The idea of turning water into land has fascinated humanity for centuries. The Netherlands, for example, as one of the pioneers in the subject, have about 20% of their territory reclaimed from the sea or lakes using dikes as methods to stop the water and dry the surfaces. Technological development over time, however, has made this practice increasingly popular. Today, China is one of the countries leading the ranking, as well as urban centers in the global south, highlighting cities in West Africa, East Asia, and the Middle East. These megalomaniacal landfills are mainly created in places where there is an extensive coast, but not enough land to meet their needs. The uses accommodated in the new area are diverse, ranging from the creation of luxury residences to an entertainment archipelago with hotels, restaurants, theaters, and shops. Despite the significant gains in the commercial and tourism sector, the environmental degradation of this scale of intervention is constantly being discussed, with damages ranging from gentrification, expulsion of native communities, and annulment of their means of subsistence, to the destruction of entire ecosystems. This situation has guided cities in the search for less aggressive solutions for their expansion needs, such as the development of what is now called "aquatic urbanism." In it, circular and zero-waste systems, as well as closed-loop water systems, net-zero energy, innovative mobility, and regeneration of coastal habitats are integrated. As technology advances in the same proportion as environmental concern and climate change increase, iconic landfills built in recent decades are important examples that can guide strategies on what to do and, above all, what not to do in new land expansions over the sea. Bearing this in mind, check out some of the most striking examples below. **Palm Jumeirah, Dubai** Talking about megalomaniacal landfill projects and not mentioning the "palm tree" of Dubai is impossible. The project took nine years to build, starting in 2001. Its area covers 31 km2 including the main trunk, 17 branches, and a semicircular wall with side openings. The extension houses luxurious residences on the "leaves" and a hotel at the seafront, all connected by a surface train generating a landscape worthy of a science fiction movie. The project cost approximately US$12 billion, and with the amount of stone and sand used in it, it would be possible to build a 2-meter wall that would encircle the Earth three times. Among many impacts on the ecosystem, the most commented is how the project hindered the circulation of seawater, altering the marine ecosystem and generating bad odor. **Eko Atlantic City, Nigeria** Nigeria seems poised to surpass South Africa and become the largest economy on the continent thanks to oil. However, the country faces many common problems in our era: rising sea levels, swells, and devastating floods. In this context, Eko Atlantic is a multibillion-dollar project that promises to protect against marine erosion. With 10 km2, the idea of the project, which is still under construction, is to offer housing for 250,000 people and employment for more than 150,000 distributed among parks and other services. The project advances full of criticisms, with scholars affirming that the nearly 3km wall, nicknamed the "Great Wall of Lagos," will serve to contain the advance of water in the same proportion as it will segregate the space, creating a closed and financially accessible city that will only "save" those living in it from the floods. **Marina Bay, Singapore** Singapore's history is marked by numerous territorial expansion interventions that seek to deal with an interesting paradox: surplus money and limited land. In total, the country, currently 700 km2, has already managed to increase 25% of its territory. There is a public policy of "land reclamation," which makes the island advance 40 cm per year into the sea, according to local journalists (the number is contested by the government, which cites an annual average of 2 cm). This has led Indonesia and Malaysia, the most affected countries, to temporarily ban the import of sand to Singapore. Within this controversial context, Marina Bay, started in 1969, is an icon of the country. Built on a 3.6 km2 landfill, the region has become one of the country's main destinations in terms of restaurants, hotels, and attractions, materializing an investment of S$4.5 billion. The bold urban design was combined with iconic architectures, such as the Marina Bay Sands and the world's largest infinity pool, elevated to 200 meters, designed by Safdie Architects. However, plans for territorial expansion over the sea still continue. **Parque do Flamengo, Brazil** Inaugurated in 1965 in Rio de Janeiro, the popularly known Aterro do Flamengo, with 1.3 km2, was built on the sea with material from the dismantling of a nearby hill. Both the park and the intervention in the hill were part of a municipal plan to solve the city's traffic problem, avoiding the high cost of expropriations necessary to widen the main roads in the area. Its construction marked the modernization of Rio de Janeiro and represents an interesting example of large-scale landfill that assumes a public and cultural vocation. In addition to the roads that cross its extension, the area is also marked by large vegetated masses - a project by landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx - cut by curved walkways that lead to the sea. Among them, cultural buildings and sports facilities are spread out. In 2012, the park received the title of World Heritage in the category "Urban Cultural Landscape," granted by UNESCO.
Urban Planning: The Latest Architecture and News
Concéntrico, Logroño’s Festival of Architecture and Design, Prepares Its 10th Anniversary Edition
From April 25th to May 1st, 2024, in the Spanish city of Logroño, Concéntrico prepares for its 10th anniversary edition. Envisioned as a contemplation of changing urban environments and an opportunity to share insights about these processes, this year’s International Festival of Architecture and Design incorporates new formats to engage a wider audience and explore time as a catalyst for change in urban and social design. The festival expands its program, featuring 21 installations by designers of 20 different nationalities, in addition to several other initiatives and explorations.
Are For-Profit Developments Consistent With the Values of a Public University?
This article was originally published on Common Edge.
I am by no means an expert on public-private partnerships. But for about 10 years, as the University of California Berkeley’s campus planner and then campus architect, I watched these developments play out in higher education—sometimes from a front-row seat, sometimes as a participant. During that time, this strategy, promoted with great enthusiasm and optimism, was touted as the answer to whatever problem arose. And yet the definition of a public-private partnership was slippery. The concept itself seemed to be all things for all people, depending on what was needed, who was recommending it, and what equivalents (if any) existed outside the university. The bandwagon continues to play today, making it ever more important to nail down the pros and cons of this development strategy, not only for colleges and universities, but for all public decision-making.
