Professor Kongjian Yu, Peking University
Wednesday 19 March, 1-2pm Rm 305 Wurster Hall

Kongjian Yu is a leading landscape architect in China. He is a scholar of landscape architecture and urban resilience, the founding dean of Peking University’s College of Architecture and Landscape, and the founder of Turenscape. He grew up in a small village in South China during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. Today, he draws on his rural upbringing for insights in working with earth and water. By integrating this foundational experience with advanced contemporary sciences and design aesthetics, he has emerged as a pioneering figure in innovative design practice. Yu will describe experimental projects addressing challenges arising from China’s rapid industrialization and urbanization, including efforts to protect and restore both urban and rural ecologies through his concepts of Sponge City and Negative Planning. His professional and academic pursuits reflect a significant narrative of counter-currents and leading the tides, mirroring the dramatic transformations that have characterized China over the past 60 years. Among his many recognitions, he was elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received his Doctor of Design degree from Harvard University.

Professor Yu’s talk was sponsored by Riverlab. He also gave a keynote lecture in the
Berkeley Water Day event the following day, 20 March.