Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai

Zhuhai and Shenzhen, the only cities in Guangdong Province, have just been designated as two of the first-batch 20 urban design pilot cities by the Ministry of Housing & Urban-Rural Development.

The Zhuhai Overall Urban Design has passed expert appraisal, with regulatory requirements concerning skyline, coastline, and ridge line strengthened at macroscopic and medium levels.

Zhuhai in good urban design [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Daily]

The urban design outlined city image positioning, overall target and core design strategy, and depicted an entire city picture harmonious with exquisite urban views integrating mountain and sea, land and island, town and field, as well as architecture and landscaping. Multi-dimensional elaboration control methods are applied in urban characteristics centering on spatial structure and features.

Separate regulatory requirements for key and general areas have been made to guide compilation of area regulatory planning and city design in the next phase. Specific requirements for features and night scenes based on various resources in different areas have also been determined.    

The symbol for city image with distinct identity systems has been designed. Urban lighting areas are delimited into key and general night view areas. Regulatory requirements are laid for night view tourism, green smart lighting, and lighting environment impact assessment. Moreover, principle rules are extracted to amend regulations and guide the scientific development and orderly construction of the city.

Experts have reached a consensus that Zhuhai's all-weather multi-dimensional urban design and management mode, zoning design strategy, and applicable expression form should be promoted nationwide.

The pilot work, which was initiated in February, will last two years. The ministry will organize appraisal every year in regards to management system innovation, technical method exploration, historical and cultural inheritance, and urban quality enhancement.