Sea the Forest for its trees

 

The Umi-no-Mori ("Sea Forest") project is an initiative of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The project involves the conversion of a 30-meter high, 217-acre wide landfill on Tokyo Bay into a forest, including the planting of over 70,000 trees over the next three years. Grade-school children will be actively involved in planting these trees, which according to project chair Tadao Ando, will help them "understand that the environment is closely tied with human activity" (via Bloomberg).

Umi-no-Mori was initiated in part to support the city's 2016 Olympic bid. Not only will the forest serve to remind its visitors of Tokyo's commitment to "greening" the city, it will serve as the equestrian field in Tokyo's Olympic Park. The project chair (and very active board member of the Tokyo 2016 Olympic committee) is architect Tadao Ando, who is known for projects that emphasize a harmony between the built and landscaped world. As a Chicagoan I suppose he's currently my rival, but I think Tokyo's "carbon minus" approach to the bid would be so interesting to see in implementation. Will also be interesting to see if the Umi-no-Mori project still goes forward if the city doesn't win the bid...