Renewing Chinese Cities

China turned majority urban only recently. As China’s urban areas continue to grow and transform, what role can urban research in planning and design play in renewing Chinese cities? In this panel discussion, four visiting scholars at the Penn Institute for Urban Research will introduce their work on different scale of urban regeneration in China. From cultural topologies and reconstructive preservation to green infrastructure and metamodel planning method, this wide-ranging discussion will address several issues facing Chinese cities today.

Moderated by Zhongjie Lin, Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning and Penn IUR Faculty Fellow, the panel will include Tingting Hong, Department Chair of Landscape Architecture at Fuzhou University; Rong Zhao, Associate Professor of Urban Design at China Academy of Art;  Shaoping Guan, Professor of Design and Architecture at South China University of Technology; and Ruoxi Zhang, Associate Dean of School of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Xiamen University.

Panelists

Tingting Hong

New city, old house and people: a symbiotic relationship between historical buildings and cities based on cultural topology.

新城、老屋和人: 基于文化拓扑学的历史建筑与城市共生关系

Dr. Hong is Associate Professor and Department Chair of Landscape Architecture in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Fuzhou University. She is Deputy Director of the Fujian Regional Architecture Research Center, and chair of expert committee of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications in Fujian Province. She is also a recipient of Fujian Province Higher Education Teaching Award.

Rong Zhao

History, Imagery, and Reimagination: reconstruction of two Buddhist Pagodas

历史· 想象· 重构: 两座佛塔的重建

Dr. Zhao is Associate Professor of Urban Design in School of Architecture at China Academy of Art. Her research focuses on modern architectural theory and contemporary Chinese urban regeneration and rural evolution. She practices architectural and urban design, and her projects won several national and international awards. She received a PhD in Architecture History and Theory from Southeast University.

Shaoping Guan

Transformation of Urban Economy through Green Infrastructure: Dongguan National Ecological Industrial Park

绿色基础设施促进城市产业转型升级: 以东莞市国家生态产业园为例

Dr. Guan is Professor and Doctoral Degree Advisor in School of Design and School of Architecture at South China University of Technology. He serves as Associate Director of Landscape Architecture Committee of China Architectural Culture Research Society and is member of the expert committee of the Natural Science Foundation of China. He received a Ph.D. in urban planning from Tongji University.

Ruoxi Zhang

Metamodel Driven Analysis Framework of Urban Regeneration: Case Study of Xiamen

元模型驱动下的城市更新分析框架：厦门案例

Dr. Zhang is Associate Professor and Associate Dean of School of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Xiamen University. She is also Director of Architecture and Landscape Design Committee of Resources and Planning Association of Xiamen. Her research focuses on urban regeneration in historical cities, issues related to social, environmental, and economic transformation in urban and rural regeneration, as well as data-assisted planning methods. She has carried out more than 30 research projects and authored or co-authored four books.

Moderator

Zhongjie Lin

Dr. Lin is associate professor in city and regional planning at the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lin is a scholar and practitioner of urbanism. He researches and teaches urban design, ecological urbanism, utopianism, and Asian architecture and urbanism. He is also a founding director of Futurepolis, an awarding-winning international planning and design consultancy.