Editors’ Choice

2020 Skyscraper Competition
Yuanxi Zhang, Na Xie, Henan Wang

China, Japan

At present, the scarcity of freshwater resources is becoming increasingly serious, and it has become a global environmental problem. 97.5% of the total water resources in the world are saltwater resources such as seawater. Data show that more than 70% of the world ?s population lives within 70 km from the seaside. Therefore, desalination is considered to be the most practical method to continuously provide a source of fresh water. Compared to the other two commonly used methods of freshwater withdrawal-underground water withdrawal and remote water diversion, the energy consumption for seawater desalination is low, and raw water resources are abundant. This project is located in the northern part of the East China Sea, next to Shanghai. China is a country with a severe drought and water shortage. China’s total freshwater resources are less than 2.800 billion cubic meters, accounting for 6% of global water resources, second only to Brazil, Russia, and Canada, ranking fourth in the world. However, China’s population accounts for more than 18% of the world’s total, and its per capita water resources are only 2,300 cubic meters, which is only a quarter of the world average. It is one of the countries with the world’s most per capita water resources. Shanghai’s 6340.5 square kilometers carry a population of 24.278 million. According to the standard of e...