TURENSCAPE: 2025 WINNER
The 2025 RAIC International Prize recipient is Beijing-based Turenscape. Led by Dr. Kongjian Yu, Turenscape has profoundly shaped the urban landscape of more than 250 cities globally through over 1,000 projects. Guided by their philosophical foundation of "Nature, Man, and Spirits as One," Turenscape seeks to promote harmony between land (Tu) and humanity (Ren) and to create sustainable environments for the future.
Turenscape’s foundation and body of work resonated with the selection committee, who noted that Turenscape “celebrates beauty and ecology, drawing lessons from natural systems to develop holistic responses that regenerate degraded urban ecosystems, increase resilience to flooding and sea level rise, cultivate natural habitats in urban areas, and create inspiring spaces that foster human reconnection to our natural world.”
Turenscape’s portfolio of work aims to redefine the fields of urbanism and landscape architecture through projects that foster a deep and lasting connection between communities and urban ecologies, allowing both to flourish over time. Their work addresses the interconnected contemporary challenges of climate change, ecological degradation, and urban expansion. As cities around the world struggle to respond to the escalating challenges of climate change including urban flooding and sea level rise, Turenscape has gained international recognition for the Sponge City Concept.
Sponge City designs draw inspiration from natural water flows and traditional methods for managing water during the monsoon season in rural China. This nature-based approach focuses on ecological restoration to support the natural cycles of water flow and absorption. By doing so, these designs improve urban resilience, alleviate flood risks, reduce urban heat island effects, and offer low carbon solutions that enhance biodiversity, air quality, and urban aesthetics. Additionally, they offer inspiring places for community to reconnect with urban ecologies and contribute to broader urban climate adaptation efforts.
In 2013, Turenscape’s Sponge City vision was adopted as a national policy in China, prioritizing large-scale nature-based infrastructures. Key features of this approach include wetlands, greenways, parks, canopy tree and woodland protection, rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavements, and bioswales. This work sets a powerful precedent for designing with water as a living system, rather than treating it as a threat. What stands out is its scalability and adaptability; it goes beyond a theorical concept and is now shaping urban planning policies.
The interconnected climate and biodiversity crises necessitate architectural strategies that enact forms of 'radical repair' beyond the building and hard infrastructures. As built environment professionals, we must design urban environments that promote the healing of the land and support the ongoing flourishing of life. Where life does not flourish, we ultimately cannot thrive. Sponge Cities set a precedent for practices worldwide, showcasing how water can be skillfully celebrated as a creative resource, the foundation of living systems, and an invaluable natural asset.
Turenscape’s Sponge City work offers a model for transforming our understanding of living in harmony with nature in a changing climate. Their work celebrates beauty and ecology, drawing lessons from natural systems to develop holistic responses that regenerate degraded urban ecosystems, increase resilience to flooding and sea level rise, cultivate natural habitats in urban areas, and create inspiring spaces that foster human reconnection with our natural world.
Dr. Kongjian Yu advocates for rethinking our relationship with water and land, promoting blue-green urban ecotones that adapt to the increasing severity of disruptions to Earth’s water cycle caused by human-induced climate change. Sponge City design offers a rapidly scalable, nature-based, and carbon-positive alternative to traditional, carbon-intensive, gray infrastructure solutions for climate change adaptation. Yu's work integrates ecology, culture, and beauty, serving as an inspirational model for architects, urban planners, and landscape architects globally.”
Written by: Mona Lemoine, Joanne Perdue, Jason Robbins
 Portrait Kongjian Yu Photo: Turenscape |
 Sanya Dong’an Wetland Park, Sanya, China Photo: Turenscape |
 Benjiakitti Forest Park ,Bangkok, Thailand Photo: Turenscape/ Arsomsilp |
 Sanya Mangrove Park Photo: Turenscape |
 Sanya Mangrove Park Photo: Turenscape |
 Nanchang Fishtail Park Photo: Turenscape |
 Nanchang Fishtail Park Photo: Turenscape |
 Haikou Meishe River Restoration, Haikou China Photo: Turenscape |