AXHU Landscape Architecture Culture & Art Festival series

May 21, 2024, International Office

On May 10, the featured event, “City and Environment” symposium, was held by AXHU School of Urban Construction, which was moderated by the executive dean ZHAO Qian-qing, and the attendees included the AXHU vice president Prof. DAI Xin; the TongJi University doctoral supervisor ZHANG De-shun along with the working professors Mohamed and YUN Jia-yan; the Sichuan Agricultural University Prof. GUO Li, the general manager of the Black Forest Creative Design Co., Ltd. SHI Feng; all the faculty, students and staff at the Department of Landscape Architecture; and others.

In the beginning, Dai delivered his welcoming address to the distinguished guests led by Prof. Zhang, and also spoke highly of the dedicated work, generative knowledge, and innovative ideas the School fellows had imbued for its educational development and research over the past years, which was in support of the disciplinary construction, preparing the professionals of brilliance, expanding the opportunities of Inter-University collaborations in tandem, and more.

“This theme activity will benefit the entire construction and development for the Landscape Architecture speciality at AXHU, during which the current students are expected to equip with the all-rounded capacities through higher learning and to seek after the core issues on tipping points in the real world, which can ensure the high-impact learning and research to build their professional profile.”

And Prof. Zhang began with an inspiring talk on “The True Beauty on Earth in Its Own Right—Heeding the Voices from Traditional Gardens,” and also shared his own career experiences—“Leaning by Doing; Innovative Practices”—and the learning methods as well as research approaches, by which to help the current students build a stronger confidence in reshaping a beautiful world.

“Green Urban Solutions: Exploring the Well-being Benefits of Gardens, Trees, and Indoor Plants,” Mohamed discussed. The landmark research covers a collection of historically cultural elements of landscape architecture flourishing in our times, reflecting the ancient cities in Egypt, the origins of writing systems, the modern city park, the garden landscaping (e.g., green-painted walls, roof greening, and more), and highlights the overall well-being of all people in urban areas, being of the aesthetic preferences for and from human perception, spatial sense, or even personal tastes.  

Based on an impact research,“A Look inside the Garden Designs by NI Ren-ji (1607—1685),” YUN Jia-yan told of the Chinese influential works by Ni, a leading role of the gifted female architects in the Ming and Qing dynasty. And the object highlights in a more creative way are highly valued and prized by the students on site.

Moreover, Guo Li marked the topical subject, “Quantitative Research and Real-World Design in Landscape Architecture for A Better Living Space—Park City,” spanning the digitisation solutions for conserving the Chinese imperial gardens in the Western Shu Dynasty (c. 221-263), the fit-for-purpose creativity with  potential contributions, the up-to-date approaches famed for the International Garden Expo, and more, which helps the current students deepen their own academic learning and understanding of the modern and contemporary concepts in this area.

Practically, this event has and will strengthen the academic exchange and cooperation among the higher learning institutions in this domain, and facilitate the bespoke practices of educating the high-quality professionals with a competitive edge.

Meanwhile, many of these attendees confirm this academic inspiration makes them filled with confidence and passion in the pursuits of their greatest career of bright futures in Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning and Design, as well as other working life options.