The SWA Group, a landscape architecture, planning and urban design firm based in Houston, has been selected by Nanjing Hexi New Town Development Authority, which is a public-private partnership, to design a 7-km-long, 460-acre stretch of Yangtze River waterfront as a new cultural destination in Nanjing. The mixed-use Hexi New Town development will feature an international art museum, waterfront activities, an eco-hotel, shopping and office space. The brownfield site will be restored using strips of man-made bio film, which will be “planted” along the water’s edge on small floating islands, to stimulate plant growth and animal habitat. The site is at the point where the Yangtze, Jiajiang and Qinhuaixin rivers converge, about 10 km west of the city’s downtown area.