Designers of Mountain and Water: Alternative Landscapes for a Changing Climate | Panel 2

The Sinographic compound (山水), denoting “mountain and water,” is widely shared across many Asian contexts, with different regional traditions and approaches. As shanshui in China, sansui in Japan, and sansu in Korea, the term has historically referred to creative artistic and philosophical visions of the natural world, combining the vital elements of a fully dynamic landscape. With climate change underway, what contemporary elements and dimensions of nature are necessary for designing and building sustainable spaces for human habitation and flourishing? Contemporary landscape architects from Northeast and Southeast Asia are trying to answer this question by rethinking the relation between social and natural forms. Their aim is to design habitable futures at the intersection of the two. This conference will feature leading landscape architects and scholars from China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, as well as Australia and the US, to discuss the perspectives, histories, politics, and most compelling projects of sustainable design in the Asian context. This conference accompanies the exhibition Designers of Mountain and Water, which will be on display in the Druker Design Gallery from January 20 to May 15, 2026. Curated by Jungyoon Kim, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the GSD, the exhibition features more than 55 works of landscape architecture by 23 practices in Asia. Panel | The Work of Mountain and Water SPEAKERS: Heike Rahmann, Senior Lecturer, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, and Director of the Technology and Innovation Working Program, IFLA World Youngmin Kim, Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Seoul, Republic of Korea. Kotchakorn Voraakhom, Chairwoman of the Climate Change Working Group (IFLA World), CEO and Founder of Landprocess, Bangkok, Thailand MODERATOR: Jillian Walliss, Associate Professor in Landscape Architecture, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne, Australia, and Co-Director of the Ethics, Equity and Social Justice Group, IFLA World