Brazil plane crash
\n SAO PAULO
\nChinese landscape architect Kongjian Yu, known for his so-called nature-mimicking \u201csponge cities,\u201d has died in a small plane crash in Brazil with two filmmakers documenting his work, police said Wednesday. The 62-year-old was considered a leading figure in sustainable urban planning; his \u201csponge cities\u201d replace concrete surfaces with natural features that better absorb water in flood situations.
\nThe award-winning Yu was in Brazil for the recording of a documentary about his work when he perished with two filmmakers and the pilot in a plane crash late Tuesday in Brazil\u2019s Mato Grosso do Sul state. Police said the cause of the accident was not known. The other three deceased were documentary makers Luiz Fernando Feres da Cunha Ferraz and Rubens Crispim Jr, as well as the pilot, who owned the aircraft.
\nBrazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he felt \u201csadness and dismay\u201d after learning of the crash. \u201cIn times of climate change, Kongjian Yu has become a global reference with his sponge cities, which combine quality of life and environmental protection: something that we want \u2014 and need \u2014 for the future,\u201d he said in a post on X.
\nBrazil\u2019s Council of Architecture and Urbanism, which recently hosted Yu as a speaker at an international conference, said his \u201csponge cities\u201d concept has been applied in more than a thousand projects in 250 cities. \u201cHis contribution has influenced environmental public policies in China and other countries,\u201d it said in a statement expressing condolences to the architect\u2019s family, friends and colleagues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brazil plane crash SAO PAULO Chinese landscape architect Kongjian Yu, known for his so-called nature-mimicking \u201csponge cities,\u201d has died in a small plane crash in Brazil with two filmmakers documenting his work, police said Wednesday. The 62-year-old was considered a leading figure in sustainable urban planning; his \u201csponge cities\u201d replace concrete surfaces with natural features […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-505044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n