The rapid urban development of Wenzhou has led to the expansion of urban areas and the consequent emergence of urban villages. Old parts of the city are disappearing, and the Qingnianfang community is one of them. This project explores a paradise in which generation and disposal of food waste is combined with local paper-making and dye craft traditions to reuse on-site materials to reinvent a better environment and bring back the vitality of the old community.

The original narrow streets are widened above ground. Gap spaces receive attention to increase public space, and the community expands upward and outward over time. With weekly, monthly and yearly events taking place in the community, the calendar will become a new way for residents to socialise. People are brought closer together as local residents use food waste from the community to make paper, dye fabrics and celebrate.

The project is not about creating a landscape, but rather seeing how a landscape grows and circulates. Food waste is created and disappears. As biogas bags deflate and bulge and are released, new patterns of resource recycling and new forms of community are created, spreading out across the city as gasbags fly away.