In 2022, commissioned by the Lhasa Municipal Party Committee and Government, Professor Chen Keshi and the Zhongying Urban Design Team completed the overall improvement design of the urban style and landscape of the 5.8 square kilometer historical urban area around the Potala Palace.

 

Lhasa is an internationally renowned historical and cultural city, and also the most outstanding representative of Tibetan architectural art. We suggest benchmarking the five square kilometers centered around the Louvre in Paris and the five square kilometers centered around Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park in London, and proposing a detailed urban design plan for the overall urban and landscape enhancement of the surrounding 5.8 square kilometers centered around the Potala Palace.

 

The area formed by the west snow village of Potala Palace, Yaowang Mountain and Potala Palace Square is the core of the whole city, highlighting the sanctity, tranquility and solemnity of Potala Palace and the classics representing Xizang's architectural art. Through the overall design of Xixue Village and Yaowang Mountain, especially the restoration of the complete architectural style formed in Yaowang Mountain in the 1930s, Xixue Village will be transformed into the main tourist service center and tourist distribution center in Lhasa. The existing agricultural market and some temporary buildings in Yaowang Mountain will be transformed into a Tibetan medicine theme park with the theme of Tibetan medicine research center, international Tibetan hospital, four medical classics museum, and Tibetan medicine quality inspection center. Yaowang Mountain will be built into a world center for Tibetan medicine science and culture. The underpass of Yaowang Mountain and Xixue Village, forming the connection between Yaowang Mountain and Potala Palace, is the most exciting city square and tourist gathering center in Lhasa. The planned construction includes ten iconic urban buildings, including a tourist reception center, a Tibetan opera performance center, and the Potala Palace Museum, forming a city living room of 5.8 square kilometers around the Potala Palace, including the Potala Palace West Snow Village, Yaowang Mountain, and Potala Palace Square.

 

Starting from Norbulingka, the most important urban cultural elements of Lhasa will be connected to form an ecological and cultural corridor from Norbulingka to Yaowang Mountain and build a paradise for pedestrians.

 

We suggest selecting fifteen commercial streets in a 5.8 square kilometer area around the Potala Palace for the overall improvement of building facades, road paving, environment, and lighting signage systems. Six squares are selected as nodes to build six cultural squares representing Xizang culture and modern spirit. Construct six high-quality theme parks within 5.8 square kilometers to become the most attractive green wetlands and leisure places in Lhasa. Particularly, introduce the concept of water into the parks to enhance the wetland and landscape appeal of Lhasa's overall urban landscape.

 

Through careful design and meticulous construction, we strive to build a world-renowned urban style and landscape enhancement project that promotes the revival of Chinese culture and embodies the great traditional Tibetan architectural art, laying an important foundation for the construction of a world-class international tourism city.