Many parts of our natural world are deteriorating at a noticeable rate. When we took on a project in Wuhan China, we back-tracked only a few years to find out the site was quickly turning from green to brown. This may be caused by soil contamination, water pollution, bad air, or a combination of all three. We feel an urgent need to act. That is how we are motivated to come up with a design, which will not serve the purpose to build but to repair.

Environmental deterioration is one of the largest threats that are being looked at in the world today. The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction characterizes environmental deterioration as the lessening of the limit of the earth to meet social and environmental destinations and needs. 

Environmental deterioration can happen in many ways. At the point when environments are wrecked or common assets are exhausted, the environment is considered to be corrupted and harmed. Many different techniques are being used to remedy this, including environmental resource protection and general revitalization efforts.

We as planners and architects can help developers put in a good effort to help repair our environment while developing for particular needs and profits. For this Wuhan project, we told the developer (in this case the landowner) to adopt ecological balance as the central scheme. We convinced him that eco-tourism sells better than unnatural ones, and he will also get recognition from the international community as well as be incentivized by the government. With this goal and strategy accepted, the design process went very smoothly.

We were able to stringently control building density, vastly increase the greenery ratio, and unanimously add in many functional programs to maximize vegetation, put in water filtration, soil quality enhancement, and create educational facilities for ongoing social participation and public education.

To design for eco-tourism inside the development, we proposed organic farming, do-it-yourself gardening areas, as well as areas where schools and group tourists can sign long-term contracts to keep and cultivate certain crops. We designed farmhouse-type vacation villas that are inspired by indigenous people, with bedrooms above and farming workshops below for tourists to experience farm life up close.

This project has been approved and gone ahead. Looking back, we feel that opportunities exist for design professionals to do their part in maintaining a healthy equilibrium between nature and human society. We should always be quick to act so that we can help stop the fast-changing environment from fading away right in front of our eyes.