Pomona Wetlands: Rewilding Island, Rewilding River, Rewilding Architecture
Pomona Island is located in the heart of the three boroughs of Manchester, Salford, and Trafford. It has cultural, historical, environmental, and geographical value. The Island is a pre-existing green sanctuary surrounded by an increasing dense metropolitan area, which has resulted in the depletion of the island, the river, and its inhabitants.
Pomona Wetlands intends to establish self-sustaining ecosystems that will aid in flood management and river purification via a wetland system. It also helps to reduce urban heat island effects by connecting fragmented green patches with green and wildlife corridors. It also serves as a link between Salford and Pomona Island, as well as a platform for income generation, cultural prosperity, and leisure by means of activities along the Salford and Bridgewater Canal corridors; and also through Market and recreational areas such as a library, museum, cafes, an amphitheatre, and sitting areas. A biodiversity monitoring centre is also included in the project for education and awareness of the declining condition and enhancement methods of biodiversity within a 750-meter radius.
The biodiversity monitoring centre, combined with a library, exhibition, workshop, and cafés, is intended to create an "artificial ecosystem" capable of producing, consuming, and recycling with minimal need on external resources. By combining communal areas and education, it also hopes to establish a community place to raise awareness and avoid green gentrification. The initiative aspires to attain net-zero energy while both generating income and operating as a biodiversity hotspot.
