Transforming urban design education at Tsinghua University

Abstract

Urban design has the potential of bridging the gap between large-scale spatial planning and site planning for developments, and is much needed in constructing China's new public realm. Tsinghua University established an innovative urban design studio in 2009 that has tackled large-scale urbanisation opportunities, and served as a window for exploring new approaches to urban design education. It has responded not only to the vast socio-economic transformation of China, the massive expansion of city regions, but also to the more recent slowing down of the economy and the resulting deceleration of urbanisation. The studio has been led jointly by Tsinghua faculty and visiting faculty from other countries. This paper chronicles the 7 years of innovation in Tsinghua's studio that embraces eight city regions. Mirroring the urbanisation trends, the design projects have evolved from large-scale city structuring exercises to smaller-scale surgical insertions of development into the framework of older city districts. Examples of the results are shown. The paper also reflects on the efforts to bridge the diverging educational paths of architectural design and urban planning, and the possibilities for collaboration. It concludes that three-dimensional structure planning of the critical framework for urban development and change offers a focus for combining the skills of both sets of professionals.