Urban Planning Society of China （the undertaker） is commissioned by Jiangyin Municipal Natural Resources and Planning Bureau （the organizer） to launch this open international solicitation activity for the Strategic Planning and Conceptual Urban Design of Xiakewan Science City （hereinafter referred to as “this solicitation activity”）。 The relevant matters are hereby announced as follows.
I.Solicitation Objectives
Jiangyin City （“Cheng” for short） is located on the bank of the Yangtze River, the north wing of Wuxi City, and the west of the Shanghai Metropolitan Area. It is an important modern riverside garden city on the Yangtze River Economic Belt and a model area of Southern Jiangsu Model. Over the past 20 years, it has been in a leading position in the country’s county economic development. The Xicheng Cooperative Development Zone is an important starting point for Wuxi City to accelerate the Xicheng （Wuxi-Jiangyin） Integration strategy. It carries five important functions of National Endogenous Science and Technology Innovation Park, National Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park, Xicheng Recreation and Leisure Back Garden, Xicheng Ecological Conservation and Safety Park, and Wuxi’s Sub-centre of Comprehensive Service.
Xiakewan Science City is located in the central area of the Xicheng Cooperative Development Zone. It is an important part of the core area of the Xicheng Cooperative Development Zone and the Xicheng Ecological Green Core. It is also the start-up area of the Xicheng Cooperative Development Zone （all located in Jiangyin City）。 Xiakewan Science City is adjacent to Wuxi Huishan New City to the south; it has ecological and cultural resources such as Xiakewan Bay Area （under planning）， Mazhen Wetland, and Xu Xiake’s former residence; the rail transit Line S1 of Wuxi City runs through Xiake Avenue from north to south. The ecological, cultural and location conditions of Xiakewan Science City are superior.
Xiakewan Science City undertakes the important responsibilities of Jiangyin to implement the strategic requirements of regional collaborative innovation, accelerate integration into the global science and innovation system, and participate in the global division of science and innovation. It is an important link for Jiangyin to connect to the Taihuwan Science and Technology Innovation Belt and build the “first island chain”: It also undertakes the important historical mission of accelerating Jiangyin’s comprehensive integrated reform, high-quality development, and high-level innovation, it is an important strategic space for Jiangyin’s future construction of a nationally influential industrial science and technology innovation centre.
In order to grasp the new trend of global technological innovation and seize the new opportunities of the domestic and international “dual circulation” development pattern, Xiakewan Science City will integrate and utilize the advantageous resources of Jiangyin, Wuxi and even the whole country to optimize the ecological environment quality, gather high-end high-quality elements, highlight regional cultural characteristics, and strengthen infrastructure support under a higher level, in more dimensions, and from broader perspectives, building a first-class domestic industry-university-research innovation platform, attracting innovative talents from all circles of life, laying out major scientific and technological innovation infrastructure, and becoming a “Future Technology City, Green Ecological City, Smart and Interconnected City, Young and Fashionable City”.
To this end, the International Solicitation for Strategic Planning and Conceptual Urban Design of Xiakewan Science City is now held. Based on the principles of openness, justice, and fairness, we sincerely invite excellent domestic and foreign design and consulting institutions with rich experience to participate in this activity and propose first-class planning and design schemes, broadening ideas, applying advanced planning and design concepts and development strategies, to build a high-quality, international Xiakewan Science City.
II.Solicitation Requirements
- Strategic planning research: In order to better integrate, connect and serve the three major development strategies of the Yangtze River Delta Integration, the Taihuwan Science and Technology Innovation Belt, and the Xicheng （Wuxi-Jiangyin） Integration, to clarify the development goals and overall positioning of the Xiakewan Science City at the strategic level ; by benchmarking against advanced science cities at home and abroad, to sort out relevant experience and lessons, clarify the development strategy and development path of Xiakewan Science City, explore the high-quality development and construction mode of “innovation + ecology”； to construct a new path of urban-rural coordination, industry-city integration, and liveability and workability, coordinating lake and wetland and rural ecological spaces, optimizing the spatial pattern, proposing overall functional layout, characteristic scape guidance, and coordinating development timing.
