TAIHU LAKE, CHINA Taihu XL

Taihu XL is a speculative proposal for a ‘Circular Metropolis’ around Lake Taihu.
The site is a unique natural counterpoint to the global megacity Shanghai immediately adjacent. Around it seven major cities with a population comparable to Shanghai are rapidly being networked to each other. The installation is comprised of three parts:
1. A video projection that maps a journey through the Yangtze River Delta landscape that familiarises viewers with the context of the project.
2. A scaled urban plan that demonstrates a pattern of urbanisation towards 2050. This vision takes the form of a carpet that viewers can relax on.
3. A virtual data cityscape that demonstrates the underlying design and resource structures that support the formation of the city.
This emerging ring configuration presents two opportunities for emerging research:
1. A NEW PLANNING MODEL
The circular metropolis presents a rare intermediary stage between a linear and network city, a state of liminality in which future growth is consolidated around the urban ribbon enveloping the lake.
2. A NEW RESOURCE MODEL
By folding the city into the condition of a liminal ring, the proposal challenges the concept of land use optimization, and explores models of sharing and mediation needed to achieve it using a game-based platform through which a holistic resource balance can be approached.