Longfeng Wu (MDes ULE ’16) received a 2015 Penny White Grant to study the Pearl Delta River Region. He traveled to Shunde to observe the contemporary, mechanized landscape and compare it to more traditional models. The project explores how the implementation of motored machinery and technology intervened in the traditional, organic, waste recycling farming system, through observing, recording and evaluating the contemporary dike-pond landscape in the PDR, China. Bolstered by site investigation and archival collection on the largest dike-pond concentrated area in Shunde, the project stresses the sustainable principles of the original dike-pond system which has great ecological and economical potentials. Beyond that, it aims to collect typologies and their effects on ecology, economy and culture. The final contribution of the project will come in the form of a scholarly paper presented at an international conference.
