Wenying Lake

The preservation and restoration of ecological systems in industrial cities not only honor their past but also shape a vision for the future. For Datong, the integration of ecological restoration with forward-looking development anchored in green infrastructure has become a central strategy for sustainable urban growth.

Once a celebrated feature of Datong’s “Utopian Garden,” Wenying Lake fell into severe ecological decline as the city’s rapid industrial expansion transformed its landscape. This project was conceived to reverse that degradation through thoughtful planning and design, reviving the lake’s waters and natural habitats and restoring its former beauty.

The resulting 6.7-square-kilometer Wenying Lake Park is designed as a catalyst for sustainable urban development in Datong, a city of 1.8 million residents. Long burdened by its industrial past, Datong was identified by the World Bank in 2007 as one of the world’s 20 most polluted cities.

The Wenying Lake project directly addresses this challenge. AECOM provided a multidisciplinary suite of services, including landscape design, economic strategy, and environmental and ecological planning at the concept stage, followed by landscape and wetland design through schematic and development phases.