SHANGHAI, CHINA
In one of Asia’s most populous cities, improving air quality means conjuring an instant urban forest, complete with two million trees
The western bank of the Huangpu River in Shanghai is home to some of the most beloved neighbourhoods in China, from the Bund to the French Concession. But, until recently, the eastern bank was less iconic. When Richard Mullane, a principal at the international architecture and design studio Hassell, toured the area in 2016, he saw decaying industrial buildings and vacant lots. How, he wondered, might one turn such a sprawling brownfield site into a landmark worthy of its neighbour?
The plan that Mullane and his team have devised involves trees — lots of them. More specifically, it calls for removing the area’s concrete, capping any contaminated areas with landform and then planting some two million specimens, effectively creating a forest in the heart of the metropolis. When it comes to climate mitigation, trees are among the most sophisticated technologies going, converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, releasing water vapour (thereby cooling the surrounding landscape) and purifying air (a major advantage in a city that has seen deadly clouds of smog). As envisioned by Hassell, the soil in the Huangpu East Bank Urban Forest, as the initiative has come to be known, will function as a natural berm if the river overflows its banks; during heavy storms, the trees and the parkland they’ll sit in would absorb stormwater on the land side as well.
But the forest isn’t just green space. When it’s finished, it’ll feature a promenade that snakes through the trees, bridging canals and occasionally giving way to urban follies–cum–outdoor classrooms. The trees, moreover, will be arranged to dramatic effect. Some parts of the forest will be lined with Japanese elms and Chinese maples, the leaves of which change colour in the fall; others will contain Yulan magnolias, which blossom in spring. At select intervals, parks, performance venues and cafés will materialize. “We were drawn to the forest concept because we could carve urban space out of it,” says Mullane. “The bank was wide and open, but we found a way to make it intimate, tactile and human.”