Designing Cities with Nature: With BAU Architects & The Nature Conservancy

Urban growth displaces and sometimes drives to extinction elements of the natural ecosystem. It fragments and breaks the continuity. The necessary conditions for ecological resilience and the capacity to regenerate are dependent on complexity, diversity and continuity. Much can be done within urban areas and rural areas to remedy this.

The Union of International Architects (UIA) and the International Federation Landscape Architects (IFLA) have recently jointly committed to the establishment of an extensive system of indigenous ecosystem corridors and nodes, locally and globally.

The concept of indigenous flora and fauna is new in urban and landscape thinking in China. However, the current explosion of urban development presents extraordinary opportunities for implementing eco-corridors and nodes.

According to the Shanghai City Master Plan for 2035, 60% of Shanghai municipality will be designated as “eco-space” in order to make the city greener and more resilient. There are numerous kinds of natural environments that can be incorporated into urban areas, to the benefit of both human wellbeing and biodiversity. These constructed natural environments are not as ideal for maintaining biodiversity as natural habitat for rare or sensitive species.

However numerous studies show that cities can harbor significant biodiversity, and that constructed natural environments can help make the urban landscape more hospitable for a large variety of species. Greenprinting and creating Habitat Gardens are TNC's solution to maximizing urban green land’s contribution to both biodiversity as well as human wellbeing.

In this special talk presented by Green Initiatives and The Ten-Minute Club, in collaboration with Brearley Architects + Urbanists (BAU), we will be looking to answer some of the following questions:

• How can we bring back ecology in the city at both a grass roots level and from the top down?
• Is there a conceptual framework that can operate from the smallest street through to urban and rural ecosystem networks?
• Can we bring our urban backyards and the rural hinterland together within this single framework?

Event Itinerary

• 18:30-19:15 Registrations
• 19:15-19:30 Event introduction
• 19:30-19:45 Presentation by James Brearley, BAU
• 19:45-20:00 Presentation by Dazheng Dong, TNC
• 20:00-20:30 Discussions / Q&A
• 20:30-21:00 Drinks & networking

About the Speakers

James Brearley, Founding Partner, BAU Brearley Architects + Urbanists
James is an architect, urban designer and an adjunct professor at RMIT, Melbourne. His recent local projects include the 5-km Suzhou Creek river edge, 3-km Jiangyin Docklands landscape, Hongqiao Performing Arts Centre, Nanjing Gaochun Train-Bus Interchange architecture & landscape, the Victorian Pride Centre (LGBTQI), Fuding Hospital architecture & landscape, and a number of public schools and kindergartens in Qingpu and Suzhou.
James is co-author of Networks Cities, presenting networks theory, experimentation, and practice in Chinese urban planning.
BAU is a multi-disciplinary office of landscape, planning, interiors and architecture, with offices in Melbourne and Shanghai (2001).

Yang Bo, Shanghai Conservation Director, The Nature Conservancy
Bo moved to Shanghai in 2017 and started the Urban Conservation project that aims to change the relationship between city and nature, so that natural solutions and conservation are recognized as essential components of a healthy and sustainable city. Bo joined TNC as Assistant of Wetland Project in Kunming in 2006. Four years later, she was transferred to Beijing to become Project Officer of Yangtze River project on sustainable fisheries and planning. In 2015, she was named Firector of Dongtan Conservation Center in Shanghai, and worked on on-site conservation and management practice.
Bo holds a Ph.D in environmental science from Northeast Institute of Geography and Agricultural Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China.

Note

• Light snacks, juice and beer will be served.
• Limited spaces, RSVP is mandatory. Show-up at door (without RSVP) will be subject to availability.