Chinese architect and Peking Univesity professor Yu Kongjian dies in plane crash

Chinese architect and Peking University professor Yu Kongjian died in a plane crash late on Tuesday in the vast Brazilian wetlands of Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazilian authorities said on Wednesday.

Yu, 62, gained global relevance as an architect and urban planner after the Chinese government adopted his concept of “sponge cities” using nature-based solutions to absorb and retain water instead of concrete infrastructure to channel it away.

The concept has since been adopted in hundreds of places in China as well as urban areas from the US to Russia.

Brazilian authorities confirmed that Yu and three other people, the pilot and two local filmmakers, were killed when the aircraft they were travelling in crashed in a rural area near the town of Aquidauana, in the Pantanal wetlands.

“It was with sadness and dismay that I received the news of the plane crash,” President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a statement.

“In times of climate change, Kongjian Yu became a global reference with the sponge cities which combine quality of life and environmental protection,” he added.