Tom Leader Gave Speech At The First Beijing Garden City International Summit Forum
The inaugural Beijing Garden City International Summit Forum was held at the Wofo Villa within the Beijing National Botanical Garden on June 19th, 2023. Tom Leader, the founder and principal of TLS, was invited as a keynote speaker and delivered a design lecture titled “First Principles: Case Studies from Practice.”
During the lecture, Tom Leader shared TLS’s longstanding design principles and research, as well as recent practices in China, including the Suzhou Shishan Park, the Jing-Zhang Railway Heritage Park, the Hangzhou Steelworks Park, and the “Green Ring Campus” planning in Shanghai’s Jiading New Town. He also shared his insights on the concept of “garden city.”
Other keynote speakers at the forum included Yan Wei, the head of the YWA Expert Studio at the Beijing Institute of Landscape and Architecture Design; Liang Qindong, the Vice President and Director of Landscape Design for AECOM in the Greater China region; Chen Zhaohui, a member of the Party Group and Deputy District Mayor of Xicheng District, Beijing, as well as a registered senior planner; and Li Xiong, the Vice President, Professor, and Doctoral Supervisor of Beijing Forestry University. The distinguished speakers shared their insights and practical examples of garden city construction in recent years.
The forum was attended by approximately 150 participants on-site and attracted over 3,000 online viewers through live streaming. Representatives from various industry regulatory authorities, municipal park department, universities, and design institutes from across the country also attended the forum.