When Siyang Jing began conducting interviews, I deeply appreciated her academic enthusiasm and courage. I recall that in the United States, almost every year, there is a publication journal called "Art Talk," where interviews with art masters allow readers to get close to the thoughts of avant-garde explorers in the art world and listen to their candid words. Over the years,Siyang Jing has compiled her interview records into thematic and structured series of books. I am delighted to see her achievements.

This series of books signifies the culmination of diverse ideas converging. Firstly, it embodies theintegration between China and the global community. The interviewer poses questions to international design masters, contextualized within China, using Chinese stories as the underlying thread, focusing on Chinese issues, introducing Chinese methods, and illustrating with Chinese practices.Secondly, it emphasizes the dialogue between the youth and the elderly. The interviewer, representing the emerging forces in design, engages with elders on perspectives of ideals, the future, perplexity, criticism, and enthusiasm. Through a series of intergenerational conversations, the wisdom of the era gradually precipitates, reflecting the hopes for the future.Finally, it symbolizes the integration of design with multiple disciplines. In the discussion, it explores policy, technology, culture, history, education, and other domains, fostering innovation through the convergence of disciplines.This series of dialogues reflects the valuable spirit of our era, showcasing the inheritance of ideas and the spirit of innovation. It represents the spirit of mutual intellectual exchange in an era of counter-globalization, the unwavering pursuit of excellence during times of economic turbulence, and the human spirit of seeking equality, love, and mutual assistance in an era of cultural diversity.

Design challenges are global. The hundreds of questions in this book series mark not an end but the beginning of addressing various design challenges, such as the demands of societal growth and the cultivation of design talent, challenges in the development of new technologies and design disciplines, and challenges in cultural conflicts and fusion. Through dialogues between China and the international community, as well as conversations between the young and the elderly, I aspire to foster international relationships that are mutually beneficial, shared, and cooperative. Let the vast wisdom of human design serve as the stepping stone for societal development, constructing a shared destiny for humanity in this new era.

Di’an Fan

President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts

Chairman of the China Artists Association

2023.3.20

Forward：

The world is undergoing rapid and comprehensive changes, withnonlinear development surpassing traditional cognition, conflicts among global economic entities intensifying, and disruptive technologies restructuring industrial landscapes. The pandemic has disrupted human life and production methods, and the future world is becoming increasingly complex, risky, and uncertain. In this current “Anthropocene ," designers are faced with a crucial task, which is to reflect upon and address the design of existing resources.

In this context, the design of the ecological civilization era needs to balance two types of needs: explicit or obvious needs, and implicit or subtle needs. If we consider explicit needs as addressing external wounds, responding to the new normal under general and specific conditions, and dealing with "black swan" events or extreme conditions that occur once in a century, it involves redesigning to reduce resource consumption, meet existing social demands, and slow down economic development. On the other hand, implicit needs involve the internal structure, predicting, managing, and distributing unseen and flowing materials and information. It establishes prerequisites for controlling relatively unpredictable inputs for an unknown future, aiming to design a selectable future. Explicit needs focus on the present, using a time frame of 3-5 years, while implicit needs consider a longer historical perspective, spanning 50-100 years.

During times of crisis, the role of design maintains its focus on problem-solving. However, its more significant emphasis lies in posing questions and initiating broader discussions and research from diverse perspectives, employing methods such as speculation, criticism, inspiration, prediction, exaggeration, metaphor, and other approaches. This series of books serves as a compilation of questions raised by design experts. The compilation aims to elucidate intellectual forecasts for the subsequent years, covering short-term developments, mid-term trends over the next few decades, and the potential trajectory over the long term. It sheds light on the profound changes and future trends within the industry.

