[Poll] Which is your favorite design plan>>>

On March 26, the 16th Asian Games Organizing Committee, the Asian Games Projects Management Office and the Guangzhou Urban Planning Bureau released six design plans for the Asian Games Village.

The Asian Games Village is an important part of Guangzhou's New Town and the Southern Expansion projects. The combined projects will promote the development of the New Town and the surrounding area. The 2.73 sq km Asian Games Village will be located at the middle east of Panyu district, with Jing-zhu Expressway at the west, the watercourse of the Lianhua Hill (the Lotus Hill) at the east, Qinghe Road at the north, and Guihua Road at the south.

In addition to the Asian Games, the Asian Games for the Disabled will be held in Guangzhou after the conclusion of the 2010 Asian Games. The Guangzhou Asian Games Village is designed to meet the needs of the Asian Games for the Disabled which are expected to draw 7000 athletes.

After three months of work by six design organizations, the six plans were released at the Baiyun International Conference Center on March 26. Most plans used the element of water to reflect the salient characteristics of our local setting.

The major vehicular traffic tools in the Asian Games Village will be buses, battery cars and bicycles.
According to the requirements of the municipal government the athletes' apartments and the media village will serve as living area after the Asian Games. Therefore, the athlete's village, news center, stadiums, the Asian Games Park and other facilities should not only meet the requirements for hosting the Games, but also satisfy the needs for future community living facilities.

Designers have considered the use of the village facilities after the Games. For example, restaurants in the Public Area and the International Area will be transformed for the use of planned residents and facilities that cannot be transformed for reuse will be built with temporary materials so that they can be removed later.
To select the best plan for the Asian Games Village, a special Commission was established comprised of the 16th Asian Games Organizing Committee, the Municipal Urban Planning Bureau, the Guangzhou Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Construction Committee, the Bureau of Land Resources and Housing Management, the Bureau of Urban Utilities & Landscaping, the Water Resources Administration, the Panyu District government, the Asian Games Projects Management Office, and the Urban Planning Center. The Asian Games Village is also a part of the Guangzhou New Town, one of the two major urban areas of Guangzhou City.

Guidelines
According to the Urban Planning Bureau, citizens can use two methods to vote for their favorite plan starting from today.

1. Citizens can go to Tower C, the Baiyun International Conference Center to vote during the hours of 14:00 to 17:30 during the period from March 27 April 2. Each person can vote for no more than three plans; or
2. Citizens can vote online at http://www.upo.gov.cn/. All comments and suggestions are welcome.
The special Commission will select the winning plan after considering experts' views and the votes.

Editor: Donald