China’s Bohai coast is characterized by an amalgam of intense industrial and port activities–salt farms, oil and coal transport and manufacturing, and land reclamation operations. Inexplicably adding to this heterotopic mix, extreme forms of leisure-based mass “eco-tourism” also proliferate here. Coastal activities fragment habitats of migratory birds traveling along the East Asia Australasian Flyway.

Countering the extant phenomena at play, this thesis addresses the Gulf of Bohai’s vulnerable edge conditions by naturalizing the Shuang long River, establishing a regenerative ecotone that supports biodiversity, situates ecological research, advocates for climate action, encourages industrial rehabilitation, and introduces a form of eco-didactic tourism.

Thesis Advisor: Laura Miller 

Program: Master of Architecture