This series of interviews for this book originated from my academic experiences at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University in the United States. I pursued the Master's degree in Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania from 2014 to 2016 and then enrolled in the  Masterprogram in Landscape, Urbanism, and Ecology at Harvard University from 2016 to 2018. During this period, I took 14 courses from six different schools outside the Design School, including Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and MIT Media Lab.Through interactions and collaborations with professors, entrepreneurs, and researchers from various fields, I was exposed to diverse ways of thinking, values, and research perspectives, providing me with significant insights. In my free time, I chose interviews as a method for my design research and a window to understand the world, aiming to broaden the boundaries of knowledge and comprehend industry changes and global transformations.Initially, my interviewees focused on the fields of architecture, landscape, and planning, gradually expanding to design and technology, design and economics, design and education, and more. Over four years, I managed to gather insights from over a hundred experts. While the interviews addressed the confusion I faced during my studies, they also served as a significant motivation on my journey of acquiring knowledge.

This series carefully curated 36 interview contents, delving into the challenges encountered by experts during their growth and professional journeys. It provides insights into the intricacies of creative work, research methodologies, recent achievements, initiatives for Mars design, and practical community transformations. The interviews offer reflections on the industry, foresight for education, life lessons, and advice for young individuals. The series possesses distinct characteristics. Firstly, it is pioneering, featuring interviews with leading figures and industry leaders in landscape, planning, architecture, and art from China and the United States. These interviews showcase top-tier academic and intellectual levels both domestically and internationally. Secondly, it is diverse. The interview questions emphasize the exploration of values through interdisciplinary thinking, delving into innovative thoughts across fields such as reflections on future education, the intersection of the era and practice, and the integration of design and technology. Thirdly, it is contemporary, serving as a dialogue between China and the world. It reflects the collision of values between China and the world in the current era, acting as a carrier to tell the Chinese story and promote Chinese academic values and culture. Fourthly, it is forward-looking. The interviewing team comprises Chinese international students from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. By posing questions from the most futuristic, avant-garde, and radical perspectives, it establishes a solid foundation for the emerging forces in various design industries for the next generation in China.

This series is divided into three volumes.

Volume One: Reflection and Prospect, featuring interviews with figures such as Mohsen Mostafavi, former Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD); Peter Rowe, former Dean of GSD; Anita Berrizbeitia, Chair of Landscape Architecture Department at GSD; Xiewei Song, former Dean of the School of Design at Central Academy of Fine Arts; Charles Waldheim, former Chair of Landscape Architecture Department at GSD; Frederick Steiner, Dean of School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania; internationally renowned artist Bing Xu; Richard Weller, former Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Pennsylvania; Laurie Olin, renowned designer and former Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Pennsylvania; James Corner, former Chair at the University of Pennsylvania; Charles Jencks, prominent architectural theorist and designer; and Chinese entrepreneur Shiyi Pan, among others.

Volume Two: Crisis and Turns

Volume Two: Crisis and Turns, featuring interviews with Guus Beumer, former Director of Het Nieuw Instituut in the Netherlands; Candace Damon, Head of Real Estate Economics Consulting firm HR&A; David Gouverneur, former Director of the Urban Development Bureau of Venezuela and professor at the University of Pennsylvania; Zhenyu Li, former Dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University; Niall Kirkwood, former Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at GSD; Alex Krieger, Director at NBBJ and professor at GSD; Jian Liu, former Vice Dean of the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University; Xiangning Li, Dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University; and William Myers, a Dutch curator, among others.

Volume Three: Nature and the City

Volume Three: Nature and the City, featuring interviews with Mark Dawson, Director of Sasaki Landscape Planning Firm; Jie Hu, Senior Engineer at the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University and Deputy Dean at Beijing Tsinghua Tongheng Planning and Design Research Institute; Kengo Kuma, renowned Japanese architect; Rui Yang, Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University; Peter Latz, a renowned British post-industrial landscape master; Tom Leader, landscape designer; Dennis Pieprz, Director at Sasaki; Peter Walker, landscape design master; Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, founders of WEISS/MANFREDI firm; and Yufan Zhu, professor at the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, among others.

