A concept design for Lixian Community in Kecheng district, Quzhou

The Lixian Community project in Quzhou city’s Kecheng district has a planned construction area of 650,000 square meters, with a total investment of 5.335 billion yuan. Designed according to the concept of Datong Zhi Cheng, Chongde Lixian (hence the community’s name), or “City of Universal Harmony, Honoring Men of Virtue”, the overall planning of the project is combined with the core functions of TOD (transit-oriented development), attempting to implement a diverse and co-shared service system. The community will be provided with an education center and a health center, connecting with the Yanjiayu Island on an east-west urban functions development axis and integrating the cultural, educational, medical and healthcare resources on a north-south urban landscape axis. The project will help create a complex mixing all the abovementioned aspects of life.

Lixian Community is one of the first 24 future community pilot projects in Zhejiang province; it is also one of the first United Nations Sustainable Community Standards pilot projects. It is located in Quzhou’s downtown district, under the jurisdiction of Shuangshuiqiao community, Shuanggang sub-district in Kecheng district.

Reaching Xinyuan Road in the east, Qujiang River in the west, Laodong Road of Qujiang Bridge in the north and Shuanggang Overpass in the south, the project sits right at the junction of the old and new urban areas of Quzhou city, the center of the city’s major traffic artery. Surrounded by Qujiang Bridge, Shuanggang Bridge, Heyi Road Tunnel and other traffic lines connecting the smart new city across the river, the location of the community is believed to the most ideal.

The structure of Lixian Community is planned as such that it will be composed of “a nucleus, two cores, three axes and multiple blocks”. Organically linked by the three axes, which have formed a “door” shape, the multiple blocks of the community are placed around like traditional Chinese seal cutting. According to the characteristics of each block, appropriate functions have been assigned, focusing on nature and people.

Incorporating elements of Chinese culture, special Jiangnan (south of the Yangtze River) features and Quzhou’s local flavors, Lixian Community will lend the place a new personality with poetic imaginations. The end product will be a high-quality garden-like living area and a trend-setter for future communities.

West District Lawn Park in Quzhou (Photo/Jiang Ping)

Lixian Community will strive to follow the footsteps of new urbanization, industrial digitalization and the transformation of spatial and social government. More specifically, it will strictly adh

the planned construction policy of building a dense road network, providing convenient transportation for vehicles and pedestrians, offering barrier-free access, erecting no walls, ensuring low-carbon emissions, among various other aspects.

In line with the planned design, a neighborhood center will be built along the Qujiang River at the very heart of Lixian Community, under which will be set up a community service center, a TOD bus terminal, apart from offering business services, entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as a slew of other functions. Indeed, practitioners in the educational, medical and service industries will be able to enjoy the most ideal landscape resources. Moreover, the TOD model will be introduced into everyday life, with a mini-TOD system linking the nine areas of neighborhood, education, healthcare, entrepreneurship, architecture, transportation, low carbon, services and governance.

Taking into consideration the unique Chinese neighbor relationships, the design of the community has used the method of landscaping in the building of the community garden for residential areas. Each residential area is virtually interspersed within a big garden, with the dense road network, traditional Chinese lanes and multiple courtyards serving as joints. Coupled with “white walls and black tiles” and other traditional oriental features, the architecture of community will be an ideal mix of Chinese traditions and futuristic ideas.

One of the goals of building future communities is to further propel Zhejiang’s high-quality and truly make it an “important window” of China. As a new practice encompassing concept innovation, model innovation, technology innovation and mechanism innovation, overall planning, systematic efforts and mechanism guarantees are all needed. Therefore, the Quzhou government has set up special taskforces headed by its leadership, research institutions and think tanks have been called in and public opinions have been canvassed, all for the smooth implementation of the Lixian Community project.

Just as someone from the Quzhou government in charge of the project stated, “The success of the project is ultimately dependent on citizens’ satisfaction.”

Editor: Huang Yan