Dr. Ying Ying Tian

Ying is a highly experienced masterplanner, urban designer, researcher and overseas trained architect, working across UK and China for over 20 years. She has been working passionately in a multi-dimensional way to deliver high quality places for better city and better life. She has excellent understanding of the breadth and depth involved in designing a neighbourhood or a town, which drives her years’ efforts to explore holistic and practical approach based on placemaking, smart growth, collaborative working, and environmental principles.

Ying previously worked for the international team of JTP, where she led on a range of masterplanning projects, such as new towns, eco settlements, tourism towns, and regeneration areas. The award-winning projects included Suzhou West District Eco town, Jinan Liubu Eco Culture Tourism Town and Dalian Diamond Bay Regeneration. Apart from her excellent design and hand-drawing skills, she also developed speciality in strong communications, design management for multi-disciplinary international team, and contract administration.

Over the past six years, Ying has been leading on the international knowledge exchange programme at the Urbanism Sector of China Design Centre. Through cross-culture conferences, learning trips, senior executive training events, applied research and pilot eco-masterplanning projects, not only she helped key stakeholders from the rapidly growing regions understand good urbanism and avoid lessons learned before, but also supported further delivery of sustainable towns and neighbourhoods beyond the masterplan.

Ying is an Urban Design Group ‘Recognised Practitioner’, an Academician of the Academy of Urbanism and an Affiliated member of RIBA. Ying holds a Ph.D in Urban Design, was an Honorary Research Fellow and Visiting Lecturer in the School of Environment, Education and Development at the University of Manchester, and has published a range of papers, articles and book chapters.