The design work undertaken by ASPECT Studios on stage one of the revitalisation of Jack Evans Boat Harbour is now complete and the new recreational and aquatic playground is open to the public. The upgrade to the Jack Evans Boat Harbour enriches the existing park experience to become a unique civic place of waterfront leisure. The design strongly promotes physical activity by providing a range of public domain elements such as extensive walkways and cycle-ways.
fibroCITY was conceived and designed by the Houston office of Perkins+Will, who envision a pedestrian-oriented, community-driven environment that physically bridges over the city’s existing highway system as a means of reconnecting urban communities. This design entry for the Living City Design Competition responds to the history of highway development in Houston. The selected site, located at highway 288 south of downtown, was divided socially and economically by the highway’s development in the 1960s and 70s — conditions which still exist today.
Prime Minister Lee at the opening of Senkang Floating Wetland
Over the weekend in Singapore the Senkang Floating Wetland – the largest man-made floating wetland in Singapore was opened to the public by Prime Minister Lee. Developed as part of PUB’s Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters programme, the wetland sitting on the Punggol Reservoir is roughly the size of half a football field.
The wetland links the Anchorvale Community Club to the Sengkang Riverside Park via a bridge on one side, and a boardwalk skimming the water surface on the other, so residents can now enjoy facilities on both banks of the Punggol Reservoir, as well as on the Sengkang Floating Wetland and its boardwalk overlooking the reservoir.
“The wetland is home to about 18 plant species that have been carefully chosen for both their cleansing and aesthetic properties. These plants absorb nutrients and pollutants through their roots. This helps to ensure that the water in this reservoir, an important source of our water supply, stays clean the natural way,” said Mr Tan Nguan Sen, PUB’s Catchment and Waterways Director.
Prime Minister Lee at the opening of Senkang Floating Wetland
Beijng is planning to build six lakes and two wetlands along the currently dry Yongding River (known as the Mother River of Beijing). Part of the river flows for 170 kilometres through several districts of Beijing.
The six lakes to be constructed are Mencheng Lake, Lianshi Lake, Xiaoyue Lake, Wanping Lake, Daning Lake, and Daotian Lake, and will 50 kilometers long and 270-hectare water area. Recently, the construction of Wanping Lake and Lianshi Lake started simultaneously at the lower reaches of the Yongding River. These lakes and wetlands are part of a bigger ecological corridor 170km long project which is budget to cost 17 billion yuan (2.5 billion USD).
The water required for the project is 130 million cubic meters is needed to recover Yongding River, and the water will mainly come from reclaimed water and rain. The Qinghe, Xiaohongmen, Lugou Bridge, Wulituo and Mencheng reclaimed water plants will help provide Yongding River with quality water resources that meet the three-star surface water standard. In addition, two million cubic meters of rain can be stored every year for use. A wetland will be built at the upper reaches of every lake in order to further purify the water and ensure that the water in the Yongding River can meet the three or even four-star standard of surface water.
The four lakes will be constructed and filled with water by the end of 2010. The bigger 170 kilometers long ecological corridor projects will be completed by 2014.
Eli Cohen recently gave a lecture as one of the Freshkills Park lecture series and the Freshkills Blog posted this on Wednesday
Eli Cohen gave a terrific talk Monday night on his work, as director of Ayala Water and Ecology, using plants to remove pollutants and contaminants from water, soil and air. We’re grateful to the huge crowd that poured into the Arsenal gallery for the event, to Laura Starr and Yamit Perez for putting us in touch with Eli and, of course, to Eli himself for sharing his work and his thoughts.
The Freshkills Park Blog post also includes the MP3 and PDF of the presentation for listening and viewing.
