Kunshan Ring Road case study

Project description

The Kunshan Ring Road project was completed in 2017. The Ring Road is a major asset enabling the growth and development of Kunshan. It is approximately 44 km long, crossing many canals within Kunshan.

The CRC for Water Sensitive Cities worked with the local government in Kunshan to explore possibilities for the land beneath the Ring Road. A concept was developed to create a ‘Ring Road in a forest corridor’, where the land corridor beneath the road was utilised as a multifunctional parkland. Multiple functions of the green corridor include: recreation, urban cooling, air quality mitigation, ecological corridors connecting city parklands and vegetation remnants, and the treatment of road stormwater runoff
and canal waters. The Ring Road interchanges were designed as nodal parklands where they function as
important ecological diversity reserves for flora and fauna, recreational spaces for local communities, as well as ecological treatment to stagnant canals for improved water quality.