Critical Landscape Planning during the Belt and Road Initiative

This book explores the development of landscapes along the China-Laos Railway, one of the first infrastructure projects under China's Belt and Road Initiative. It provides a history, planning pedagogy, and interdisciplinary framing for working alongside large-scale infrastructure planning, design, and implementation processes. The book highlights the importance of engaging professionally oriented built-environment disciplines with landscapes of development institutions and environmental NGOs.

Format: Hardback
Length: 249 pages
Publication date: 30 September 2021
Publisher: Springer Verlag, Singapore

This open-access book explores the evolution of landscapes along the 414-kilometer China-Laos Railway, a pioneering infrastructure project under China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Authored from a landscape architecture perspective, it aims to serve as a valuable resource for planners and professionals involved in the development and conservation of these landscapes. The book delves into the historical context, planning pedagogy, and interdisciplinary framing necessary for collaborating with the often-opaque planning, design, and implementation processes of large-scale infrastructure projects. It challenges simplistic notions of development and urbanization prevalent in the Laos-China frontier region.

Throughout the book, numerous projects and sites investigated are notable "firsts" in Laos, including the establishment of the country's first wildlife sanctuary for trafficked endangered species, the inauguration of its first botanical garden, and the formulation of its first planting plan for a community forest. Notably, the planning and design professions, including landscape architecture, often lack meaningful engagement with mainstream natural sciences and critical social sciences that shape project discourse in Laos and similar contexts.

Covering a wide range of development concepts and issues, the book explores cultural and scientific knowledge exchanges between Laos and China, nature tourism, connectivity, and new town planning. Additionally, it features nine planning proposals for Laos developed through this research initiative since the railway's groundbreaking in 2016. Each proposal advocates for a broader landscape approach to development and leverages landscape architects' spatial and ecological expertise to synthesize critical development studies with the planner's capacity.

By examining the China-Laos Railway as a case study, this book offers valuable insights into the complex interplay between infrastructure, landscape, and development. It sheds light on the challenges and opportunities associated with large-scale infrastructure projects and highlights the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and holistic planning in shaping sustainable and resilient landscapes.

Weight: 565g
Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789811640667
Edition number: 1st ed. 2021