Assistant Professor of Architecture Dingliang Yang has been named a recipient of the 2025-2027 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, marking the first time a U of M architecture faculty member has received this prestigious award since its establishment in 1987.
Congratulations to Dingliang Yang on being named a recipient of the 2025-2027 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship at the University of Minnesota, marking the first time an architecture faculty member has received this prestigious award since its establishment in 1987.
Dr. Yang was awarded for his research and creative practice on urban design, which has distinguished him nationally and internationally. His work centers on two primary objectives: decoding the forms of cities and innovating new urban forms.
Seeking to answer two fundamental but poignant questions — 1) what forms do our cities take? and 2) why are our cities designed and built in this way? — Yang's research explores the fundamental role of urban form, often referred to as the physical form of a city, in shaping how people live, work, and interact within cities. He investigates theoretical propositions and frameworks, advances analytical techniques and computational methodologies for describing spatial configuration of buildings, neighborhoods, and settlements, as well as documents and synthesizes the different forms of cities worldwide.
Dr. Yang has produced important reference works – twelve books and six journal articles, including seminal books like Urban Grids: Handbook for City Design (2019), Airport Urban District (2024), and World Expos: The Great Projects (2025) as well as books of investigations into paradigmatic cities like Shanghai Regeneration: Five Paradigms (2016), Savannah: Rethinking the Multi-Scalar Capacity of the City Project (2018), and Osaka: World Expo as Urban Transformative Engine (2021). The body of these works is uniquely positioned to influence design pedagogy and practice for the creation of new urban forms. Additionally, he is committed to making architectural and urban design knowledge accessible to the broader public through having curated 15 exhibitions.
Regarding the question — What is a good form for cities today? — as a reference to his applied research, Dr. Yang leverages his role as both a scholar and a practicing architect and urban designer to bring his research into real-world applications by concurrently designing and constructing buildings and urban complexes in innovative design solutions to advance new urban forms that meet contemporary societal needs. This is directly reflected in 67 urban design and architectural projects that he led and conducted with his office vari design during the past decade, 25 of which have been built and received awards. He regards the city as a unique laboratory for exploring new models of urbanization and testing radical design solutions that could redefine our approach to architecture and urban design in cities around the world. His work spatially addresses emerging urban challenges in the 21st Century—from ecological sustainability to community resilience.
Professor Jennifer Yoos, Head of the Schools of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Interior Design, emphasized the significance of Dr. Yang’s work: “Dr. Yang is poised to address a critical lack of expertise and research in urban design within our region. Despite being a major metropolitan area with planners and policy experts, the Twin Cities needs architects and urban designers researching and engaging with the region through a globally informed urban design lens. His arrival in the Twin Cities presents an opportunity for the University of Minnesota to have a much stronger impact on urban design in our region.”
As an assistant professor, Dr. Yang who joined the Schools of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Interior Design in 2022, specializes in architecture and urban design. He received his Doctorate and Masters’ degrees from Harvard University, and Bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University.
The McKnight Land-Grant Professorship Program recognizes and seeks to advance the careers of the most promising junior faculty members who have potential to make significant contributions to their scholarly fields and departments. Recipients were chosen based on merit, professional promise, quality of publication record, and originality and innovation in research achievements.
Learn more about the McKnight Land-Grand Professorship Program.
