Jiading Post-Occupancy Evaluation
Revisiting a 70-hectare urban park in Shanghai
Jiading Central Park Recognized for Design Excellence by ASLA
The American Society of Architects (ASLA) has awarded Jiading Park, a 70-hectare urban park in Shanghai, with an Honor Award in the Urban Design category.
The park is one of the largest urban open spaces in Shanghai’s burgeoning Jiading district, and serves as a social and recreational hub for the community. Its combination of poetic form, cultural expression, public programming, and ecological restoration creates a multi-dimensional experience and served as a catalyst for surrounding development.
"The cleaner air and restorative tranquility of Jiading’s Central Park are crucial selling points for this satellite city of nearby Shanghai."
2020 ASLA Awards Jury
“Combining wetland and woodland habitats with areas for recreation and respite across a 70-hectare site, Jiading Park functions as a green lung for the adjacent transit-oriented development,” continues the jury. “A careful reduction in the number of transverse roadways, and incorporation of pedestrian bridges, allow for overall continuity along roughly eight miles of pathways for non-motorized use. The landscape architects’ strategies of regrading terrain and replanting native species have led canals once clogged with algal bloom to become clear waterways brimming with biodiversity.”
High grasses and strategically placed nooks offer respite from the hustle and bustle of the city
The park includes new amenities that celebrate the city’s culture and provide activities and entertainment to its citizens
“We are incredibly honored to receive this recognition,” says Michael Grove, Chair of Landscape Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Ecology. “Jiading Park is testament to Sasaki’s ethos of merging design excellence, ecological restoration, and landscape performance to create urban places where both humans and nature can thrive.”
After the park opened to the public, Sasaki collaborated with the Regional Ecological Lab at East China Normal University in Shanghai to conduct a year-long Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) to document its performance. With the goal of gathering detailed environmental metrics, a rigorous process of field sampling and lab analysis investigated a wide array of environmental indexes for water, air, microclimate, and biomass. The research findings offered valuable scientific evidence to evaluate the project’s ecological aspirations and to validate multiple design hypotheses.
“ASLA Professional Awards acknowledge exceptional projects that define and move the profession of landscape architecture forward,” said Curt Millay, Executive Secretary of the American Society of Landscape Architects. “We congratulate Sasaki on this incredible achievement.”