Inside Page

Interview with Muhsin Mustafa, former dean of Harvard University

Interview with Xiewei Song, former dean of the School of Design, CAFA

Interview with Frederick Steiner, dean of the School of Design, UPenn

Interview with artist Bing Xu 

Interview with Gus Beemer, former director of the Netherlands

Architecture Design Museum

Interview with Li Xiangning, dean of the School of Architecture and Urban

Planning, Tongi University

Interview with Yu Kongjian, Beijing Landscape Architecture Academy

Interview with landscape design master Peter Walker

Siyang Jing

In the summer of 2016, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) and the University of Pennsylvania hosted a significant summit at UPenn with the theme "The New Landscape Declaration." Fifty years prior, the "father of ecological design," ProfessorIan McHarg, along with various leaders in landscape and planning design, had presented the "Declaration of Concern," expressing concerns about the environment at that time and advocating for designers to be a driving force in addressing the crisis. This summit aimed to revisit and draft a new declaration based on the concerns raised in 1966, marking a milestone for new ideas fifty years later. During this conference, I successfully strived for the opportunity to interview Peter Walker, Martha Schwartz, James Corner, and other masters.

During my studies at University of Pennsylvania, I had the privilege of enrolling in a course taught by Professor Lucinda Sanders (nicknamed Cindy) titled "Transformational Leadership for Designers." This course differed significantly from typical design and theory classes; it resembled more of a therapy session, often jokingly referred to by classmates as the "chicken soup course". In the first class, Cindyrecommended a book with a prominent U-shaped symbol on the cover: "Theory U: Leading from the Emerging Future: from Ego-System to Eco-System Economies." Leveraging the framework of this book, Cindy helped us dissect our personal growth journeys, missions, visions, and passions during the course. The impact of this book was so profound that later, when I continued my studies at Harvard, I specifically sought out Professor Otto Schamer, the author of "Theory U" at MIT next door. I persuaded him to let me retake his "Theory U" course for corporate executives at MIT Sloan School of Management. During Cindy's class, my focus was on interdisciplinary leadership for landscape designers. As the final presentation approached and my proposal struggled to progress, Cindysuggested, "Why not start by interviewing designers who are already industry leaders?" So, I ventured onto the path of interviews, starting with the deans, department heads, and professors at UPenn, then progressing to interviewing industry leaders like Peter Walker and Martha Schwartz at "The New Landscape Declaration" summit. In the process, my UPenn friend, Zhangkan Zhou, and I co-founded the GARLIC Design Think Tank.

From 2016 to 2017, Zhangkan Zhou and I expanded GARLIC from the University of Pennsylvania to Harvard and MIT. The interview subjects extended from landscape design masters to educational leaders, professors, international company executives, renowned designers, and interdisciplinary experimental pioneers in the planning and architecture fields from top universities worldwide. The GARLIC interview team, initially consisting of my close friends Wen Zhang and Rui Zhao, gradually grew into a volunteer group with 20-30 members. Volunteers mostly came from universities such as the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, MIT, the Rhode Island School of Design, Peking University, and Beijing Forestry University, both in the United States and China. In August 2016, when Zhangkan Zhou and I pursued studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, GARLIC began organizing interdisciplinary salons and summits. These included forums like the "Autonomous Driving Forum" in collaboration with Harvard Business School and assistance in organizing the "Urban" section of the Harvard Asia Business Forum,featuring salons on "Shared Travel and the Future of Cities," "Designers Beyond Design," and "Design Thinking and beyond.” From 2015 to 2018, GARLIC gradually evolved into a Sino-American platform for design and interdisciplinary talent exchange. It aimed to facilitate innovative communication among top students, scholars, professors, designers, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers from China and the United States. GARLIC positioned itself as an intellectual hub for the new urbanization construction under the new normal in China for the next 50 years. The mission of GARLIC is to empower the voice of the new generation of Chinese designers. GARLIC's young designers will serve as a think tank for the new urbanization construction under the emerging norm in China for the next 50 years.

The letters in GARLIC represent the following:

• G (Genius): Talent - Discovering young designers and cross-disciplinary leaders with a pioneering spirit of the times.
• A (Associations): Alliance - Uniting China's most outstanding design talents and alumni from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard in the fields of landscape design, urban design, architecture, and cross-disciplinary innovation.
• R (Research): Research - Exploring ideas for the new urbanization construction in China under the new normal.
• L (Learning): Learning - Adopting dialectical thinking to address the challenges of new urbanization.
• I (Intelligence): Wisdom - Sharing and exploring the wisdom and boundaries of design.
• C (Collaboration): Collaboration - Facilitating communication, collaboration, and mutual success among students, scholars, professors, designers, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers.

