antidote: not another ghetto city – Chengdu North Central Activities District Design
The existing proposal for giant zone of pure commercial use not only creates a ghetto CBD, but has consequences beyond it’s site. It removes the bulk of commercial program from the surrounding residential districts, rendering them isolated dormitory suburbs.
Our proposal seeks to create an integrated city of working, playing and living. By so doing it creates a convenient city and one that sustains economic and social activity. Utilising a networks zoning strategy, the central CBD zone becomes dispersed across the entire site. It brings places of work and services close to the residential areas to the west and east of the site. Residential use is brought into the centre of the site, where it brings complexity to the adjacent commercial functions.
The overlapping areas within the network create important hybrid zones. These allow flexibility for the city to respond to market demand without having to go through a lengthy re-zoning process.