New Partnership Brings ‘Design with Nature Now’ to Taipei in 2024

Design with Nature Now, the multimedia exhibition presented by the Weitzman School in 2019 to launch The Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism & Ecology, will travel to Taiwan this fall. The presentation inaugurates a new partnership between the Weitzman School and Taipei City Government and the Taiwan Institute of Landscape Architects (TILA).

The partnership was announced during an official visit by Weitzman Dean Fritz Steiner with Taipei Mayor Wayne Chiang in Taipei on January 8, and reflects the City and TILA’s desire “to conduct international dialogue on global environmental issues, promote exchange and cooperation in the post-epidemic era, and contribute to promoting the national policy of net-zero carbon emissions in 2050.”

Since taking office, Mayor Chiang has attached great importance to responding to climate change, notably through the City’s Declaration of a Sustainable Ecological City. In a statement, Taiwanese organizers said, “Through coexistence and symbiosis, we hope to unite citizens’ sense of urban identity in Taipei, and to arouse sustainable cooperation among citizens around the world.”

Organized in response to the 50th anniversary of Ian McHarg’s landmark book Design With Nature, Design with Nature Now surveys 25 visionary landscape architecture projects envisioned or under way around the world in response to climate change and environmental challenges in the 21st century.

Design with Nature Now will be on view at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in September and October of 2024, with the exact dates to be announced. A series of public programs is envisioned for 2024 and beyond that explores design and environmental policy trends, as well as the City of Taipei’s past, present, and future.