Chenjie Zhang

As the largest reservoir, the most significant habitat, and the primary food source, Ocean is in great danger that needs our attention. There is no doubt that the Ocean is fundamental to the well-being of all the species on the earth. Its currents stabilize the climate;  It provides shelters for various species; It offers foods that contribute to 75% of the protein consumed by human beings.

Traditional fisheries can no longer meet our collective human demands at the turn of the twenty-first century. “Thanks to“ the industrialization started half a century ago and the global sweeping of capitalism, the “Blue Revolution“ took place, especially in the global south. The standardized and industrialized food production system, known as the global agri-food system, soon became a significant food resource. However, it works at the cost of destruction of the coastal ecosystem, the delimitation of consumers and producers, the exploitation of labor in developing countries, and many other ethical issues. In most cases, the coastal commons, which play an essential role in the Ocean common, are under extreme exploitation and severe destruction. Many of them now exist in the form of a city or an urban territory.

Ironically, we cannot bring back the traditional way of food-producing like artisan fishing and harvesting entirely in the coastal common because of the growing population. However, what a coastal city can contribute to global food production and the possibility of reactivating the coastal commons is worth thinking about and exploring. 

To deal with the issues of coastal commons globally, we need to bring back self-sufficiency, especially in the global north. In this process of reactivating coastal commons, landscape architects will use our knowledge to reveal the invisible relations between the social and ecological system; to increase landscape literacy of the public; to create a landscape that able to produce food again; to encourage people engage within this process, and finally, to reduce the pressure and exploitation we put on the global south. I am using the Narragansett Bay as a testing ground for my thesis.

The gano st park site is interesting not only because it is once a very oyster populated area but also it triggers the discussion about to fulfill my ambition of activating coastal commons, how a public urban recreational space should alter accordingly. In my plan, there is an interwinding of human intervention to bring back the oyster and how oyster can benefit human activities in the same. Creating lands, slow down water which enables people get closer to the water, attracting more fishery and what’s more important, how these space and design can actually improve the water quality and attribute the oyster seeds.