I am a Lecturer in the Group Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning at Wageningen University since September 2021. 

As a multidisciplinary spatial designer and researcher, I use historical analysis, interpretive mapping and designing / visioning to investigate the capacity of urbanized regions to adapt to emerging challenges.

I have applied this approach to deltaic megaregions facing urban and water management issues, including the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta, the Mekong delta, and the Yangtze River delta. By extension, I have been developing a growing interest in the origin and evolution of cultural landscapes in Europe and China - including investigations on alternative forms of heritage conservation and regeneration.

My methods combine research and education and involve the organization of interdisciplinary design studios and co-productive workshops around pilot projects. Since 2010, I have led more than 35 studios and (co-) organized more than 10 international design workshops in collaboration with public administrations and agencies. 

My work has been supported by external funding sources (including a national Flemish FWO grant and a Chinese NSFC grant), exhibited and published internationally, and awarded with several prizes.

Before joining WUR, I have held academic positions in Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China (Program Director of the MSc Urban Design, 2014-2021), Antwerp University (Lecturer in Architecture, 2013-14), and in the European Master in Urbanism (Teaching Assistant, KU Leuven, IUAVenezia, TUDelft, UPC Barcelona, 2010-2014). Since 2018, I am also an honorary visiting professor at the Institute of Landscape Architecture in Zhejiang University and since September 2023 a guest professor(part-time) in the MSc of Urbanism and Spatial Planning at KU Leuven.

I hold a MSc in Civil Engineering Architecture (2001, UC Louvain, Belgium_cum laude), an advanced Master of Urbanism & Strategic Planning (2006-2008, KU Leuven & UPC Barcelona_summa cum laude) and a PhD in Engineering _ Landscape Urbanism (2009-2013, KU Leuven).

Jiangnan Lab is an interdisciplinary research and education platform promoting landscape-based regional design in the Chinese planning system. Focusing on the Jiangnan part of the Yangtze River Delta as a case-study, it organizes research seminars, collaborative projects, and interdisciplinary design workshops and studios.

This project was initiated in 2018 by Dr. Christian Nolf (XJTLU in Suzhou, China until 2021, now in Wageningen University) and Dr. Yuting Xie (Institute of Landscape Architecture in Zhejiang University). https://www.researchgate.net/project/JIANGNAN-LAB-Exploring-Regional-Design-in-China

Integrated Water Resource Management in the Yangtze River Delta, China (2015-2018)

Project "Integrating Spatial Planning and Water Management in Urbanised Deltas. A comparison of Instruments in the Yangtze (CN) and Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt (EU) River Delta regions’, supported by the Natural Science Funds for Distinguished International Young Scholars, Natural Science Foundation of China NSFC (51550110235), and by the Jiangsu Province's Science and Technology Programme (BK20151244).

Regionaal Landschapspark De Wijers (26.000 ha, Limburg, Belgium) (2012-2014)

As a researcher in the group Urbanism and Architecture (OSA) at KU Leuven, I have coordinated a project for the spatial visioning of the regional landscape park "De Wijers". Developed in collaboration with the Province of Limburg and the VLM, this project has involved a series of co-productive design workshops (2012-2013-2014) and led to the publication of a book in 2015.

Upstream Water Management and the Spatial Structuring of the Nebulous City (PhD research, 2009-2013, KU Leuven)

Funding: FWO _ Research Foundation of Flanders

Supervised by: Prof. Bruno De Meulder, Prof. Kelly Shannon, Prof. Oswald Devisch