Chinese urban planner Yu dies in Brazil plane crash

Brazilian officials say Chinese landscape architect Yu Kongjian died in a plane crash in the wide Brazilian wetlands of Mato Grosso Do Sul State.

The 62 -year -old Yu gained global relevance as a landscape architect and urban planner using nature -based solutions to suck and hold water instead of concrete infrastructure to channel the concept of “sponge cities”.

Since then, the concept has been accepted in hundreds of places in China and in urban areas from the USA to Russia.

Brazilian officials, YU and the other three people, pilot and two local filmmakers, traveling planes in the pantaneous wetland areas of the town of Aquidauaa in a rural area near the town of Aquidaaa confirmed that they were killed.

President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva said in a statement, “I got the news about the plane crash was sadness and horror.” He said.

“It was a global reference with the sponge cities that combine the quality of life and environmental protection during the climate change periods.”

Yu took part in the opening program of Sao Paulo International Architecture Biennial last week.

Estadadao newspaper later reported that the filmmakers participated in a trip to a documentary about the work.

The Architecture and Landscape College, which was founded and directed by the University of Peking as a professor and Dean, and Turenspape, a Beijing -based design company founded in 1998, did not respond immediately to comments for comments outside their normal working hours.

According to the company’s website, YU directed Turenspape as the chief designer of the company and enlarged to a team of more than 500 experts.