Background: Located in the northwest of Shenzhen, the 156.1 km2, Guangming District now serves as the core node of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao S&T Innovation Corridor.

In February 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council issued the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which clearly proposed to build a comprehensive national science center propelled jointly by Shenzhen Guangming Science City and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cooperation Zone for Technology and Innovation to support the construction of the International Science and Technology Innovation Center for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government fully supports the development of Guangming Science City and proposes to build it into a core functional carrier area of the International Science and Technology Innovation Center for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and an important part of a comprehensive national science center, so as to create a world-class science city with outstanding competitiveness and influence.

Looking into the future and shouldering the mission of the country, the Greater Bay Area and Shenzhen, Guangming District aims to create “a core carrier of the comprehensive national science center, a cluster area for science-research-oriented economy, a demonstrative urban area for green development, and an international cultural and livable city”. It will adhere to the development principle of “ecological base, generous framework, people-centered concept, and distinctive features”, and strive to make itself a world-class Science City with outstanding competitiveness and influence, a northern subcenter of Shenzhen, and an exemplary urban area of the great modern socialist country.

Flowing through the core of Guangming District, Maozhou River is hailed the “mother river” of Shenzhen. It is the largest river in Shenzhen and one of the important ecological corridors among the “one ridge, one belt and twenty corridors” of the city’s “mountain-sea-city” plan. It is positioned as “a green vein on the east bank of the Greater Bay Area and the northwest gateway of Shenzhen”.

In 2017, the secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and secretary of the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee respectively acted as the river chiefs of Maozhou River at provincial and municipal level to fully promote its water quality and riverbank greening improvement project. Thanks to the efforts made in water conservancy, flood prevention, urban management and industry upgrading, in particular the industry restructuring and urban functional upgrading, Maozhou River basin is becoming a demonstrative area for comprehensive improvement and development of “river + industry + city”.

The improvement project of Maozhou River has been selected as a typical case for full implementation of the river/lake chief system by the Ministry of Water Resources, a promotional case for Beautiful Rivers and Lakes by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, one of the Ten Cases for Beautiful Rivers and Lakes in Guangdong Province, and one of the Ten Exemplary Projects for Territorial Space Restoration in Guangdong Province in 2022, setting a model of water-industry-city joint governance, and providing a series of replicable and applicable experience in water environment governance and ecological restoration. 

The central waterfront area of Maozhou River has been listed among the six major development areas of Guangming District, with focus on such functions as the commercial belt, enterprise headquarters, cultural district, and science and innovation district along both banks of the Maozhou River, striving to create “a new business card of the waterfront in the Greater Bay Area and a new urban parlor of Guangming District” and establish a base for the district to accomplish its goal to become “an initiator of original innovation, a leader in science-research-oriented economy, and a hub of innovative talents”.

In order to fully realize the strategic value of the central waterfront area of Maozhou River and implement the requirements for high-quality and high-value construction, Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources and Shenzhen Guangming District People's Government launched the international consultation work on the urban design of the central waterfront of Maozhou River in Guangming, Shenzhen.

Scope of Consultation: The research scope, covering an area of about 14 km2, includes the surrounding key areas such as both banks of the Maozhou River, Guangming District Center，Gongming Sub-district Center and Large Scientific Facilities Cluster. It can be appropriately expanded by the participants as may be necessary for the design.

The design scope consists of the overall design scope and the key design scope:

Overall design scope: defined by Changchun North Road on the north, Dongming Avenue on the south, Songbai Highway on the west, and Longda Expressway on the east, with a planned area of about 7.4 square kilometers.

Key design scope: defined by Changfa Road on the north, Gongming East Ring Avenue on the south, Xingfa Road on the west, and Longda Expressway on the east, totaling an area of about 1.4 square kilometers.

Participation

1. The announcement of the Competition is released globally, and the registration is open to all design teams from home and abroad as of the date of announcement.
2. The Consultation involves two stages: “Registration and Shortlisting” and “Urban Design and Evaluation”.
3. A Selection Panel will be established by the Hosts and the Organizer to comprehensively review the eligible documents submitted by the applicants as per the requirements in the Consultation Document, and shortlist 8 finalists (without ranking) and 2 alternative teams (ranked) by open ballot.
4. The 8 finalists should send the scanned copy of duly signed Participation Confirmation Letter to the contact person of the Consultation by e-mail within 3 natural days upon receipt of the Finalist Notification Letter, and deliver urban design submissions as per the Consultation Schedule. If any of the finalists quits, the alternative team will substitute it by ranked order. No substitute will be arranged if a finalist has to withdraw from the Consultation for a reason after confirming its participation. 
5. The Evaluation Panel will comprehensively review the urban design submissions of the 8 finalists, and recommend winners of the first three places (without ranking).

Registration Requirements

1. The Consultation is open for registration by design firms at home and abroad without qualification requirement. Registration by individuals, consortium of individuals, or consortium of individual and institution is not accepted.
2. Design firms registering for the Consultation must be an independent legal entity, partnership enterprises or organizations in other forms. Different firms chaired by the same person or involving shareholding and management relationship are not allowed to register at the same time.
3. Design firms inside the Chinese Mainland must be legally registered legal entities with valid business licenses.
4. Design firms outside the Chinese Mainland (incl. those from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions) must provide: company registration certificate approved and issued by competent authority of the country (region) where the design firm is located.
5. Consortium of no more than 3 members is allowed to participate in the Consultation, and a Consortium Agreement should be signed by the members to specify the leading party and obligations of each member. Member of a consortium is not allowed to participate in the Consultation separately by its own name, nor join other consortium at the same time.
6. The chief designers must have experience in directing the design of similar projects, be able to bring innovative design concept, and directly participate in the whole urban design process and attend the key milestone meetings (including but not limited to design presentation, Q&A and deliverables integration workshop, etc.) as required by the Hosts and the Organizer. Two chief designers can be appointed at most.
7. The participants must ensure the authenticity, legality and validity of the registration information they provide. Any participant found with fraud and dishonest practice or providing information inconsistent with the Work Rules will be disqualified from the shortlisting and bid-winning, and be investigated for liabilities.

Awards

• Winners (three): CNY 3,500,000 (tax-included) each, totaling CNY 10,500,000 (tax-included).
• Other finalists (five): CNY 1,500,000 (tax-included) each, totaling CNY 7,500,000 (tax-included).

After the winning urban design proposals are selected, the three winners should send their chief designers to participate in the deliverables integration workshop as required by the Hosts and Organizer.

Application Method

1. Access to Consultation Document: Design firms may fill out the required registration information at https://jinshuju.net/f/st6UAu. The Consultant will examine the registration information and send the Consultation Document to the participants. Design firms must keep the Design Brief confidential.

2. Completion of the Registration Information: Time: August 15-31,2023 (Beijing time), How to register: To register, click https://jinshuju.net/f/st6UAu/s/9vXkRZ to complete the registration information.

3. Submission of application documents:

• Deadline: 15:00 (Beijing Time), September 13, 2023 (subject to the receipt time of the hard copy)
• Submission of soft copy: upload via https://jinshuju.net/f/st6UAu/s/9vXkRZ
• Submission of hard copy: delivery in person or by post
• Place for delivery in person or by post: Floor 26, CEC Difu Building, No. 111, Zhenhua Road, Futian District, Shenzhen（Ms. Hua 13691756979）

Organization

• Hosts: Planning and Natural Resources Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality, Guangming District People’s Government of Shenzhen Municipality
• Organizer: Guangming Administration of Planning and Natural Resources Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality
• Consultant: Urban Planning & Design Institute of Shenzhen Co., Ltd. (UPDIS)