This year, the Urban Greenhouse Challenge is taking place in China, in Dongguan, to be precise. In our introductory article on the challenge, we already briefly touched upon the location where students will be designing an urban greenhouse. Let's take a closer look at it.
In February 2019, the contracts were signed for the Binhai Central Agricultural Park Complex. Local authorities and companies joined forces to shape the agricultural park, the "battleground" for students participating in the Urban Greenhouse Challenge. In fact, UGC partner Country Garden Agriculture, which develops the Park, has serious intentions to realize the winning design if it fits the budget and park’s vision.
Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of Binhai Bay and Dongguan Port, director of the management committee, and secretary of the Humen CPC Committee, Liu Jie, said that the Central Agricultural Park is a key project for the new area to create an ecological pattern of “Mountain, sea, river, forest, fields, grass”, with a further focus on sustainable development of modern agriculture in Guangdong, Hong Kong and the Macau Bay Area, Timedg reported.
High-speed train rendering
Highlands for innovation and development
The Central Agricultural Park is part of a larger region, the Binhai New Area, which the government of Dongguan envisions as 'new highlands for innovation and development'.
The Urban Master Plan for the new region contains plans for green developments, including a waterfront park. There's also room for industry, with a focus on artificial intelligence, life health, high-end electronic information technology, and modern service industry.
Bird's-eye view of the site
500,000 inhabitants by 2035
Following implementation of the Urban Master Plan, the local government expects the New Area to have a population of 500,000 by 2035, with 700,000 people being employed in the area. Of course, all those people need to be fed, so the participants in the Urban Greenhouse Challenge have their work cut out for them.
Sustainability will be an important aspect in this regard - the Urban Master Plan proposes that the New Area will be a water-saving society, with low-carbon and high-efficiency energy, and an intelligent municipal system which is safe and reliable, green and low-carbon, intensive and efficient.
For more information:
www.dg.gov.cn
www.urbangreenhousechallenge.nl