Whenever I recall the moments when, with limited spare time and during entire winter and summer vacations, we hurried between major cities, companies, firms, professors' offices in China and the United States, and completed research, gathered data, asked questions, organized manuscripts, edited videos, translated, and reported on summits, it reignites my desire to make a difference. During these years, under the guidance of Marilyn Taylor, former dean of the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, and Richard Weller, director of the landscape department, I completed my graduate design at the University of Pennsylvania: "Integrated Regional Planning and Ecological Innovation Proposal for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Megaregion." Under the supervision of Peter Rowe, a renowned expert in Chinese urban studies and former dean at Harvard University, I completed my graduate thesis at Harvard: "Beijing Green Belt Research: History, Problems, Comparison, and Guidelines.” During my studies in the United States, I always cared about what I could do for China. After graduation, I returned to China and taught at the School of Design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Under the guidance and support of Dean Xiewei Song, I established the direction of Design for Crisis and Ecology. Starting afresh, I attempted to build a research and teaching methodology based on general ecology, integrating materials science, artificial intelligence, geographic information science, climatology, and futurology-assisted design science. The Crisis and Ecological Design direction integrates various knowledge frameworks, from humanism to ecology, from animal and plant rights to artificial intelligence, from the Anthropocene to the Third Nature. I developed a series of courses, including Responsive Environments, Climate Currency, Post-Carbon Futures, and Touchpoints in Smart Cities. These courses focus on design and research topics related to carbon footprint, food systems, air, energy, oceans, and more. All of this is inseparable from the valuable insights and inspirations gained from the interviews.

I appreciate the care and guidance from Richard Weller, Director of the Landscape Department, and Professor Lucinda Sanders at the School of Design, University of Pennsylvania. Without their support and mentorship in both academic and daily life, I might not have summoned the courage to embark on this journey.Thanks to Dean Frederick Steiner of, Professor Laurie Olin, Professor David Gouverneur of University of Pennsylvania, Dean Mohsen Mostafavi, and my mentor Professor Peter Rowe of Harvard GSD for their humility and kindness, which reduced my anxiety and boosted my confidence when facing these masters for the first time. Special thanks to Professor Kongjian Yu and Professor Dihua Li from Peking University, Professor Xiaodi Zheng from Tsinghua University, and Editor-in-Chief HeXian Jin from "Chinese Gardens" magazine, as well as Professor Xu Wang, chairman of SMART, for providing me with valuable domestic perspectives when I still studies in the U.S. Thanks to Professor Di'an Fan, the president of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Professor Xiewei Song, the dean of the School of Design, and other leaders, including Professor Ziyuan Wang, Professor Jun Jin, Professor Cunzhen Lin, Professor Xinrong Zhang, and Professor Tao Han, for their cultivation, trust, and guidance throughout my work. I am especially grateful to Dean Xiewei Song for entrusting me with the responsibility of building the Design for Crisis and Ecology discipline, providing me with a vast space and opportunities for disciplinary exploration, experimentation, and innovation, creating a solid platform for the development of my research direction. Thanks to the friends who have walked alongside me in the journey with GARLIC, including Zhangkan Zhou, Rui Zhao, Wen Zhang, Yadan Luo, Chendi Zhang, and Yushan Huang, who have now become pillars in major design enterprises both domestically and internationally. Thanks to my fellow alumnus Dr. You Wu from the University of Pennsylvania. Special thanks to Ms. Linlin Qi and Ms. Danning Yao for their diligent editing and proofreading work. Thanks to my students, including Er Lu Ni, Yun ning Xi, Chaoqun Li, and Boyun Lu, who helped me complete essential groundwork. Lastly, heartfelt thanks to my family for their unconditional support and encouragement.

Siyang Jing

December 2022

Wangjing, Beijing