Title: Yue Dynasty in the 23rd Century: Pragmatic Utopia City
Location of Proejct: Xi'an, Shaanxi
Project Completion Date: N/A
Firm Name:

Short Description: This project proposed strategies for combining relationships among humans, other species, and their shared environment in the 23rd century city of Xi'an, China. It is still human nature to preserve many aspects of present life, even in the face of an ever-changing world. Not only must humans adapt, but the animals and landscapes that share the Earth must also be considered 200 years in the future. Through rethinking beyond the Anthropocene and considering less-human species and their role in cities, to arouse people change their lifestyles and activities, further define their relationships with species in new possibilities for Planet Earth.

Architect's Statement: The proposed pragmatic Utopia city tells an urban story 200 years in the future. This story demonstrates different lifestyles in a restored historical city Xi’an, China. The purpose of this project is to present a bold vision of using the contemporary urban imagery to rationalize urban development in after 200 years. This project aims to create an advanced biosphere in the future, it focused on teaching people to borrow strength from nature through ecological geographical study.

With Holocene faded away, the industry evolution brought people into a new geologic time period—Anthropocene period, manufacture like foods, chemicals, textiles, machines, and equipment now satisfies the needs of most people, modern technology is developing rapidly, human beings become the dominant of the Earth. The World is captured by artificial intelligence and virtual reality; cities are filled with skyscrapers; due to human consumption and other activities that interfere or even destroy ecosystems, much of the biodiversity on earth is at risk. Pollution, climate change and population growth are all threats to biodiversity. These threats have led to an unprecedented increase in the rate of species extinction, It’s not difficult to imagine that human and species will extinct in the future.

This project through rethinking beyond the Anthropocene and considering less-human species and their role in cities, which means not to think about cities in a human-centric way. It's a philosophical and conceptual leap to design really robust ecosystems for everything but people. The fundamentally purpose is to arouse people change their lifestyles and activities, further define their relationships with species in new possibilities for Planet Earth.

Thinking between human and urban ecology requires at present as much attention toward the future as it does from the past. The project research will take the chance of those challenges that expect people as an open invitation to reconsider urban design essential role in the Post-Anthropocene.

In the Anthropocene, the relationship between human and animals are unequal for a long time, however, things changed in "Yue dynasty", animals have their jobs in different government positions according to their characteristics and personalities. The division of the government system in the entire city is based on the world ’s best urban management, including the setting of government functions, the deployment of personnel, and the design of the working attributes of different animals according to the location of the animal ’s own habitat.

Considering the transportation modes of animals and humans in the future, the designer designed seven subway lines. Depends on the family of species, a Panda Train as city train has designed in different size of entrances, exits and interior spaces. The interior of the Panda Train displays natural grass and vegetation, replacing the cold steel structure.

In the design of the Outland district, the main research is ecological habitat and biodiversity. The animal corridor is designed on the highway to solve problems like species migration and defense against natural enemies. The vegetation design at different levels is shown in the section, especially taking the bird habitat in the forest in the wild habitat as an example to show how the birds perform their own species symbiosis and the wild ecological environment that coexists with humans.

To integrate more possibilities into the city requires greater inclusiveness and love. For example, when human-dominated cities gradually evolved to be dominated by other species, in the long process of human evolution, too many species were gradually eliminated and extinct, such as dinosaurs , some rare animals and plants or a large ocean, an Island, a plant. Obviously, for the city, these disappearing ancient civilizations have become a stumbling block for human studies and a cornerstone for exploring the future. In this project, the designer is committed to exploring the possibility that new species evolve faster than humans according to the laws of urban and human development, and deeply believes that in the 23rd century, human rights to rule the world will Impacted by, or coexisted with, new species, even replaced. These radical yet pragmatic future landscape designs embody an achievable utopian vision, and at the same time remind humans to think deeply about their own personalities through the personalities of animals. Profound philosophical question of how to get on oneself.