From November 3 to 4, 2018, the 2018 (3rd) Beijing International Urban Design Forum, hosted by Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (BUCEA) and organized by Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Future Urban Design, was successfully held at the Xicheng Campus of BUCEA. The Forum invited numerous renowned architecture and urban design experts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, as well as the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and held multi-level and multi-perspective academic discussions with the theme of "Urban Design Innovation and Practice in the New Era". The conference was an unprecedented event, attracting over 700 participants from BUCEA, other colleges and universities, design enterprises and government authorities.
The opening ceremony on November 3 was presided by Zhang Dayu, Vice President of BUCEA. Huang Yan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Zhao Qi, Vice President of the Architectural Society of China (ASC), Shi Nan, Executive Vice President and Secretary General of the Urban Planning Society of China (UPSC), and Zhang Ailin, President of BUCEA, delivered speeches respectively. They analyzed and summarized the urban design efforts in the new era, and appealed to the professionals to address the current design, construction and operation management problems faced by Chinese cities. Wang Su and Li Aiqun, Vice Presidents of BUCEA, as well as leaders and staff from related functional departments of BUCEA attended the opening ceremony.
Huang Yan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development
Zhao Qi, Vice President of the Architectural Society of China (ASC)
Shi Nan, Executive Vice President and Secretary General of the Urban Planning Society of China (UPSC)
Zhang Ailin, President of BUCEA
The keynote lecture on the morning of November 3 was hosted by Cui Kai, Honorary President and Chief Architect of China Architecture Design & Research Group, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of the Beijing Future Urban Design Center of High Precision Innovation, with four guests delivering keynote presentations. Jonathan Barnett, a renowned American urban design research theorist and practitioner and Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, illustrated issues to be noted in the implementation of the Administrative Measures on Urban Design in China by using urban design cases such as Stockholm, Leipzig Platz in Berlin, Battery Park in Florida and Manhattan in New York City. Wang Jianguo, Professor of Southeast University, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of the Academic Committee of Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Future Urban Design, introduced the large scale digital urban design practices completed by his team in Guangzhou and Wuhu, and expressed that big data and other new technologies had brought new tools and approaches to perceive cities, changed traditional styles of urban management, presentation of results, research participation, etc., and broadened new dimensions and visions for urban design. Niall Kirkwood, Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University, taking his master's design course as an example, introduced the industrial site renovation and regeneration design undertaken by students in Pusan, South Korea, and explored the connection of nature, ecology, brownfield renovation and urban design. Mu Jun, Professor of Beijing Architecture University, introduced the experiments of his team in the construction of earth buildings and the improvement of traditional construction techniques, and revealed the interaction and conflict between traditional building techniques, professional aesthetic expressions and social reality, user demands.
The morning keynote lecture was chaired by Academician Cui Kai.
Keynote Lecture (morning)
The afternoon keynote lecture on November 3 was chaired by Academician Wang Jianguo, with six guests delivering keynote presentations.
Roy Strickland, Professor at the University of Michigan, taking his design practice in Istanbul, Turkey as an example, discussed the mutual influence of ecological nature, rail transportation and the construction of the new coastal city. Wu Chen, Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd (BIAD) introduced the practices of old city renewal around the Central Government District by his team, where subtraction was the main focus of the design, highlighting the characteristics and reshaping the urban vitality and neighborhood style of the old city of Beijing. Liu Hongzhi, Senior Vice President from AECOM, explored the multiple implications and dimensions of social, physical and digital spaces, and introduced the framework and structure of a green city led by humanized street scales, iterative land use and energy use as well as infrastructure development, with an example of the design of a new district in North China. Luis Bravo Farre, Professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain, taking the renovation of an apartment building in Barcelona as an example, described the process of embedding new buildings into the historic environment and enhancing the quality of the city. Ju Pengyan, Vice Director of the Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design, shared the design process of transforming industrial brownfield sites into an urban park with hotels, commerce, exhibitions, leisure and sightseeing in conjunction with the transformation of industrial sites of Shougang Group. The final keynote speaker was Professor M. De Vita from the University of Florence, Italy. He demonstrated the contrast and balance between the restoration of historic properties and new construction, using several examples of historic castles designed under his charge.
Keynote Lecture (afternoon)
After the keynote lecture on November 3, three thematic forums on "Theoretical Innovation and Practice of Urban Design", "Historical Urban Renewal and Cultural Heritage Protection", "Green City and Green Architecture" as well as two seminars on "Urban Design Education and Talent Cultivation" and "Practice of Young Urban Designers" were held on November 4, where experts, scholars and senior practitioners in the field of urban design at home and abroad were invited for exchanges and discussions.
The Beijing International Urban Design Forum this year, with in-depth discussions and lively atmosphere, brought together experts and scholars from the forefront of urban design research, education and practice for extensive and in-depth academic discussions, which were simultaneously broadcasted through the Internet, greatly promoting the improvement of research on urban design theories and practice. The event also enhanced the academic reputation of BUCEA and was widely concerned and praised within the industry.