- Conceptual urban design: In order to create a high-quality and international industry-university-research environment, and build the Xiakewan Science City with excellent ecology, openness and tolerance, convenience and friendliness, and full of innovative spirit, to further clarify the specific scope of conceptual urban design based on strategic planning research, to refine the functional positioning and industry formats of Xiakewan Science City, anchor the spatial structure framework and creatively organize the space and morphological style, protect and highlight the ecological feature of lake and wetland, strengthen the design of important nodes and important interfaces, establish a new image of “Future Technology City, Green Ecological City, Smart and Interconnected City, Young and Fashionable City”, and construct an implementation framework to provide basis and reference for follow-up development, construction and operation.
III.Planning Research and Design Scope
- Strategic planning research scope: starting from Gutong Road （under planning） and Jinan Avenue in the north, reaching the city boundary in the south, reaching Changshan Avenue and Beijing-Shanghai Expressway in the east, and Xicheng Canal in the west, with a total area of about 80.3 square kilometres, mainly including Qingyang, Mazhen and ecological lake areas （see figure 2 for the specific scope）。
- Conceptual urban design scope: developing around the rail transit Line S1 of Wuxi City, the specific scope can be determined based on the strategic planning research. The scale of urban construction land within the conceptual urban design scope should be controlled within 8-10 square kilometres, which should include core functional spaces such as scientific research and development, industrial service, and urban comprehensive services.
IV.Application Requirements
（1） This solicitation activity opens application to domestic and foreign institutions that are legally registered and have research and design experience similar to this project. The domestic applicant institutions must have one of Grade-A qualification of urban and rural planning formulation, or Grade-A qualification of architecture and construction engineering; foreign applicant institutions must have one of the relevant qualifications of strategy consulting, urban and rural planning, or architecture design issued by the competent authority or relevant industry organizations of their home country or region. This project encourages application by consortium, but the consortium shall not have more than three members, and the members of the consortium are not allowed to apply separately on their own or form another consortium. Considering the impact of COVID-19, foreign applicant institutions （without branches in China） must form a consortium with domestic institutions. If a foreign applicant institution consorts with a domestic applicant institution, qualification requirements for the domestic institution are the same as above. The qualification requirements of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan institutions shall refer to the requirements of foreign applicant institutions. Applications by individuals or groups of individuals will not be accepted. For two or more legal entities whose legal representative is the same person, the parent company, the wholly-owned subsidiary and the holding company are not allowed to apply at the same time.
（2） The professionals involved in this project must be the current registered staff of the applicant institution; the chief designer must have experience in directing several similar projects, and the chief designer and team members must participate in the whole process of the project （project release conference and site survey, scheme design, scheme reporting）。 Due to the epidemic situation, if the chief designer from abroad cannot participate in person, he or she must participate in the above activities via video, and the main domestic designers should be present to participate. The project team shall be fully equipped with all professional types of work. The professional team of the foreign applicant institution should include at least one member who is proficient in Chinese to ensure the accurate understanding of the regional background and relevant requirements.
（3） The applicant institution shall provide complete prequalification application materials in accordance with the requirements of the Prequalification Document.
（4） In addition to the above terms, when the organizer of this solicitation activity raises reasonable requests, the applicant institution shall continue to provide supplementary certification documents that meet the corresponding requirements.
V.Fees and Awards
Five applicant institutions will be selected through the prequalification review. After the shortlisted applicant institutions submit valid application documents in accordance with the requirements of the Solicitation Document, the jury committee will review and determine the ranking of schemes. The organizer will pay the first applicant institution a bonus of RMB 2.5 million （including tax）； pay the second applicant institution a bonus of RMB 2.0 million （including tax）； pay the third, the fourth, and the fifth applicant institutions a compensation fee of RMB 1.5 million （including tax） each.
However, the applicant institution who fail to submit application documents within the prescribed time, or whose application documents are not acceptable according to the requirements of the Solicitation Document, or whose qualifications have been revoked, will not be paid the design compensation fee or bonus.
VI.Schedule
It is planned to determine the shortlist of applicant institutions in late March 2021; to hold the project release conference and organize the site survey before the end of March 2021. The chief designer and other team members of the applicant institutions are required to attend the conference. The planning and design formulation period is about 90 calendar days from the project release conference.
The announcement is published on AIMIR’s website now. If you want to more following details regarding to this competition, please feel free to contact AIMIR. What’s more, you’re more than welcome to touch base with us if you need architectural visualization.