This new riverfront development is located on the Yangtze River in the Baoshan District of Shanghai. This area boasts some of the highest shipping activity in the world. However, in recent years this single-function industrial zone has given way, allowing for waterfront parks to develop. Within this historically layered water front the Baoshan Park and Open Space Plan links three multi-use development districts to each other and their seafront.

Springing up among the cranes and shipping containers, with giant machines dominating the landscape the new Harbor City Parks will bring fresh life to this industrial district of Shanghai. This series of multi-faceted open space includes two large parks, one that speaks to civic and commercial adjacencies, and the other as common ground that connects two residential communities. At the terminus of both the parks running along the Yangtze’s edge is the elevated waterfront promenade and lower water side esplanade. These two corridors act as the project spine, linking all the mixed uses of the project together, while allowing sweeping views of the once disconnected riverfront. Visitors are invited to descend down to the esplanade level and reclaim the post-industrial river. As future urban development continues to push from Shanghai center, Harbor City Parks will serve as a precedent for the new post-industrial Baoshan.