ArchitectureChina · New book
Charles Waldheim's book on Kongjian Yu's flood-proof landscapes in China
Landscapes for Adaptation studies 60 Turenscape projects, from Shanghai's Houtan Park to Ningbo's softened river edges, as working climate infrastructure.
Kongjian Yu, founder of the practice Turenscape and a leading voice for the 'sponge city', has spent decades arguing that cities should work with water rather than wall it off. In Landscapes for Adaptation: Evidence from China, Harvard professor Charles Waldheim looks at 60 of the practice's built projects from the past twenty years and asks how well they actually cope with flooding, pollution and a changing climate.
The best known is Houtan Park in Shanghai, a 14-hectare former steelworks and shipyard on the Huangpu River, finished for the 2010 World Expo. Terraces, cascades and wetland plants clean around 2,400 cubic metres of river water a day, while reclaimed industrial materials and paths let visitors walk through the process. In Hubei, Yichang Yunhe Park turns twelve abandoned fish ponds into a 'green sponge' crossed by raised walkways, and in Ningbo the Yinzhou Central River Transformation adds wetland planting and public space along an engineered waterway.
designboom's essay sets the work beside Donna Haraway's idea of 'making-with', and is candid about the limits: greenery isn't proof of a working ecosystem, and restoration can push up land values. Worth reading for anyone interested in landscape, and a good prompt to visit Houtan Park when in Shanghai.
Our summary of a story from designboom, published 5 November 2026. Read the original
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