Join top architects and urban thinkers for a wide-ranging discussion on China’s cities of the future. For decades, China’s planners focused on tearing down the old, and building the new in order to fuel the nation’s rapid development. Glistening cities rose, while psychological and social costs took a back seat. Today, as China struts more confidentially on the world stage, its architects are reaching back to Chinese tradition to reinvent urban planning—and redefine what it means to be modern.

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Speakers

Shuishan YU is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Affiliate Associate Professor of Music at Northeastern University. His research focuses on Chinese architecture, modern architecture and its theoretical discourse, literati arts, and Buddhist architecture in East Asia. He is the author of Chang’an Avenue and the Modernization of Chinese Architecture, and he has also written and lectured extensively on the city and architecture of Beijing, Tibetan Buddhist architecture, Chinese literati art, Chinese garden, and modern architectural historiography. Yu’s current research projects include case studies of historic streets in China and the role they played in the modernization of Chinese cities, architecture and urbanism of Beijing.

Lan DENG is Professor of Urban Planning, Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Her research spans between the U.S. and China. In the U.S., Deng is a leading scholar in the research on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, the largest affordable housing production program in the country. In parallel to her research in the U.S., Deng has also studied housing policy and housing finance issues in China. Her research seeks to reveal the underlying dynamics shaping China’s housing policy development and housing market outcomes. Deng serves on the management board for the leading international journal Housing Studies.

WANG Hui is the Principal Architect and Co-founder of URBANUS Architecture & Design Inc. In 1999, WANG Hui co-founded URBANUS with partners LIU Xiaodu and MENG Yan, and has overseen the operation of its Beijing Office since 2003. Wang received his Bachelor and Master’s degrees of Architecture from Tsinghua University, and Master’s degree of Architecture from Miami University. He is a council member of the Architectural Society of China, and a council member of Architects’ Branch at the Architectural Society of China. He is also a studio master at the Architecture School at Tsinghua University and a visiting professor at the Center of Architecture Research and Design at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

XU Lei is the Chief Architect and Director of the Yihe Architectural Design and Research Center of the China Architecture Design and Research Institute, and the Director of the U11 Studio. He graduated from the Department of Architecture of Tianjin University in 1997 with a master’s degree, and then joined the China Institute of Architectural Design and Research. In 2010, he won the 8th Young Architect Award of the Architectural Society of China. The design projects include residence, office, culture, conventions and exhibitions, sports, and old building renovations. He has won several awards from the Ministry of Construction, Beijing Municipality and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and participated in the compilation of the convention and exhibition building design specifications.

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