Sponge Polder

Sponge Polder: The revival of traditional polder wisdom in the Taihu Lake Basin

Yao, Qian (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment; TU Delft Landscape Architecture)

Nijhuis, S. (mentor)
Bracken, G. (mentor)
Reinders, L.G.A.J. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Landscape Architecture

2023-06-27

Polders in the Taihu basin have a history of over two thousand years. The low-lying topography and dense water network create convenient geographical conditions for the reclamation of polders. Later, with the rapid population growth, mulberry-dike-fish-pond was constructed in order to make full use of the limited land resources, which is a sustainable and ecological agricultural model, supporting biodiversity and water resilience as well as providing a basis for settlement in this region. The historical polder landscape closely linked the water system, agriculture system, and settlement system, and then derived water culture, rice culture, fish culture, and silk culture.

However, since1950s, the Taihu Lake basin has been under drastic urbanization, which caused a threat to water safety and cultural heritage. The city invasion of the rural area and road construction leads to the siltation of the watercourse. As a result, the polder landscape was fragmented and lost its water resilience gradually. Water crises including eutrophication, flooding, and drought become more frequent, influencing the cultivation of crops and the traditional settlement’s safety. Additionally, the region has lost its unique cultural identity as a result of the standardization of agriculture.

In conclusion, the polder landscape in Taihu basin is facing three main problems: city invasion, water safety issues, and loss of cultural heritage. Compared to the civil engineering method to solve these challenges, landscape intervention costs much less, builds up a more adaptive and resilient system, and brings aesthetic experience as well. Therefore, how to learn from historical practice to protect precious cultural heritage while restoring the water resilience in the Taihu basin through landscape approaches is the key challenge. The landscape approaches start from the base layer like soil and water, helping to create a sustainable social-ecological system as well as being flexible enough to adapt to future challenges.

Cultural landscape
Polder landscape
Resilience capacity
Taihu lake basin

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Student theses

master thesis

© 2023 Qian Yao