The planning area includes four distinct ‘habitats’: the zone between the mountains and city, which will be deployed for water containment; the actual urban centre, set up as a sponge city; the coast, conceived as a resilient tidal area; and the sea itself.

Talent Port is a distinctly urban cluster. It includes a host of public functions, to be built along a central axis connecting the rail station and the harbour. Central feature is the International Communication Center, which is surrounded and supported by various landscaped public spaces like the Expo park, an open-air events space. In designing the Tidal Community, we drew closely from nature. We recovered the natural tidal zone by removing the road and artificial shoreline, and used the tidal movements to create salt marshes instead. By deploying the area’s natural strengths, we were able to extend the landscape, creating a transitional zone between the village and wetlands, which serves both as a unique seafront park and as an ecological habitat. The Lagoon Community is set in a shoreline landscape dominated by newly created, desalinated lagoons; these offer room for swimming and socialising, but also have an ecological function. The urban centre offers a range of nature-based experiences and serves as a leisure centre for all of Huangshi Talent Bay.