Few names in contemporary landscape architecture resonate as profoundly as Yu Kongjian. The most recent winner of the prestigious Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize—a distinction on a par with the Pritzker Prize in architecture and accompanied by a US$100,000 award—Yu has been recognised for his groundbreaking contributions to ecological urbanism. His ability to merge ecology with cutting-edge urbanism has led to transformative interventions in cities worldwide, ...

On July 1st, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) officially awarded Professor Yu Kongjian, Dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Peking University and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as the inaugural "NbS Global Champion (Champion for Nature-based Solutions)"—recognizing his outstanding contributions to ecological restoration and sustainable design.

Sponge City and Sponge Planet

Kongjian Yu’s 27-year-old Beijing-based practice Turenscape has been named this year’s winner of the RAIC International Prize by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).

Reimagining the Flow of Nature: Sponge Cities and a Resilient Planet

Conventional wisdom regarding stormwater mitigation dictates that developers prioritize so-called gray infrastructure – concrete and steel construction that works to reroute flooding in order to minimize loss of life and property. But what renowned landscape architect Kongjian Yu has insisted for years now is that nature itself actually has many of the answers we seek in regard to flood preparedness.

Sponge City and Sponge Planet