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Environmental Art, UK

Mentor
Leslie Zhang
Student
Wei
Tags
Environmental Art
UK

Project Statement

"Flowers in the Smoke": Sustainable Regeneration and Community Co-Creation in Berlin's Former Industrial District

Project Description

The project takes as its site a historic heavy-industrial district in Berlin (dating back to the late 19th century) and aims to use innovative design and ecological technology to transform the derelict industrial area into a modern, sustainable community that combines economic vitality with environmental responsibility. The project ran from November to December 2023, and its core objectives include:

  • Balancing ecology and economy: Using green technologies (such as water recycling systems and the restoration of native vegetation) to improve resource efficiency and reshape the industrial district into an engine of the low-carbon economy;
  • Mixed-use integration: Creating a multifunctional community through "industrial–residential–cultural" mixed-use planning that draws businesses and residents into building it together;
  • Restructuring transport and space: Optimising the canal transport network (once the area's economic lifeline) and integrating transport hubs, public spaces and green-space systems to overcome the fragmentation of the district;
  • Improving social equity: Addressing the uneven distribution of public services and imbalanced population flows by designing centralised service hubs and a graduated pedestrian network to make the community more accessible.

Design Highlights

  • Green space and human behaviour research: Analysing how tree distribution patterns (clustered vs. scattered) affect human activities (walking, resting, socialising) to guide a dynamic green-space design;
  • Terrain-adaptive strategies: Using "staggered tree planting to stabilise the soil" on steep slopes and "graduated connecting paths" on flat ground, balancing ecological stability with spatial experience;
  • Optimising visibility and spatial perception: Strategies such as open green space in front of buildings, safe parks on the flanks and continuous landscape corridors enhance spatial layering and social interaction.

Co-Creating a Sustainable Community

  • Nature-led design and public participation: Introducing native plants to help the ecosystem heal itself, and encouraging residents to take part in greening projects (such as community gardens) to strengthen their sense of belonging;
  • Fostering social resilience: Collaborative spatial design (such as shared art exhibition areas and multifunctional squares) strengthens community cohesion and economic resilience.

"Palimpsest of Post-industrial Elini": Layered Regeneration and Participatory Community Co-Creation of Post-Industrial Heritage in Elini, Italy

Project Description

The project focuses on the small town of Elini in the province of Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy. Through the concept of "layered regeneration" (Palimpsest), it aims to fully integrate historical remains (Nuragic culture, industrial quarries and a disused railway) with modern agriculture and ecotourism, reviving the declining community's economy and cultural vitality. The project ran from March to June 2023, and its core objectives include:

  • Symbiosis of history and nature:

    • Interweaving the megalithic remains of the Nuragic culture (such as domus de Janas tombs and stone towers) with farmland and forest to create an experiential space that unites "ancient civilisation, natural ecology and agricultural landscape";
    • Converting the disused railway tracks into a "re-wilded" ecological corridor and the tin railway carriages into flower houses and shelters, linking up biodiversity hotspots.

  • Sustainable agriculture and tourism innovation:

    • Introducing drought-tolerant cash crops (such as lavender and olives) and orchards, combined with rainy-season ponds on the terraces, to create a model in which "agriculture and tourism thrive together";
    • Developing birdwatching stations, boardwalks and open-air museums (such as the Royal Railway heritage square) to attract ecotourism and educational trips.

  • Community participation and infrastructure revitalisation:

    • Turning industrial facilities such as a disused sewage treatment plant into public community spaces (such as a solar plaza and ball courts);
    • Encouraging residents to take part in co-creation projects such as the "train flower house" and the "stone-walled garden", strengthening their sense of belonging and economic returns.

Design Strategy Highlights

  • Re-wilding the railway: Planting native species (such as Mediterranean oak and thyme) along the Trenino Verde line and restoring riverside woodland to attract birds and small mammals;
  • Terraces and water management: Using the historic terraces to harvest rainwater and form seasonal ponds that serve both irrigation and landscape functions;
  • Layered spatial planning:
    • Surface layer: Farmland, orchards and birdwatching trails;
    • Middle layer: A zone where Nuragic remains and forest interweave;
    • Infrastructure layer: The converted railway and disused carriages as tourism nodes.

"Re-wilding the Field Margins": Field-Margin Re-wilding and Ecological Restoration at Garimorn Dam National Park, Scotland

Project Description

The project focuses on Garimorn Dam National Park near Alloa in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. Responding to the degradation of wildlife habitats caused by overgrazing, visitor activity and fragmentation by infrastructure (such as wetland destruction and disruption to waterbird migration), it proposes an ecological restoration plan centred on "re-wilding the field margins". The project ran from July to October 2023, and its core objectives include:

  • Habitat restoration:

    • Softening the hard-engineered banks of rivers and lakes, restoring low-lying wetlands, and rebuilding fragmented wetland and riverside woodland;
    • Linking pasture with the edges of native woodland through "beetle banks", increasing the diversity of herbs and shrubs and attracting small animals (such as red squirrels).

  • Balancing human activity and ecology:

    • Designating "restricted pasture zones" and limiting where dogs can roam to reduce disturbance to waterbirds (such as white-tailed eagles);
    • Designing an "experiential farm" and birdwatching trails to guide visitor behaviour and balance conservation with recreational needs.

  • Building wildlife corridors:

    • Establishing a "re-wilded migration corridor" along tributaries of the River Forth to link fragmented woodland with field margins, and introducing broadleaf trees (such as birch and oak) to restore monoculture commercial forestry;
    • Adding small ponds and diverse crop strips between fields to form migration routes for wildlife.

Three Projects: My Journey and Takeaways

1. Elini, Italy: Writing a New Chapter from the Ruins

Breakthrough: Converting disused railway carriages into flower houses blurred the line between past and present.
Toughest moment: Leaks in the terrace ponds, which we fixed using traditional stonemasonry — a lesson in "local wisdom".
Takeaway: History is not a burden but a resource, and co-creation can breathe new life into heritage.

2. Garimorn Dam, Scotland: Finding Balance amid Conflict

Compromise and innovation: The "experiential farm" lets visitors pay to try their hand at sheep herding, with the income going back to the farmers — a win-win.
Most moving moment: When the farmers saw the restored wetland drawing white-tailed eagles back, they realised that ecology and economy can coexist.

3. Berlin's Industrial District: Planting Flowers in the Steel Ruins

Moment of epiphany: When workers saw the regenerated canal become a place where children feed the ducks, they understood that an industrial district can have warmth too.
Takeaway: Short-term projects call for modular thinking, and the poetic rebirth of industry comes from human involvement.

Final Words

The three projects were like three mirrors, revealing my limitations while also reflecting the endless possibilities that arise where land, people and history intertwine. Now, whenever I see the word "ruins", I think of the lavender in Elini pushing up through the cracks in the stone — regeneration, after all, is simply giving life a chance to break through the soil.
— A designer who learned to listen to the land