Following the planning of the adjacent Maqaio Sports and Leisure Town, K+R inherited a plan for Maqiao Town South that only dealt with the residential portions of the development. The plan set aside land for all non-residential uses – the public realm – and established a program according to pre-approved zoning and density allocations.

The design objective was to transform a static framework into a dynamic element that can integrate isolated neighborhoods. The most important connector is Main Street, which is reinforced by creating a continuous commercial frontage on its north side, and by the manner in which the public plazas of the two major development nodes engage the street. At the west entry to Main Street, the primary commercial node is compressed to benefit from the multi-level connections that activate it, but it also provides a plaza that acts as a gateway; while at the eastern end, the Main Street plaza of the more civic oriented node offers an appropriately inviting entry that is in keeping with the fact that it also provides a meandering pedestrian connection to the southern ‘river park’ which is anchored by sports facilities.

Existing waterways flow through or alongside all the land allocated to the ‘public realm’, and connections to the water are emphasized throughout the plan to provide thematic continuity, and also a greater sense of shared identity to the whole community.