Chinese ‘Sponge City’ architect Kongjian Yu dies in Brazil plane crash at 62

Dr Yu Kongjian photographed in his workzone at Turenscape's Beijing Headquarters. (Portrait by Shawn Koh from Indesignlive)

Renowned Chinese architect and urban planner Kongjian Yu, celebrated worldwide for pioneering the concept of “sponge cities”, died in a plane crash late Tuesday in Brazil’s Mato Grosso do Sul state. He was 62.

Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin confirmed Yu’s death on Wednesday, along with three others, filmmakers Luiz Fernando Feres da Cunha Ferraz and Rubens Crispim Jr, and pilot Marcelo Pereira de Barros. The small aircraft went down near Aquidauana in the Pantanal wetlands while attempting to land on a rural farm.

“I received with sadness the news of the plane crash in the Pantanal,” Alckmin posted on X. “Professor Yu made notable contributions to sustainable urbanism, the preservation of biodiversity and the protection of the planet. His legacy will continue to inspire all those dedicated to the ecological cause.”

Who was Kongjian Yu?

Yu rose to prominence after the Chinese government adopted his visionary sponge city model, using parks, wetlands, and ponds as natural infrastructure to absorb stormwater instead of relying on concrete drainage. The approach has since been applied in hundreds of Chinese cities and replicated in urban projects from the U.S. to Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand.

In 1998, Yu founded Turenscape, a Beijing-based landscape and urban design firm that grew into a 500-strong team under his leadership. He also established the College of Architecture and Landscape at Peking University, where he nurtured a new generation of architects focused on ecological restoration.

The Pantanal connection

Yu had recently featured at the Sao Paulo International Architecture Biennale before joining local filmmakers in the Pantanal to document his ecological vision. Known as the world’s largest tropical wetlands, the Pantanal is a biodiversity hotspot home to jaguars, caimans, and hundreds of bird species.

The filmmakers and Yu were reportedly working on a documentary exploring sustainable solutions for fragile ecosystems like the Pantanal when the accident occurred.

A legacy of green cities

Yu’s philosophy was rooted in challenging what he called Asia’s over-reliance on European-style hard infrastructure. In a 2022 interview with the Associated Press, he argued such models were ill-suited for monsoon climates, pushing instead for nature-based, flood-resilient designs.

“By creating large spaces to hold water in city centers, such as parks and ponds, extreme rainfall can be absorbed, helping prevent floods,” Yu said at the time.