This project was an entry for an competition to plan the redevelopment of the waterfront of a major tourism city in Hainan, China. The area was then characterized by older industrial, commercial, and residential buildings - but had significant beaches. The idea was to evolve the area into something more tourist-driven. A reclaimed island had been created prior to the planning effort; part of the competition involved coming up with ideas on what to do with it (resort hotels, a convention center, and a cruise terminal were some of the ideas; these have now been implemented).

The proposed design created a series of districts with separate identities. "Green finger" open spaces leading to the beaches were then proposed; new buildings would oriented towards these spaces if they were not already at the waterfront edge. Building heights would step down to the beach. The road circulation was to be reconfigured in various ways, eg. removing through traffic and allowing for a new light rail transit system. A chair lift system was also proposed as a tourist attraction connecting the island to a marina district (created from old warehouses) and nearby hillside open space. Most of what was proposed was smaller scale, incremental development.

However, this scheme did not win the competition. The scheme that did win and was subsequently implemented involved massive reconfiguration of the existing city. This displaced numerous people including retirees who had bought relatively newer properties that were subsequently demolished without market rate compensation. There was significant controversy with such an dramatic "urban renewal" approach, as well as protests and lawsuits. Worse still, much of the land was cleared for future development that ultimately never came to be (at least not as of 20 years later). This is a tragic example of top down, overscaled, speculative development that did not account for market or political factors, and the city has suffered as a result. It continues to gamble on such ideas: a proposal for a landmark cultural district is one of the latest iterations. The original island has partially developed, but the city has gone ahead and created yet another one of a similar shape which lies empty.

Role: Brian Jennett led the design team on this effort while at HOK and produced a significant amount of the drawings and visuals.