Objective  Landscape design in China has entered an era of diversification, which also makes the perspective of landscape architecture criticism multi-dimensional. Landscape architecture criticism in China has not yet been fully developed at present. Compared with architectural review, landscape architecture criticism receives slightly less academic attention. This research selects a project that won the 2021 LA Landscape Architecture Awards for case study, which aims to expand the perspective of contemporary landscape design review, to integrate the historical and theoretical knowledge about this discipline with current design practice, and redefine the disciplinary role of landscape architecture criticism at the level of urban development. The significance of landscape architecture criticism is to analyze and summarize the current experimental landscape projects, and reflect on the existing problems and limitations in the design process in time, so as to provide more knowledge and experience for future practical projects in combination with current social needs. The fundamental purpose of landscape architecture criticism is to promote the substantive development of the discipline and the innovative breakthrough of the industry.

Methods  This research selects the Shanghai Minsheng Wharf Waterfront Reconnection Project as the main research object, to discuss how to apply the thinking of interdisciplinary integration of architecture, landscape and infrastructure into design practice, and to achieve innovative breakthroughs in design methods and structural techniques. Furthermore, the research extends the concept of biology to architecture, and utilizes its ideas of “parasitism”, “evolution” and “symbiosis” to interpret the relationship between the “old” industrial heritage and “new” architecture in the context of contemporary society. Additionally, the research interprets the underlying concept, design approach and tectonic expression of the Minsheng Wharf Waterfront Reconnection Project, based on which discusses the project’s significance to the construction of public space and the shaping of cultural value in urban regeneration.

Results  This research focuses on the node design of the three-line footpath in Yangjing Canal Pedestrian Bridge and Minsheng Ferry Station of the Minsheng Wharf Waterfront Reconnection Project, and compares the four representative transformation cases of Steelstacks Art + Cultural Campus, Seoul 7017, Yangshupu Water Plant Trestle Bridge and The Hign Line, to explore the potential of linear space in high-density urban environment. By analyzing the superposed form between old and new buildings, the composite utilization of infrastructure and the creation of landscaped public space, the research reveals the effect of “metabolism” of urban landscape on urban regeneration, furthermore it illustrates the innovation and uniqueness of the combination of industrial architecture and post-industrial landscape. In urban regeneration practice, it is common to see the changing relationship between “newness” and “oldness”, which are not mutually contradictory as every historical period has corresponding social needs and human behaviors. How to balance their relationship depends on architects’ attitudes toward history and culture. The concept of “symbiosis of oldness and newness” advocated by the architect in the Minsheng Wharf Waterfront Reconnection Project is fundamentally rooted in the old industrial heritage, which is a local practice of integrating new structures and post-industrial landscape into the urban environment. This idea is similar to the “metabolism”, which is to reintegrate the abandoned and neglected spaces into the overall urban operation by examining the relationship between industrial heritage and public space, as well as the relationship between human and natural environment. Moreover, the Minsheng Wharf Waterfront Reconnection Project takes the spatial advantage of linear space to connect the breakpoints of the waterfront, thus reintegrating the public space into the urban fabric, and accordingly achieving the regional metabolic effect. The industrial megaform undoubtedly endows the most profound cultural background to the exploration of the types of metropolitan public space, and the special large-scale structural form thereof provides the most direct parasitic basis for new structures, which is more conducive for the persistent parasitism. The three-line footpath involved in the Minsheng Wharf Waterfront Reconnection Project is attached to the old industrial facilities in the form of “parasitism”, and through design “evolution”, it achieves the “symbiosis” state between the new construction and the old structure, therefore presenting a unique urban landscape type.

Conclusion  In the case of the Minsheng Wharf Waterfront Reconnection Project, the interdisciplinary integration of architecture, landscape and infrastructure undoubtedly promotes the progress of the “landscape design review” discipline. Such pioneering or revolutionary attempts expand the boundary of typology to some extent. Finally, by establishing the connection between site history and industrial culture, the design of the project makes the spirit of place activated by new social groups, returning from the super-scale industrial megaform in the old era to the human-scale public space in the new era, which undoubtedly constructs a sense of detached calmness and balance that needs to be maintained in the fast-paced metropolitan life.