Towards2050: Developing a Sino-Dutch Approach for Sustainable Urbanization is a multi-annual program initiated by the Creative Industries Fund NL in July 2013. The goal of this initiative is to explore how the Dutch integrated planning approach can be of added value to the challenges Chinese metropolitan regions are facing in the process of rapid urbanization.
At the request of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning, Fengtai district was the subject of the first Sino-Dutch ‘research by design’ workweek in 2013 – with projects at YongDing River, Fengtai Station and Dahongmen Square. The focus in 2014 was entirely on stations, station area development and transit-oriented development (TOD), with a special focus on Qinghe station and Beijing North station in Beijing.
This year’s case study is Tongzhou’s New Beijing East Station and area development, in the context of the larger JinJinJi challenge: the Beijing Tianjin, and Hebei Province regional integration. How can Tongzhou be an attractive and smart city for its citizens, and how can the station area become an attractive micro city and node in the larger region? How can walking, cycling and transit be enhanced, and how can attractive public spaces be created in this city? These are some of the main questions addressed by the workshop.