We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Kongjian Yu, a visionary landscape architect who transformed how the world thinks about water and resilience.

As founder of Turenscape and the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Peking University, Kongjian pioneered the concept of the “sponge city,” urging societies to embrace nature’s capacity to absorb and filter water rather than fight against it with concrete. His vision reshaped national policy in China, spread across continents, and inspired generations of practitioners to see ecological design as essential to our collective future.

Waterfront Alliance was honored to host Kongjian as the Heather M. Morgan Climate Risk Adaptation Lecturer at our 2025 Waterfront Conference. His keynote address challenged us all to think radically about how to live with water, and his words continue to resonate.

We extend our deepest condolences to his family, colleagues, and all those touched by his life and work. His legacy will endure in the landscapes he shaped, the students he mentored, and the global movement he inspired.

You can revisit his keynote from the 2025 Waterfront Conference here.

You can read our WaterWire article about his work with “sponge cities” here.

Image credits: Whitney Browne