John Thompson to speak at Hangzhou International Design Week

Published on 24 November 2015

JTP’s John Thompson is speaking at Hangzhou International Design Week this Wednesday 25 November.

Known as ‘the most influential exhibition in China’, this year’s theme is ‘Design Change City’. In his speech, which is entitled ‘The Art of Great Placemaking – from Community Planning to Battersea Power Station’, John will answer the three key questions:

- How can we create Great Places and regenerate our Cities?

- How can we learn from the past and look to the future?

- How can we engage people in the decisions that affect their own lives?

John’s talk will be followed by a discussion with Mr. Ding, Vice Manager of Vanke Hangzhou; Mr Chen, Partner at David Chipperfield Architects (Shanghai studio); and Mr. Fan, Chairman of Fanshi Real Estate.

JTP have pioneered the integration of Community Planning events on a number of schemes in China. In June 2015 we facilitated the Liangzhu Culture Village Community Planning Weekend for China’s biggest residential developer Vanke, evaluating their Cultural New Town at Liangzhu on the outskirts of Hangzhou. More recently, JTP was awarded a prestigious Design Award for Social Innovation at the Design Success Summit in Shanghai, recognising the importance of JTP's Collaborative Placemaking approach on the Changzhi Island project.

Echoing President Xi Jinping's call "to enhance the quality of public participation and make sure all decisions are made with the people's interests and inspirations at their heart", JTP believe there will be increasing demands for participatory processes to be rolled out across China , both for the creation of new settlements and the regeneration of existing towns and cities.

Further details on Hangzhou Design Week can be seen here.

Related Projects

Changzhi Island,
Zhoushan Island, China

New Settlement
Stage: On-site

Battersea Power Station,
London, UK

New Urban Quarter
Stage: On-site