Railway Forest——Shenzhen Pinghunan-Yantian Port Railway Park

The Pinghunan-Yantian Port Railway, 22.69-kilometer long between Yantian Port and Pinghunan, transports goods to all parts of China and abroad by sea-rail transportation. With efficiency at first, this Railway has greatly helped the rapid development of Shenzhen over the past thirty years and however torn apart the surrounding urban areas and ecosystems as a painful price for the rapid urban development. According to the Railway underpass plan of 2021, the section of this Railway in Henggang Subdistrict will be shifted from the original ground into an underground tunnel; thus, its ground railway will be abandoned and original space will be replaced with a brand-new Pinghunan-Yantiangang Railway Park to reconstruct the ecological corridors and surrounding urban connections in support of local urban renewal.



The Landscape Architecture Team has proposed a concept of "railway forest" in order to recombine Henggang urban areas and ecosystems that were disconnected by the Railway and meanwhile keep the railway context on site.



In light of surrounding urban conditions and plans, "Fun Forest", "Urban Forest", and "Eco Forest" will be set up in the northern, middle and southern sections of the park respectively.



The Fun Forest in the northern section will be a funny leisure place for all ages of people to inspire their creativity and imagination, enabling everyone to understand the Railway stories by interactions in the green forest.



The Urban Forest in the middle section will take advantage of transportation and commercial diversification. Through the diversified high-quality public realm, urban catalysts can be formed to drive Henggang's tourism industry, attract sci-tech innovative enterprises, and stimulate surrounding urban renewal and economic growth.



The Eco Forest in the southern section will reconnect the ecological resources of Tangkeng Reservoir, Henggang’s south forest hills and Wutong Mountain. By a low-impact development strategy, the landscape architecture team will minimize unnecessary interventions to to activate the ecosystem.



Ultimately, as a green artery of Shenzhen, the Railway Park will boost the eco-security and urban development as a landscape urbanism practice in such a densely-populated megacity.