Bingwen Zhang

2020 is an unforgettable year. With the global outbreak of coronavirus, people can only live and work at home, and the contact between people is no longer frequent. In addition, global climate change and the upcoming cop26 in Glasgow remind us that cities must respond accordingly.

The focus of this semester is that transforming the vacant land into woodland. Glasgow was called “The Second City of the Empire.” However, with the change of industrial structure, which produced a large number vacant and derelict land. These abandoned industrial buildings and equipment represent the past of the city. Reasonable transformation of these sites, equipment, and some heritages to give new meaning and cultural connotation saves resources and preserves the precious historical memory of the city. The transformation and utilization of abandoned land can effectively promote the economic development of surrounding areas and create ecological, economic, and social value.

When I analyzed the green space system in Glasgow, I found few woodland on both sides of the River Clyde. That means both sides of the riverbank will be the best choice for creating new woodland. Finally, three pieces of vacant land near Govan dock are selected as the starting point of creating urban woodland and forming a coherent ecosystem. Here, it is necessary to put forward the most critical concept:  ​​Wood Wide Web. It means that trees are related and connected in mature woodland. They pollinate each other from the ground, and the mother trees transmit nutrients, sugar, and water to the young trees, deading and diseased trees also signal young trees from underground. In addition, mycorrhizal intergrowth occurred between trees. In short, the mother tree is quite important for building a new woodland. All new woodland needs to rely on the existing mature woodland. Therefore, we need to use mature woodland parks as a catalyst to connect them with new woodland, creating a connection between the ground and the underground, and promoting the formation of new woodland. Finally, the existing green land and vacant land will form a complete urban woodland system.

In the future, Glasgow will be a city full of high-quality green space and also contribute to the mitigation of world climate change, also the existing green land and vacant land will form a complete urban woodland system.