The scientific research about the urban area of Shenzhen has revealed interesting insights into the water-related attitude and behavior of mega-cities populations, like in Shenzhen, presenting significant evidences of the dual- stresses that insist on the area

A further increase of the water level is expected in the next years on the Qianhai Bay, validating the speculations expressed in the initial workshop of potential flooding on the area. With a soil composition that does not allow water infiltration, the management of storm-water on the area has revealed a real challenge motivating me to find tools to provide a solution. Those considerations have called into question the urban layout and his resiliency where the “Finger” cannot foresee the water management. It shows a potential lack to operate out of the comfort zone, laying the foundations for a specific design solutions where the integration between the landscape and the urban environment that intend waste-water as a resource becomes a key element. Researching an integration between the aesthetic experience and the ecological dimension of the landscape, the potential widespread introduction of grey-water recycle and storm-water harvesting in the urban environment has shown a valid solution to reduce the freshwater demand and the wastewater outflow. The result is an urban active component at a small scale, a “Sponge block”, that minimize the infrastructure system with on-site treatments performing a significant reduction of the storm-water action on the city surface, that prevent the rainwater to infiltrate in the ground by collecting it with green and porous pavements contributing to the well-being of the citizenship. The project shares some of the main principles of the sponge city, but shows also the restriction to apply them on the projects site: it involves an holistic view of the urban environment where every component of the city is involved and planned to perform coordinated resilient actions. However, the “Sponge block” acts as an incremental tool inside the urban environment that deviates from the holistic vision pursued from the sponge cities theories, presenting a local implementation of those principle that takes into account a site-specific approach. This project represents a solution for urban regenerations, that can be applied as relief to consolidated urban settlements that, despite all, suffer from potential threats related to storm-water management as the ones that insist on the Qianhai Bay. Specific conditions and contexts, as the ones articulated in this thesis, allow to implement this design solution to reduce the action of storm-water locally with a system able to address local water scarcity and management issues, to mitigate uncertainty, related to extreme conditions of future and existing cities.

For further information please contact:

Alessio Migliasso, migliasso.ale@gmail.com