Haikou Jiangdong Coastal Park

Project Profile

1. Project Statement

Haikou Jiangdong Coastal park is the first completed project of Jiangdong New Area, which was originally Haikou Jiangdong New Area tidal breakwater of China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone and ecological restoration project of coastal line (starting section).

China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone, which refers to as "Hainan Free Trade Zone", and it is also known as "Hainan Free Trade Port". On June 3, 2018, Hainan Provincial Party Committee and government decided to establish Jiangdong New Area by the deep investigation and overall planning.  Jiangdong New Area will be created with much more potential development in the future. Hainan Provincial Party committee and government have the ambition to build the centralized exhibition area of the China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone, innovation zone in the Pilot Zone for comprehensively deepening reform and opening up, exhibition zone of the national ecological civilization of experimental zone, experience zone of international tourism consumption central area, as the precedent of national major strategic service area. Jiangdong New area will be created as the zero carbon new town of world-class, the beautiful card for representing Chinese culture with Hainan characteristics, the representative of China about the harmonious of urban city and rural countryside, and the ecological CBD in the first class of world.

It is the important infrastructure of the Jiangdong New Area in Haikou which undertakes the significant task of protecting the security of the Jiangdong New Area against moisture and restoring the ecological functions of the coastal zone. The main embankment of the tide breakwater of the starting section is located at the core area of the west part of Jiangdong New Area. With the combination of the planning of road construction, the main embankment of the tide breakwater of the starting section begins from the connection point between the right bank of the Daomenghe River and the west planned Yiheng Road, and it ends at east Linhai 2nd Road, therefore the total length is 3.72km. The project faces the Qiongzhou Strait directly, and it is one of the most severely affected areas by storm surges in Haikou. Before the site was designed, the existing situation suffers from beach degradation and the lack of protective forests. The existing coastal defense forests could not resist the seasonal storm surges.

2. Objective and Challenge

Goal: To create "resilient coastal defense, breathing coastal line", to transform the old embankment into ecological way, to change the rigid seawall of engineering, to create an ecological coastal defense, to recreate coastal defense forests, and to build both ecological defense line and engineering defense line.

Challenge: The site is affected by seasonal storm surges, and it needs the sustainable landscape; Originally, the seawall blocked the interaction of salt and fresh water from the front and rear of the seawall, which results in serious salt accumulation behind the seawall. Shelter forests were increasingly missing, and they unable to defend seasonal storm surges; fish ponds and shrimp ponds are hardened so that water body cannot make circulation. At the same time, the accessibility is very poor, and north-south direction is inconvenient.

3. Design Strategy

Based on the analysis of coastal conditions, climatic conditions, and free trade background, the design has three design strategies of resilient coastal defense, breathing coast, and vivid seaside to build an urban coastal ecological environment, provide public services, and create landscape characteristics.

Resilient coastal defense: To create moisture-proof ecological buffer zone, to build coastal defense basic forests and wave-proof forests in accordance with the coastal defense forest system to form a "sea defense guard". The thick cane coconut forest is in front of the embankment that forms the wave break forest. Behind the embankment is the basic dry forest of coastal defense, which consists of two parts. The first part is Casuarina Acacia forest belt constructed by the restoration of the existing Casuarina dunes. The second part is the mangrove wetland forest constructed by using the confluence of salt and fresh water at the mouth of the two rivers and the existing ponds. These two parts respectively form "turf containers" and wet areas by compatible with brackish and fresh water. The goal is to form a green and flexible coastal defense before the "once-in-a-hundred-year" embankment

Breathing Coast: The first step is to upgrade the existing old embankment into the pioneer balcony. The design does not change the elevation of the top of embankment, which ensures the protection level of "once-in-a-hundred-year" in the unchanged situation. The second step is to transform the vertical walls into terraces, which in order to protect the beach. The third step is to rebuild the base in order to allow the water flow, which likes the perforated sponge. The perforated sponge that allows the seawater to move in and out freely, which creates the breathing coast.

The design combines the red forest wetland belt, which can relieve the pressure of rain-flood, and the "lawn container" designed by using the original pit and pond on the site to jointly restore the sand dunes in the site. Retain the current casuarina and supplement other tree species to form a basal forest dominated by mixed forests. The lawn space is formed by using the open terrain at the lower part of the dunes. One is to increase the activity space, and the other is to ensure the permeability of the line of sight.

Vibrant waterfront: The central terraced plaza is connected to the central axis of the city. The lawn can accommodate various activities, such as salons, road shows, and other programs. The existing old embankment is transformed into the pioneer balcony, which can activate the vitality of waterfront. The seawall was created to the terrace for viewing the sea. At the same time, the cycling road was added to the outer wall to create the healthy slow-moving system in the whole area. Participants can enjoy the beach and sea without obstacle view, and they also can enjoy the great time below the wave pavilion, and especially people can get cooler surrounding in the hot season.

4. Conclusion