Powerhouse Company Wins Competition for a Diverse Urban Ensemble in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Powerhouse Company, together with Studio Donna van Milligen Bielke & Ard de Vries Architecten, Team V Architecture, Joppe Kusters, and DELVA Landscape Architecture | Urbanism, has won the competition to design a creative urban district in Havenstraat, a well-known fringe area in Amsterdam. Set in a location defined by disused industrial remnants, historic trams, and informal greenery, the area shows its potential in offering space for experimentation, opening itself to local businesses, creatives, and makers to refine its character.
Landscape Architects Lead Bhutan’s Mindfulness City
“The Mindfulness City will be a sustainable city. To be mindful is to be aware — to perform best,” said Giulia Frittoli, partner and head of landscape at BIG. The Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked Buddhist country in the eastern Himalayas, nestled between China and India. It covers 14,000 square miles and has a population of nearly 800,000.
The Royal Office of Bhutan asked BIG, Arup, and Cistri to develop a plan for a new Mindfulness City in Gelephu in southern Bhutan, near the border with India. The city will span 386 square miles and include a new international airport, railway connections, hydroelectric dam, university, spiritual center, and public spaces.
The Urban Transformation of Medellín: A Case Study
CityMakers, The Global Community of Architects Who Learn from Exemplary Cities and Their Makers, is working with Archdaily to publish a series of articles about Barcelona, Medellin, and Rotterdam. The authors are the architects, urban planners, and/or strategists behind the projects that have transformed these three cities and are studied in the "Schools of Cities" and "Documentary Courses" made by CityMakers. On this occasion, Victor Restrepo, Coordinator of CityMakers in Medellin, presents his article "Medellin: A Case Study".
Medellín stands as an inspiring example for many cities worldwide. It is a city that transitioned from deep collective fear to hopeful enthusiasm for urban and social life characterized by quality and coexistence. The city's crisis has always been associated with violence and drug trafficking. However, this crisis is more structural and profound, it responds to many more factors, some of which are associated with the accelerated growth of its population, as in many Latin American cities.
OODA and MassLab Win Competition for a “Building without Devastating” Master Plan in Portugal
In collaboration with MassLab, OODA has been awarded first place in the Barrosinha Agricultural Company competition, aimed at creating a 2,000-hectare development seamlessly integrated into the agro-forestry heritage of Alcácer do Sal, Portugal. The master plan, covering a variety of functions for tourism, housing, commerce, and leisure, is designed in harmony with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, striving to transform Herdade da Barrosinha into a model of sustainable renewal.
The Barcelona Model: Public Space as a Synonym for Urban Adaptation
CityMakers, The Global Community of Architects Who Learn from Exemplary Cities and Their Makers, is working with Archdaily to publish a series of articles about Barcelona, Medellin, and Rotterdam. The authors are the architects, urban planners, and/or strategists behind the projects that have transformed these three cities and are studied in the "Schools of Cities" and "Documentary Courses" made by CityMakers. On this occasion, Jaume Barnada, coordinator of the award-winning Climate Shelters project in Barcelona schools and speaker at the "Schools of Cities", presents his article "Barcelona, the public place as a synonym for the adaptation of the built city."
Cities are dense, built spaces in which pavements have been efficiently imposed on the natural soil. Cities like Barcelona have almost 75% of the land paved and waterproof. Without a doubt, it is an excess to reverse at a time of climate emergency, where we must reconnect with nature. Oriol Bohigas [1] told us that good urbanization had paved the squares of Mediterranean cities and that no one wanted to live in a mudhole. I'm sure he was right. Also, he taught us that the green and, consequently, the natural soil had to have dimension and especially an urban position. Squares are squares and parks are parks, and each space has a type of project. Today, concepts are too frequently confused when urbanizing public places and consequently, we find projects that blur the model.
Zaha Hadid Architects Reveals Climate-Resilient Design for Al Khuwair Waterfront in Oman
Zaha Hadid Architects have unveiled a large-scale project for the redevelopment of the Al Khuwair waterfront in downtown Muscat, the capital of Oman. The $1.3bn project covers an area of 3.3 million square meters. It aims to revitalize the area through sustainability-led design principles to accommodate the expected population growth, which is expected to almost double by 2040. The plans are developed in collaboration with Buro Happold to incorporate and transform the existing buildings on site, introduce coastal and climate resilience measures, and create an efficient transit-oriented infrastructure.
How Barcelona, Medellin, and Rotterdam Have Generated Public Space Where It Seemed Impossible
CityMakers, The Global Community of Architects Learning from Model Cities and Their Makers is working with Archdaily to publish a series of articles about Barcelona, Medellin, and Rotterdam. The authors are the architects, urban planners, and/or strategists behind the projects that have transformed these three cities and are known in the "Schools of Cities" and "Documentary Courses" made by CityMakers.
There is currently a broad consensus on the importance of public space in the city. Although it may seem quite logical, its significance is not as old as human settlements, which have existed for millennia. The Athens Charter, written just 91 years ago, did not speak so much about the city as a place to live but as a functional machine. Almost a century later, the paradigm has shifted: the city is, above all, its public space. But what happens when public space is threatened by car proliferation, insecurity, or even water?
Athens Plans to Grow Its Metro Infrastructure by a Third to Reduce Automobile Traffic
The project for implementing a fourth metro line in the Greek capital began in 2021, with the purpose of reducing the need for automobiles in the crowded city. As the 15-station new line is estimated to transport 340,000 passengers a day, up to 53,000 cars could be taken off the roads each day. While the opening of the line may be five years away, work has now begun to refurbish seven urban squares which will become stations. Despite public support for the initiative, the project has also led to some controversy, with residents fearing gentrification.