage to the vegetation, including the bamboo that they feed on. About 20 percent of the natural vegetation in the valley was destroyed. Master planning for a large resettlement project for Wolong villagers, mostly farmers who lost their houses and farms, is currently underway. Additionally, the giant pandas in the Nature Reserve have been temporarily relocated, while landscape strategies are planned for the restoration of their habitat.

The landscape and urban planning strategies for reconstruction have been distributed to several different Chinese Design Institutes. The Central Chinese government has charged every Chinese province with financial responsibility to fund the redevelopment and re-building of a particular affected area. The Wolong Area redevelopment and the Giant Panda Nature Reserve restoration are being funded by Hong Kong. The master plan for the region is being prepared by the Graduate School of Landscape Architecture at Peking University in collaboration with private firm Turenscape(whose founder, landscape architect Kongjian Yu, is also director of Peking University’s design program) and the China Academy and Center for Ecologic Research.（中国科学院生态环境研究中心）

Landscape strategies for redevelopment in Wolong.

The redevelopment concept for the Wolong area takes a “negative approach” to urban growth and form. This refers to the practice of identifying and designating space for ecological infrastructure and natural systems first. This methodology is an inversion of current urbanization and development practices, particularly in China, where the projection of population and the planning of civil infrastructure, such as roads and other “gray systems” come first, and the planning for landscape and ecological systems come afterwards, if at all.

In China, the “negative approach” has its roots in the pre-scientific planning practices of geomancy, or feng shui, which “gives priority to the natural patterns and processes of Qi (breath).”In the West, this form of inversion in urban planning takes its roots from Ian McHarg’s landscape ecology methods described in his seminal text, Design With Nature. Most recently, “landscape urbanism” has emerged as a sub-discipline, advanced in part by Charles Waldheim (editor of The Landscape Urbanism Reader), who describes it as “a disciplinary realignment in which landscape replaces architecture as the basic building block of urbanism.”

The “development first, nature second” pattern common now in China was first instilled in the national consciousness during the Mao Zedong era. Chairman Mao declared the pre-scientific feng shui and the more spiritual, symbiotic relationship of nature over man as counterrevolutionary and backward thinking. Much of the Soviet-style planning conducted during Mao’s era was linked to the industrialization of cities and rural landscapes, and included no development of ecological infrastructure or attention to sustainability. The results of this policy are startling. The World Bank forecasts that, if current trends are not reversed, there will be 30 million environmental refugees in China due to water stress. In fact, many of the sacred dragon hills, are being bulldozed to make way for development.

Kongjian Yu, founder of Turenscape and Dean of the Graduate School of Landscape Architecture at Peking University, and his colleagues at both institutes have been championing the “negative approach” methodology with the Central Chinese government. Attitudes have begun to shift as the government is beginning to realize the impending impact of this environmental degradation, and Turenscape has employed this methodology in several award-winning projects. Now, the earthquake has provided an opportunity to re-assess prior development and unplanned urbanization that impinged on and threatened the giant panda reserves in the Wolong area. The landscape strategies in the new master plan are based on ecological principles and the negative approach methodology. The redevelopment of the urban and natural landscape is divided into three zones:
• Core Area – the primary habitats for the giant pandas.
• Buffer Zones – the areas around the core, which are potentially important for protecting the core habitat and creating linkages that connect two or more of the sources.
• Eco-tourism and resettlement areas – the most urbanized areas, which will house the region’s human population.

Core area and buffer zone.

The Wolong Nature Reserve itself and its associated giant panda habitat and travel corridors have been identified as the core area and has now been designated as an ecological recovery area. Its restoration will be the first phase of the overall landscape master plan. The area will be returned to its natural ecological processes, enabling the restoration of the forest, natural vegetation, and bamboo that are critical to giant panda survival. The 2000 square kilometer site has a predominantly mountainous landscape.

In this core area, human intervention will be eliminated and vegetation restoration will occur. It was determined that the human urbanization that was previously in this experimental zone of the Wolong Nature Reserve should not be reconstructed due in part to the dangers associated with being so high in the mountains should another earthquake occur, but also because most of the previous development was informal and ill-planned .Villagers will therefore not be permitted to be re-build in this core area. Only those with special permits for giant panda research will be allowed to travel into it.

The current research facility and clinic within the core area will be moved to the City of Dujianyan .A buffer zone will be placed between the urbanized resettlement area and the core area . While the main Giant Panda Protecti on Research Center and Disease Control Clinic will be relocated to Dujianyan,seven smaller centers will be rebuilt within this buffer zone , in addition to new observation centers.

Eco-tourism and resettlement area. The area outside the buffer zone will be used for resettlement of local villagers. An aggregate approach to urbanization will consolidate several of the villages into larger urban resettlement areas .Villagers who were previously farmers (particularly those living in the upper mountain villages) will have their farming lands reclaimed by the government and will be relocated into apartment blocks in the new resettlement.

Such land reclamation and aggregation and farmer relocation is in keeping with the Chinese government’s larger “New Harmonious Social Village”policy.Corridors where mud-and landslides would be likely to occur during a future earthquake will be set aside as no-development areas. A Nature and Earthquake Museum,with a major component dedicated to the giant pandas, will also be built.

There-urbanization area will focuson protecting the local cultural and vernacular landscape, and will include the reconstruction of the destroyed temple and the use of local materials for reconstruction. The local economy, however, will shift from being a predominantly agrarian one to one based on eco-tourism focused on the giant panda reserve.

Over time, through the re-shaping and healing of the landscapes of the Wolong area, the Crouching Dragon might once again become the sacred hills that secure numerous villages and whose “spine channels the spirit and reflects traditional values and teachings that man (and panda bears) might live in harmony with nature…”
The earthquake in May 2008 also heavily impacted the Wolong National Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas. The left image shows the “China Research Center of Giant Panda Protection”, an artificial breeding base station, before the earthquake. Mud-and landslides destroyed much of the Panda habitat.

The earthquake and land-and mudslides that occurred afterwards erased villages, roads and temples. Tent cities are sheltering the homeless and displaced peoples. The Dujiangyan Irrigation Works buildings (page 97 center) remained intact and standing.

The core zone of the giant panda reserves (top) will be allowed to return to its natural ecological processes enabling the restoration of the forest, natural vegetation, bamboo and the Panda’s natural habitat. Inhabitants of the buffer zone (above) will move down to the resettlement areas in the foothill belt.

Wolong, located closest to the epicenter of the earthquake, was one of the areas most impacted in the province of Sichuan. The Wolong Nature Reserve houses more than 150 highly endangered giant pandas.

A number of the villages in Wolong will be consolidated in larger settlements (top) in the area outside the core and the buffer zone. Huahongshu（花红树） village of Wolong town (above) will form one compact housing area.