Peking University, Oct. 31, 2013:   To further improve the development and application of geodesign, as well as foster the communication among different disciplines and regions, 2013 Geodesign International Conference was held at Yingjie Exchange Center during Oct.28th-29th. The conference was co-hosted by the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture of PKU and Esri China Information Technology Co. Ltd.. LANDSCAPE CHINA and Landscape Architecture Frontiers organized the event.

On the Opening Ceremony, Professor Yu Kongjian, Dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture gave the opening address. Themed “what is Geodesign”, the inspiring speech started from a talk he had with Professor Carl Steinitz, Emeritus Professor of Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Then Yu shared with the audience his thinking on why and how to build a beautiful China and a beautiful world with the assistance of geodesign.

The keynote speech session focused on “Geodesign: Theory and Practice of Optimal Design on Man-land Relationship”, and two panels on “Cooperative Exploration — Application and Innovation of Geodesign” and “Cooperative Work — Forefront Practice of Geodesign”.

Pofessor Carl Steinitz shared his opinion about the trend and influence of geodesign's practice and education. Christopher Cappelli, the vice president of Esri Inc., Michael F. Goodchild, Emeritus Professor of Geography of the University of California and other preeminent scholars had a heated discussion on sharing design, foreground outlook, improvements on regional sustainable development, and applications in the city planning, which inspired the urban planning and design practice nowaday.

During the panel session, guests shared their practical experiences on how to cope the challenges when applications of geodesign extended into the field of landscape architecture and agreed that geodesign would lead to a brand new leap for the architectural industry.

Yu made a speech “What is geodesign and why we need it” at the closing ceremony.

Meanwhile, a series of events were held, including the 9th Chinese Landscape Architecture Graduate Works Exhibition, the exchange meeting of LANDSCAPE CHINA website and Landscape Architecture Frontiers and the 22th PKU Landscape Design Workshop.

Written by: Zheng Ye

Edited by: Li Wenrui

Source: PKU NEWS (Chinese)