Research Project Led by Professor Wang Fang Wins First Prize in the 2023 Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Awards

On March 12, 2024, the Office of the Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Awards Committee under the Science, Technology, and Industrialization Development Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development announced the recipients of the “2023 Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Awards.” Established in 2002 and approved by the State Office of Science and Technology Awards, the Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Awards are among the highest honors in China’s construction science and technology sector. Among the winners, the project titled “Theory, Technology, and Application of Locally Adaptive Planning for the Built Environment in River Basins” was awarded the First Prize of the 2023 Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Award. The lead institution for this project was Peking University, with collaborating institutions including China Energy Engineering Group Northwest Survey and Design Institute Co., Ltd., Shanxi University, Tsinghua University, and the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Led by Wang Fang of Peking University, the project was jointly completed by principal contributors including Wei Junyao, Gao Xingxi, Dang Anrong, Fang Qin, and Hu Xie. This marks the second time Professor Wang Fang has led a project to win this award; previously, the achievement “Theory and Methods of Localized Planning for the Built Environment” received the First Prize of the 2017 Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Award.

This achievement falls under theoretical innovation and technological development in the field of urban and rural planning, supported by disciplines such as archaeology, hydrology and water resources, geography, and ecology. River basins represent the earliest geographical units of human activity and are currently the regions where the relationship between humans and the environment is most strained. The scientific question addressed by this project is “the local characteristics of the built environment in urban and rural areas within river basins and their modern adaptation,” striving to answer the question of “where urban and rural settlements in river basins come from and where they are headed.” Consequently, by examining the long-term processes of formation and evolution of urban and rural settlements within river basins, and focusing on the “Yellow-Yun-Chang” river basin community—a typical region shaped by the combined effects of natural adaptation and human intervention—the project has innovated the theoretical framework, technical foundations, and implementation pathways for locally adaptive urban and rural planning in river basins. These innovations have been practically applied to in-situ urban renewal projects addressing human-land evolution within river basins, as well as village relocation projects promoting locally adaptive human-water relationships. Concurrently, these achievements have supported the team in securing approval for and establishing academic platforms such as the China-Germany Center for Urbanization and Regional Cooperation (Yellow River-Rhine) under the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Shanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Regional Built Environment in River Basins, and the River Basin Spatial Planning Branch of the Chinese Society for Urban Planning.

The project’s top three contributors: (center) Professor Wang Fang, (left) Senior Researcher Wei Junyao, (right) Professor Gao Xingxi

Editor: Zhu Liangliang