The WLA Shanghai International Forum was held on November 8, 2025, at the Minhang Campus of the Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Design. It was the first large-scale event that WLA had held and also the first in partnership with another organisation. We also held the 2025 WLA Student Awards, which was a proud moment to present awards to the winners who attended the event. Another highlight was the Exhibition, curated by Li Zhongwei, the Director of Lab D+H Shanghai and a lecturer at Shanghai Jiaotong University. The final highlight was becoming a member of the Academic Advisory Committee that advises the School of Design on the programs, including landscape architecture.
Below is the article I wrote for World Landscape Architecture
The design community gathered to explore the future of human-habitat design under the theme of Future Fusion. This was the first face-to-face forum held by WLA, focusing on bringing together a diverse range of professionals, academics and students to explore interdisciplinary collaboration for innovative and sustainable development.
The opening included speeches by Vice Dean Chen Ruishan, WLA Founder & Editor Damian Holmes, Zhu Xiangming (Chair of the Shanghai Landscape Architecture Society), and Wu Chao, who asked the forum to seek solutions to the problems we face with climate change through cross-border and boundary collaboration. Along with the request to attendees to seek out connections during the forum that could assist with developing new ideas, academic exchanges and possibilities for professional and student training.
Keynotes from Design Masters
The WLA Design Masters series was started with Dean Ruan Xing discussing the concept of boundaries and cautioning against being held in an ivory tower. The Dean provided insights into the design of the Beikun Garden, located along the SJTU campus boundary, which offers places for connection between the surrounding community and the university.
Michel Hössler presented Nature City for the Future through the context of climate change and their Nous… le Climat exhibition at Versailles, which sought to educate the public about climate change, food security, soil, landscape and society. Hössler gave a tour of several Agence Ter projects in France and Spain, providing details of the project objectives, design process, and the final built outcomes. The primary focus of utilising local water within the site and also creating areas of “no humans” to allow wildlife to flourish.
Tom Leader explored the edges of coastal environments through “Margin Call,” discussing the opportunity to create a benefit from the requirement to create new shorelines to combat sea-level rise. He presented two examples, the San Francisco Greater Bay Area project and the Shanghai V-shaped coastal zone, illustrating how to establish a balanced relationship between the city and nature through a marginal zone at the beachfront.
Professor Wang Zhifang provided a powerful summary of Professor Kongjian Yu’s life’s work by presenting “The Unity of Knowledge and Action: Professor Yu Kongjian’s Road to Ecological Design”. Through the mediums of image and video, Wang gave an emotionally charged presentation that moved attendees and encouraged everyone to carry on Yu’s legacy of Sponge Planet.
“YES” Exhibition Celebrates Nature
A visually stunning “YES” exhibition curated by Zhongwei Li (Lab D+H Shanghai) created an autumn landscape inside the atrium of the SJTU School of Design through a carpet of ginkgo leaves. The exhibition included several sections of WLA Professional Awards winners, a tribute to Kongjian Yu’s work, SJTU Student works and the 2025 WLA Student Awards shortlist. The exhibit is open until November 22.
Deep Dives through Parallel Forums
The afternoon was dedicated to exploring several topics with content presented by practitioners, academics, emerging designers and students.
The WLA Jury Forum included a retrospective from the WLA Editor and past jurors of the Professional and Student Awards, featuring winning projects, submissions, and the judging process.
Experts from SJTU, Peking University, and the University of Hong Kong provided summaries of recent urban environment studies on play, health, heat and air pollution in the Academic Forum.
Pioneering Design Forum included industry leaders from China and abroad including lead designers from AECOM (China), Hassell(China), Trop(Thailand), Shma(Thailand), Landtek(China), FISH Design(China), Carolina Solar (Switzerland). The session covered landscape practices, urban design, natural and human dimensions, and small-scale interventions through responding to the forum topic of Future Fusion and interdisciplinary work.
Bottom Left, Shiyang Lin – Hassell | Bottom Middle, Carolina Solar | Bottom Right, Fushan Ren – Trop
The Future Newcomer Forum provided an opportunity for students to present and discuss the forum theme, focusing on Climate Change and Human Settlements. The students presented a joint initiative, “Climate Change and Resilient Human Settlements,” to the attendees during the closing ceremony.
The final event was the Awards ceremony announcing the winners of the 2025 WLA Student Awards. Several winners attended the ceremony, with both professional and academic attendees enjoying the celebration of the winners.
WLA would like to thank Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU) – School of Design for its partnership and hosting of the event. Archidogs for partnering on the organisation and promotion of the event. To Dean Ruan Xing (SJTU), Tom Leader (TLS Landscape Architecture), Michel Hössler (Agence Ter) and Zhifang Wang (Peking University) for providing the keynote speeches. To all the panel speakers who offered in-depth discussions of their topics and shared their knowledge and passion for landscape architecture or their respective disciplines. The students who provided glimpses into the future of the profession. The volunteers who helped make the day run smoothly. To the attendees from design firms, universities, nonprofits, and the general public, thank you for your support in making the day a success.
Images Credit: Archidogs, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Damian Holmes.