When Wuxi city planners decided that they would develop the unpopulated area of Lihu Bay into a thriving residential and urban center, they were at a loss at how to implement their land use plan, which followed a traditional format of dividing a city into two separate sections, one for housing and the other for commercial use. Because Wuxi is situated on water and has many rivers running through it, there were many questions looming as to how to divide up the land. So they enlisted the help of Overland Partners, who had previously designed master plans for other water cities in China.

Overland’s solution to the overriding problem was simply to explain that, by responding to the structure of the natural topography, everything else would fall into place. Rather than adhere to a simple division into two distinct sections, the Overland team pointed out that the existing patterns of rivers and creeks would suggest a more diverse distribution of areas for housing, commerce, and recreation, and that green pathways and especially canals, similar to those in cities such as Chicago, Amsterdam, and San Antonio, could link these different components to one another and provide easy access from place to place. Rather than be a static grid, the topography-driven scheme will be visually diverse, with irregularly shaped lots, canals and parks of varying sizes, and a river walk that is distinctly human in scale.

When Wuxi officials saw diagrams for this proposal, they recognized how advantageous the plan would be for promoting a high quality of life for residents, while also attracting tourists and investors.  According to Overland architect James Andrews, “I think they felt that they would be able to exceed many of their financial return requirements, but do it in such a way that it created a fascinating dialogue between water and people and buildings.”

Overland’s land-use plan will bring all the amenities of contemporary living—hotels, office buildings, restaurants, commercial venues, housing, museums, religious buildings, parks, and parking—to an already idyllic setting in the Yangtze River Delta. With an interconnected system of green pathways and canals, a beautiful cityscape, and luxurious areas of water within and without the city, Lihu Bay is likely to attract many new residents from nearby Shanghai. According to Andrews, city officials view the Wuxi Lihu Bay master plan as an “opportunity for a livable city, and they could really see themselves living there.”