Project Name: COAL TO DIAMONDS PARK AND ECO COMMUNTIY
Location: HOUPU TOWN, SHANXI PROVINCE, CHINA
Client/Developer: Luan Energy Corporation
Urban Design Team: Jessica Leete, Molly Huang, Joyce Zhou, Clair Ji Kim, Shanshan Lu
Year Designed: 2012
Award: 2013 Excellence in Planning and Design of Ecological Restoration, Chinese Society of Water and Soil Conservation and Ministry of Water Resources

Shanxi Province is China’s largest coal producing province. As a major player in the production of China’s more than 10 billion kWh/year consumption of coal energy, the region suffers inevitable environmental impact. Partly in response to government efforts to consolidate and improve standards throughout the coal industries, the resident coal company in Houpu Town asked for proposals for a 265 Ha (655 acre) public park network along a river corridor including Eco-villages, water treatment, re-use of industrial coal washing sites, and farming. Located at the top of the Zhangwei sub-watershed to the Hai River which empties into the Bohai Sea, this project is an opportunity to set a precedent for how a coal community could keep their water clean. Our proposal incorporates regional transportation, re-forestation, and soil structure strategies as well as phasing and spatial implications and opportunities for innovative remediation processes of soil, water, and air. The housing typologies reflect closed-loop system thinking that helps model communities become self-sustaining—in effect the transformation of traditional Chinese courtyard housing compounds into a contemporary perma-estate.