The proposed ‘Super Forest’ is a city-wide initiative to transform conventional land-use planning into a new climate solution. By integrating the complexities of land-use demands, the team acknowledged the trade-offs between the ideal green system and the realities of land development. The new masterplan aims to reduce these compromises by modeling the potential performance of a ‘Super Forest’, which balances ecological sustainability with economic and development needs.

The key to the success of ‘Super Forest’ model are the trees the forest is made up from. Designers select high-performance trees and apply land-use modeling that can be linked to monetary values and China’s new carbon market through natural capital accounting tools. In their selection of trees, the team considered local species suitable for the regional climate, and balanced environmental performance with the cost of the tree. Over time, the ‘Super Forest’ pays for itself while improving the environment. It serves as a key part of the overall ‘Super Green Road’ greening system for the city, where loops of green across neighborhoods, districts, and the entire region provide citizens with green amenities within a close walking distance.

The ‘Super Forest’ fills the Central Park edge with seasonal trees and creates a ‘living frame’ of the Nobel Lake. Within the park, designers create an upgraded main circulation loop which better serves the surrounding community, activates the whole park, and encourages the full enjoyment of Nobel Lake. A new bridge crosses the narrowest point on the lake to create a new family loop and separate the quiet and active sides of the park.

Nobel Lake is the identifying feature of the Central Park, and as such improving the lake water quality forms another major focus area for master planning and design of the renovation, for which the team proposed several strategies addressing shorelines and natural water filtration.

With this project, MSP and BAM aim to create a legacy that honors the past while advancing scientific progress and environmental stewardship through the means of landscape.