Scholars from over 70 institutions across five continents and 27 countries and regions gathered to discuss a sustainable future for the Pacific Rim
From May 21 to 24, 2026, the 9th Annual Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Sustainable Cities and Landscapes (SCL) Conference was successfully held at the School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). The conference was hosted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, organized by the SJTU International Cooperation and Exchange Department and the School of Design, and supported by the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture (CHSLA). Centering on the theme “Evolutionary Cities and Landscapes at the Pacific Rim”, the conference featured five thematic parallel forums, eight working groups, and four student symposiums. It aimed to promote cross-border exchange and collaboration and to drive sustainable urban development across the Pacific Rim. More than 200 academic experts, industry leaders, government representatives, and community participants from over 70 universities and institutions across 27 countries and regions spanning five continents gathered for the event. Through deep, interdisciplinary, and cross-domain dialogue, attendees explored frontier pathways for urban and landscape transformation, charting a blueprint for a more resilient and sustainable future.
Building Consensus, Charting a Sustainable Future for Cities and Landscapes
At the opening ceremony, Ding Kuiling, President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, noted that since joining APRU in 2019, SJTU has continued to participate in collaborative research on sustainable cities and landscapes, sustainable waste management, and other related fields, while actively advancing academic innovation, global governance, and talent cultivation. In response to global challenges, the university has placed ecological civilization, resilient cities, and human settlements high on its strategic agenda. Through multidisciplinary collaboration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University seeks to break down disciplinary barriers, build an open innovation ecosystem, promote interdisciplinary research on cities and landscapes, and empower sustainable development with design intelligence.
Thomas Schneider, Chief Executive of Pacific Rim University Union (APRU), congratulated Shanghai Jiao Tong University on its 130th anniversary and spoke highly of the university’s remarkable achievements across three centuries. He noted that SJTU’s motto, “Gratitude to Origins, Patriotism to Prosper Alma Mater”, carries profound meaning and serves as a spiritual foundation for the university’s sustained development. He introduced APRU as a network of 64 leading research universities across the Pacific Rim, noting that its Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Program has become one of the alliance’s most dynamic interdisciplinary platforms. He further pointed out that the conference theme, “Evolutionary Cities and Landscapes at the Pacific Rim”, is highly aligned with Shanghai’s character as a city of continuous renewal, making it an especially valuable platform for exchange.
Li Xiong, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture and Professor at Beijing Forestry University, stated that the conference served not only as an important dialogue addressing shared global challenges in human settlements and advancing interdisciplinary collaboration, but also as a valuable opportunity to present China’s experience, distill China’s questions, and promote the development of an independent Chinese knowledge system for sustainable cities and landscapes. He further noted that the conference provided an important platform for advancing educational reform and innovation in talent cultivation.
Dennis Galvan, Chair of the Executive Committee of the APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Program, and Dean and Vice Provost for Global Engagement at the University of Oregon, noted that the program was originally established to share experiences in urban sustainability across the Pacific Rim. He called on researchers to uphold a spirit of collaboration across boundaries, remain committed to the core values of international academic cooperation, and work together to address shared challenges. He also expressed the hope that the conference would serve as a new starting point for the continued evolution of collaboration.
Focusing on the Frontier, Jointly Discussing the Future of Cities and Landscapes
In the keynote speech session, Anne Taufen, Professor at the University of Washington, drew on the concept of the "moral ecologies of infrastructure" and emphasized that sustainable infrastructure development requires a deep understanding of local contexts, regional differences, and relationships among key stakeholders. Jeffery Hou, Provost's Chair Professor & Head of the Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore, discussed "Trans-Pacific Knowledge Co-Production", reviewing the practices and achievements of APRU-SCL as a model of knowledge co-production over the past decade and looking ahead to its development pathways in the next decade. Jaime López-Andrade, Professor at Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, used the Galapagos Islands as a case to examine how geographical conditions continue to shape the evolution of urban form in ecologically sensitive areas. Xing Ruan, Dean and Guangqi Chair Professor of the School of Design at SJTU, approached the topic about "From Dilettante to Total Design", proposing that design education should move beyond single-discipline professional training and cultivate design generalists with systems thinking, judgment, social responsibility, and a global vision in response to climate change, artificial intelligence, and the challenges of complex human environments.
Deepening Thematic Engagement, Advancing Collaboration on Sustainable Cities and Landscapes
The annual conference boasted a rich agenda and diverse topics, deeply reflecting an international, academic, and practice-oriented focus. The five thematic parallel forums focused respectively on “Climate Risks, Adaptive Transformation, and Resilience Design”, “Heritage Conservation, Community Renewal and Inclusive Design”, “Landscape Perception, Health and Well-being, and Biodiversity”, “Urban Ecological Infrastructure and Regional Resilience Networks” and “Digital Technology, Smart Governance, and Innovation in Human Settlements”.
The eight working groups addressed topics including “Climate Justice and Community Resilience / Climate Adaptation and Urban Transformation”, “Landscape and Human Health”, “Urban Landscape Biodiversity”, “Human Development and Nature Preservation”, “Botanical Urbanism”, “Urban AI and Smart Cities”, “Civic Engagement and Community Design” and “Moral Ecologies of Infrastructure / Water and Waste Management”.
The conference also featured a discussion about journal publication, student symposiums, field trips, a white paper release, promotion awards, and a closing summary. Editors-in-chief and leading editors from major international and Chinese journals, including Landscape and Urban Planning, Landscape Ecology, Building and Environment, Urban Climate, Urban Ecosystems, Chinese Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning Forum, etc. were invited to participate in the exchanges, providing a high-level academic dialogue platform for scholars and young students from China and abroad.
Toward a Resilient, Equitable, and Sustainable Future for Human Settlements
In the face of shared challenges such as climate change, resource constraints, biodiversity loss, increasing natural disaster risks, and urban-rural transformation, research on cities and landscapes is no longer limited to the construction of physical space. Rather, it has become a complex field involving ecological security, public health, social equity, cultural continuity, technological governance, and regional collaboration.
Driven by diverse themes and in-depth dialogue, the conference brought together insights from universities, research institutions, and professional practice around the world, further advancing academic exchange and collaborative cooperation in sustainable cities and landscapes across the Pacific Rim. Urban challenges in the Pacific Rim cannot be addressed by any single region alone. By transcending national boundaries, the conference aimed to build a collaborative platform for shared responsibility and shared knowledge, injecting new momentum into the creation of a future for human settlement in which humanity and nature coexist harmoniously.
