A renowned landscape architect has died in a plane crash alongside three others in Brazil.
Kongjian Yu was killed when the small aircraft crashed on Tuesday evening while attempting to land at a large farm around 62 miles from the town of Aquidauana in the country’s Mato Grosso do Sul state.
There was no immediate information on what caused the crash.
Yu, a distinguished Chinese landscape architect and urban planner, gained global relevance after the Chinese government adopted his concept of “sponge cities,” which utilise nature-based solutions to absorb and retain water, rather than relying on concrete infrastructure to channel it away.
His concept aimed to mitigate the impact of climate change, arguing that by creating large spaces to hold water in city centres, such as parks and ponds, extreme rainfall can be absorbed, helping prevent floods.
The concept has since been adopted in hundreds of places in China as well as urban areas from the US to Russia.
Yu founded the College of Architecture and Landscape at Peking University, one of China’s most prestigious universities.
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Geraldo Alckmin, Brazil’s vice president, confirmed Yu was killed alongside pilot Marcelo Pereira de Barros and filmmakers Luiz Fernando Feres da Cunha Ferraz and Rubens Crispim Jr.
Mr Alckmin posted on X: “Professor Yu became renowned for creating the concept of sponge cities, with notable contributions to sustainable urbanism, the preservation of biodiversity, and the protection of the planet.
“His legacy will continue to inspire all those dedicated to the ecological cause.”
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Emergency crews were alerted to the crash at about 8.10pm local time. A search and rescue operation lasted approximately nine hours.
Yu and the filmmakers were part of a team producing a documentary about the Pantanal wetlands, the world’s largest tropical wetlands.
The Pantanal, fed by tributaries of the Paraguay River and mostly located in Brazil, is a biodiversity hotspot and a popular destination for tourists to see jaguars, macaws, caimans, capybaras and migratory birds in the wild.
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In an interview with The Associated Press in 2022, Yu criticized much of Asia’s modern infrastructure for being built on ideas imported from Europe, which he said were ill-fitted to the monsoon climate that prevails over much of the continent.
