Chen Keshi: From a Single Building to a City Calling Card – Why Water Rhythm Represents the Pearl River’s Answer to Urban Renewal

When people talk about great cities, they never speak of cold reinforced concrete, but of "super containers" that hold collective memories and fuel urban vitality. Having delved deep into urban renewal projects from the bayfronts of Shenzhen to Chengdu’s Park City Demonstration Zone for years, we have forged an unwavering core philosophy: genuine urban renewal is never isolated building renovation. Instead, it forges an integrated space out of an entire plot of land that functions both as an industrial powerhouse and a top-tier urban park. Today, we bring this vision to the banks of the Pearl River, embodied in Water Rhythm, a grand landscape painting of the Pearl River.

2026-06-30

Chen Keshi | Urban Design · Dapeng Marine Cultural Town, Shenzhen

As urban construction in Shenzhen enters a stock renewal phase, Dapeng New District, endowed with coastal ecological foundations and aligned with the city’s strategic positioning as a national marine central city, has emerged as a core platform for revitalizing and upgrading Shenzhen’s coastal spaces. Leading the ZY Urban Design team, Chen Keshi centered the master plan on organic urban renewal. Rejecting large-scale demolition and reconstruction, the team revitalized existing stock spaces, preserved local cultural heritage, and upgraded industrial formats to deliver the comprehensive urban design of Dapeng Marine Cultural Town, creating a benchmark renewal model in Shenzhen where old and new coastal landscapes coexist harmoniously.

2026-06-23