Chen Xu, Chairperson of Tsinghua University Council, and Guido Saracco, Rector of Politecnico di Torino, reunited online for discovering future collaboration and witnessed the signing of the MoU between the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University and the Department of Architecture and Design of Politecnico di Torino.
Chairperson of the Tsinghua University Council Chen Xu said that the new joint research agreement has brought the collaboration between Tsinghua and Politecnico di Tornio to a new level, and has opened up a great prospect for future collaborations to contribute to a better shared future for mankind.
“Urban Ergonomics tackles the global issue of making sustainable human-scale cities, and will be an important update to the 21st century debate on the future of our cities and habitat,” Chen Xu said. “I look forward to the excellent outcome of the joint research by Tsinghua Architecture and Politecnico di Tornio architecture in this very promising new field.”
She said that Tsinghua, with the support of many international institutes, raised the topic of Urban Ergonomics as China was launching a new, human-centered urbanization under a complete new set of development ideas.
Guido Saracco, Rector of Politecnico di Torino, said that the signing of the MoU to conduct joint research on Urban Ergonomics would be successful and further strengthen cooperation between his university and Tsinghua.
“I believe that the role of technical universities will be very crucial for the new economies, that we have to design the sustainability process and push with knowledge the growth of our population in our countries,” he added. “I am sure the new agreement on Urban Ergonomics is going to fit with new themes and challenges of our joint doctoral program in architecture that is producing nice results with talented people.”
Tsinghua University Vice President and Provost Yang Bin, who moderated the signing ceremony, said that the joint research MoU had laid the foundation for an even more beneficial, comprehensive and sustainable partnership between the two universities.
Tsinghua and Politecnico di Torinoto have a strong collaborative history in teaching, research and design, cultivating outstanding talents with international perspectives for both countries.
More recently, Tsinghua led the design of the Big Air Shougang, a ski jump platform built for for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, in which the Politecnico di Torinoto team played an essential role. Earlier, Tsinghua had led the curation and the design of the China Pavilion in Venice Biennale 2021, with great support from Politecnico di Torinoto. Likewise, when Politecnico di Torinoto and MAO Torino curated the exhibition “China Goes Urban,” Tsinghua made a substantial contribution.
Professor Cheng Xiaoxi, Associate Dean of the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University, and Professor Daniela Bosia, Vice-Director of the Department of Architecture and Design of Politecnico di Tornio signed the Memorandum of Understanding to conduct joint research in the field of Urban Ergonomics, a new domain of design science that tackles the global issue of making sustainable human-scale cities.
Professor Zhang Li, Dean of the Tsinghua School of Architecture, expressed his confidence that assisted by a series of high-profile real-world design interventions, ranging from the venues of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, to the adventurous brand new Tsinghua International Student Centre, to the Carbon-Net-Zero revamp of major urban designs, Urban Ergonomics would be a vivid dynamic that contributes fundamentally to the leading roles of both Tsinghua and Politecnico di Torino in the contemporary world architecture debate.
Professor Zhang explained that the concept of Urban Ergonomics, conceived and raised during the pandemic lockdown, argues for a new set of research and design tools, and a new paradigm for human-centered design science. He said the joint research MoU paves the way for a promising international research design consortium based on Urban Ergonomics.
Professor Michele Bonino, Rector’s Delegate for relations with China and Asian Countries of Politecnico di Torino, said that by working together, the two universities would be able to create solutions to improve cities in both China and Italy through well-being infrastructures for contemporary urban life that the field of Urban Ergonomics offers.
During the ceremony, two students—Huang Yetong and Giorgia Cestaro also shared their experiences studying in the joint doctoral degree program. They both thanked the universities for offering an enriching cross-cultural learning environment for their research.
Founded in 1859, the Politecnico di Torino (PoliTo) is one of the most prestigious public institutions at both the International and the Italian levels concerning education, research, technological transfer and services in all sectors of architecture and engineering. Tsinghua and PoliTo have successfully conducted significant collaborations in many academic fields, including bilateral student mobility, joint talent cultivation and joint research.
Writers: Sangeet, Zhong Ziwei
Editor: Li Han
