NL Urban Solutions & Deltares

NL Urban Solutions offers the best collective Dutch expertise and experience in the fields of urban planning and landscape design. We are dedicated to the responsible and productive use of land, and work to create, enhance, restore, and steward urban and natural environments especially in water contexts.

Deltares is the world's leading independent research institute and specialized consultancy for water, infrastructure and subsurface issues. Deltares focuses on several key issues for this master plan, including land reclamation, delta infrastructure, safe building on soft soils, subsidence, water quality, renewable energy, and nature-based solutions for water safety.

In designing Shenzhen Marine City, we had to look beyond the local scale and consider challenges and opportunities within the entire Delta region.

We rely upon our collective expertise in interdisciplinary knowledge and skills to do so, working to gain an understanding of the soil and water systems, disaster prevention plans, energy systems, infrastructure, ecosystems, and socio-economic factors in order to identify appropriate resilient solutions.

Our integrated solutions aim to create a blue future city by incorporating nature and natural systems in urban planning and design. Shenzhen Marine City will not only serve as an beautiful landscape and productive economic hub, but also as a safe, resilient and climate-adapted place that can serve as an example for future "blue" development elsewhere in the world. Using an analogy from nature, the city will act like a mangrove leaf, organically breathing, growing and adapting to its environment in connection with nature.

Our design proposes an innovative ‘polder’ concept for Shenzhen Marine City.

The polder is hydrologically separated from the surrounding area so that both inland surface water and groundwater levels can be controlled independent of the surrounding conditions. In a saline estuarine environment like SZNMC, proper control of groundwater levels is crucial to sustain a healthy environment within the reclaimed area. Systems are designed to avoid subjecting the new reclaimed area to a dry period when the groundwater levels drop too low.

Water from nine highly-polluted rivers flows into the SZNMC site which discharges to the Pearl River Estuary. To ensure good water quality in the New Marine City area, we propose that the inner water system be separated from the water system as a whole, thus creating a “polder” system. To achieve this, a chain of model suites were developed to quantify and understand hydrological conditions in the area.

Based on the design concept, our integrated approach includes:

• a polder-based water-land framework
• systems to control groundwater levels for natural water exchange
• a coastal mangrove belt that offers protection against waves and typhoons
• an inner water system for rainwater detention, self-purification, and recreational use
• aquifer-based heat energy storage and energy supply

These approaches have been tested using model simulations to evaluate the designs for each. This process also enables cross-disciplinary cooperation in hydrological and environmental engineering.

For more information about the Shenzhen Marine City project, please view this video which explains the polder concept, eco-design measures and the proposal for an improved water system in Shenzhen.