“Ecologistics,” the continuous and sustainable development of Rugao’s port-city interface near Shanghai the world’s busiest cargo and container port cluster, promotes a regional port-city alliance for the area and integrates global logistics with local ecology. In this three part series, we will focus on the history and evolution of ports and the specifics of Rugao.
The name “Rugao” means “get on high ground and watch sun set by water”. This romantic connection to its land is embedded in the history, culture and life styles of its people. The design intention of the port is to preserve and promote authenticity in the contemporary urbanization of Rugao’s port-city interface. The very core is an urban ecology that connects people to its land. This urban ecology is informed by the movement of water and composed of two land typologies. All the other urban components are allocated based on this land-water framework.
Land use prototypes gradually transition into each other from west to east from high-density tower clusters, to medium-density town home complexes, to low-density villa islands. Linear forest parks run along east-west waterways, connecting different neighborhoods and merging into regional parks by wetland lakes along major roads. The “urban wedge” land typology maximizes south facing slopes for solar exposure in high density areas toward the west while the “resort island” maximizes water frontage to achieve high property value in low density areas to the east.
Rugao has a strong agricultural heritage and a close tie to its river, visible in the parallel agriculture fields following the water flow, bending and running toward the river edge. The design of the port is inspired by Rugao’s natural ecological pattern with the idea of introducing an ecological system which captures, treats and uses water from the sky and the river to create a variety of natural environments as urban infrastructures as well as amenities. This natural ecology is composed of three water systems: a roof water collection and storage system, a surface storm water runoff treatment system and a river water treatment system. This system promotes interconnected water typologies including swale, harbor, pond, wetland, canal and lake, which support various habitats and recreational uses. Collectively this open space system forms the framework of urban development.
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