Feature image: Xuhui Runway Park. Photo credit: Sasaki.
The current SITES rating system for new construction projects has been vital in laying the foundation for protecting and restoring ecosystem services, fostering resilience, and prioritizing the health and well-being of a community. Today, over 1.2 billion square feet of new development projects in 17 countries are participating in SITES.
The project site was previously used as a storage site for potted trees and bonsai. The ground was covered with black anti-weed sheet and there was little biodiversity observed on site, not to mention that it had no practical use of the green environment.
The Tokiwabashi area in the center of Tokyo extends in front of the Nihonbashi Gate of Tokyo Station and is located close to the site of the Tokiwabashi gate of Edo Castle. Crossing the Nihonbashi River leads to the Nihonbashi and the Kanda district. Four main buildings are to be constructed on the site: Tokiwabashi Tower, Torch Tower, an Underground Electricity Substation, and a Sewage Bureau Building. The project is a large-scale mixed-use development with a site area of approximately 3.1 hectares and a projected total floor space of approximately 740,000 m2.
How do we build a more resilient future?
The past few years have revealed just how vulnerable our spaces, communities and cities are to the ravages of extreme weather. Warming temperatures, air pollution, weather events and other climate-related hazards pose grave risks to our social, economic and environmental systems.
Once a flat barren road median, the Richard Moya Eastside Bus Plaza – named for the first Mexican-American elected to public office in Austin – has been transformed. Now a vibrant, ecologically robust refuge for wildlife, the landscape echoes the historic Central Texas ecoregion of the Blackland Prairie, and offers renewed beauty and comfort to more than 600 riders each day.
Feature image: EYP project in Hackensack, New Jersey. Photo credit: Halkin Mason Photography.