Peking University has recently updated its collaboration with Harvard University on a graduation program of urban design.

On September 26, 2014, the founding ceremony of PKU-Harvard Ecological Urbanism Collaboration was held. Professor Mohsen Mostafavi, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Professor Wang Enge, president of Peking University, attended the ceremony.

Long gone are the days when scholars shut themselves in the laboratory and do research on their own, said Professor Mostafavi in his speech. Interdisciplinary communication and international collaboration are of great necessity with the irreversible trend of globalization. On the basis of deep cooperation between PKU and Harvard, the Ecological Urbanism Collaboration aims to be a platform to enhance the interactions.

President Wang Enge also emphasized the significance of the Ecological Urbanism Collaboration for its promotion of the interdisciplinary research and deeper communication between PKU and Harvard. It is the first time for the two universities to cooperate through a collaborated laboratory; it is also the first time for Harvard to set up this kind of institutions overseas, which marks a new era for the collaboration between the two universities.

Wang pointed out that ecological urbanism is one of the most prevailing subjects in the academic circle nowadays. China is at present one of the fastest-growing countries in urbanization, providing unprecedented opportunities for research and practices. As one of the most academically active universities in China, PKU has both the edge and responsibility to continue the research on ecological urbanism with the aid and cooperation from Harvard. The Ecological Urbanism Collaboration therefore has great prospects in the near future, said President Wang.

Professor Li Dihua from the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at PKU introduced the Ecological Urbanism Collaboration to the attendees. He hoped that it could promote the University’s internationalization and interdisciplines.

The Collaboration will be set up on the campus of PKU, open to first-class scholars around the world and making itself a public platform for international research on ecological urbanism.