Student Project | Jump into the River: Reclaiming Everyday Life Along the Haihe Waterfront

Winner of an Honourable Mention in the 2026 WLA Awards – Concept Design category

Morden Urban landscapes are often shaped by political, economic and cultural forces, where spatial production is governed by capital structures and institutional control. Informal behaviors and unregulated public aspirations are frequently marginalized within highly ordered environments. Central Tianjin exemplifies this condition, where public space is expected to remain tidy and disciplined.

Yet along the Haihe River waterfront, residents have long reclaimed space through self-initiated daily practices. This site encompasses riverbank gathering areas, Shizilin Bridge and the Tianjin Eye. Over time, this river stretch has evolved into a vibrant social hub shaped by spontaneous routines — most notably the Haihe River diving tradition, a widely recognized urban spectacle that challenges Morden spatial norms.

These practices, rooted in daily needs, bring vitality to public space while generating tension with formal management systems, revealing a broader conflict between everyday-life demands and regulatory frameworks in contemporary urban governance.

In response to local residents — known as the “Diving Elders” — who engage in highly self-directed activities, this project moves beyond top-down control and reframes these tensions as an opportunity for revitalization. Spontaneous practices are understood as a catalyst for activating urban space and preventing underuse. The design bridges governance and lived experience, proposing a public-space model grounded in civic engagement and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Through field surveys, questionnaires and behavioral analysis, the project identifies patterns of use and spatial needs. Informal activities — once seen as management challenges — are reinterpreted as opportunities for civic co-creation, enabling residents to shift from independent users to collaborative partners in shaping urban space.

Rooted in residents’ physical and everyday needs, the design advances three principles: respecting daily life, embracing spontaneity and fostering co-governance. Four integrated strategies are proposed:
Participatory Management Framework
A governance system involving designers, authorities and residents ensures adaptive management and
shared stewardship.
Interactive Feedback Infrastructure
Physical and digital platforms collect user input, ensuring responsive spatial adaptation.
Seasonal Spatial Programming
Four-season events — spring carnival, summer diving festival, autumn recreation and winter gatherings — sustain continuous public activity.
Spatial Retrofit & Safety Integration
The waterfront is upgraded with modular platforms, standardized diving structures, accessible water interfaces and essential amenities, balancing safety and flexibility.

Based on seasonal variation and usage patterns, three scenarios are defined: daily leisure, community gathering and winter adaptation. This year-round approach bridges governance and everyday life, unlocking more inclusive and dynamic public space. More importantly, the project reframes informal practices as a productive force in shaping the city. By enabling activities such as river diving, it transforms a once-contested waterfront into a shared civic landscape — suggesting a paradigm in which public space is continuously re-created by users.

Student1: 党方红（Fanghong Dang) – Supervisor 孙奎利(Kuili Sun) 天津美术学院 (Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts)
Student2: 张永欣(Yongxin Zhang) – Supervisor 王越(Yue Wang) 山东建筑大学(Shandong Jianzhu University)
Student3: 石珏玮(Juewei Shi) – Supervisor 张春彦(Chunyan Zhang) 天津大学（Tianjin University）
Supervisor: 郭哲良(Zheliang Guo) 华南理工大学（South China University of Technology）