Professor Kongjian Yu (1963‑2025), founder of Turenscape and a seminal figure in landscape architecture, passed away tragically on 23 September 2025 in a small plane crash in Brazil. He was the recipient of the IFLA Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award (2020), the highest honor in international landscape architecture. His lifelong work redefined landscape architecture and urban planning as “the art of survival,” most notably through his pioneering “Sponge City” and “Sponge Planet” concepts that apply nat...

Professor Kongjian Yu, known as the father of the Sponge City Movement, has passed away, marking a profound loss for both the personal and global water and design communities. His guiding philosophy was to "make friends with water," advocating for cities to collaborate with natural systems to absorb, store, and purify rainwater, creating safer and greener communities. He tirelessly traveled across China, presenting his ideas to numerous mayors, leading to the establishment of the first Sponge Ci...

On October 7, 2025, the Harvard Graduate School of Design published an article remembering Professor Kongjian Yu. Professor Yu earned his Doctor of Design degree from Harvard GSD in 1995 and was a world-renowned landscape architect, founder of the Beijing-based firm Turenscape, and a professor and dean at Peking University. He pioneered the "Sponge City" concept and was a tireless advocate for the "new art" of landscape architecture as a means of improving people's lives in tangible, material wa...

This article is a tribute to Professor Kongjian Yu, a distinguished landscape architect, reflecting on his significant contributions to the field of landscape design. Professor Yu introduced concepts such as "Sponge Cities" and "Ecological Civilization," emphasizing the importance of harmonious coexistence between design and nature, and focusing on the restoration of ecosystems and sustainable development. His projects, like the "Sponge City" initiative, demonstrate his profound understanding of...

On October 20, 2025, the Boston Architectural College hosted the Maurice F. Childs Memorial Lecture titled "Landscapes for Adaptation: The Work of Kongjian Yu," presented by Charles Waldheim, John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and Yufan Gao, Core Faculty in the School of Landscape Architecture at BAC. Over the past three decades, Professor Kongjian Yu led a counter-current movement in landscape architecture, resisting the destructi...

The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA) mourns the passing of Professor Kongjian Yu, who tragically died in a plane crash in Brazil, marking the loss of a visionary in landscape architecture. Professor Yu studied at Beijing Forestry University and earned his Doctor of Design from Harvard GSD, returning to China in 1997 to found Turenscape and serve as Professor and Dean at Peking University. He pioneered ecological restoration and nature-based solutions, most notably the “Sponge ...

On September 23, 2025, renowned Chinese landscape architect Professor Kongjian Yu passed away at the age of 62. Professor Yu was a pioneer of the "sponge city" concept, focusing on integrating nature-based infrastructure for urban flood management and ecological restoration. His design philosophy emphasized "reverse planning" and "ecological security patterns," leading to numerous urban ecological restoration projects worldwide. He served as the founding Dean of the College of Architecture and L...

On September 23, 2025, Professor Kongjian Yu tragically passed away in a plane crash in Brazil at the age of 62. He was a renowned Chinese landscape architect, Dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Peking University, and founder of the design firm Turenscape. Professor Yu pioneered the "sponge city" concept, advocating for nature-based solutions to urban water management, which has significantly influenced urban ecological design and flood management policies in China...

Kongjian Yu (1963–2025), a visionary landscape architect and urban planner, fundamentally transformed how the world understands the relationship between water, cities, and nature. He proposed that instead of fighting water with concrete, cities should embrace it—absorbing, storing, and reusing it through what he called the “Sponge Planet” vision. His approach reshaped urban infrastructure into living ecological systems, placing landscape architecture at the core of climate adaptation and water r...

Renowned landscape architect Kongjian Yu (1963–2025), honorary doctorate recipient of NMBU and professor at Peking University, tragically died in a plane crash in Brazil while working on a documentary project. Yu pioneered the “sponge city” concept—nature-based solutions that allow urban landscapes to absorb, store, purify, and slowly release rainwater rather than expelling it via conventional drainage systems. His “big-foot aesthetics” approach emphasized working with nature instead of against...