Hargreaves Associates, working directly with Urban Planning Studio at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, provided the visionary leadership in the design of the open space and landscape character of the Master Plan for the Baeitan District.

This area, a former ship building and steel mill complex, occupies a 35 Square Kilometer area along the Pearl River southwest of the historic core of Guangzhou China. The design aims to connect the district with the larger green space system of the Guang Fo. The role of the landscape also assists in the management of flood mitigation, a problem that is affected by the issues of sea level rise and levee containment. Perhaps most importantly, the landscape and open space strategies support the Land Use and Urban Design proposals that are grounded in the fundamental goal of maintaining a direct connection between the people of Baeitan with the Lingnan Culture which is intrinsically linked to the natural systems of the Pearl River Delta and the agricultural heritage that once flourished there.