Learning from Agri-Aquaculture for Multiscale Water-Sensitive Design in the Pearl River Delta

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) is a river dominated floodplain in southeast China. Decreasing space for water, through dike-ring construction, channelization, and urbanization, has led to increased flood risk from river, rain, and sea. To protect from flood risk, a more adaptive urbanization strategy is required; one takes into account a multiscale approach while investigating agri-aquaculture, i.e. ecological agriculture, for example, the dike-pond system which makes use of traditional watermanagement methods. The objective of this article is to identify landscape architecture principles for multiscale water-sensitive design based on traditional agri-aquacultural practices in the region. In the Shunde district (a flood prone lowland located between the Xijiang River and Beijiang River of the PRD) there is a centuries’ old tradition of working with water via integrated agri-aquaculture systems. By learning from traditional agri-aquacultural practices, new design principles can be developed to mitigate flood risk while allowing for increased but sustainable urbanization, not just for the Shunde district, but also for the PRD, so that these areas can be more resilient to floods in the future.