I have a background in Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning at UPenn and Landscape Urbanism at the AA , I focus on creating adaptive, resilient spaces that reflect the identity and aspirations of those who inhabit them. I see design as a way to restore connections—between people, animals, places, and the landscapes they call home. My work explores how local engagement and environmental transformation can foster pride, dignity, and belonging in communities.
Whether it’s revitalizing forgotten landscapes or reimagining everyday spaces, I believe thoughtful design can help people see their environment—and themselves—in a new light.
The North Shore of Staten Island, often seen as its “backyard,” struggles with pollution, disaster risks, and social vulnerabilities due to marine traffic and low-income conditions. To truly benefit the local community, I propose an approach inspired by the “BACKYARD” concept— focusing on practical, inclusive improvements rather than superficial beautification.
Guided by “Not Fancy”, this initiative prioritizes genuine community needs, ensuring sustainable development without inviting gentrification.
Concepts: Dialectical Backyard + "Not Fancy"
Front Yard VS Back Yard
The "backyard" symbolizes neglect and the marginalization of both space and its residents' well-being.
The Threshold, by 2024 Pritzker winner Yamamoto Riken, redefines public space by merging private and communal areas. It fosters social cohesion, encouraging active use of public spaces shaped by local culture, strengthening community identity while resisting external influence—where 1+1 > 2 becomes possible.
Not in my Backyard (NIMBY)
Richard Weller’s Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) highlights the backyard’s private nature—shielding residents from trauma while resisting external disturbances. Whether fancy gardens or not fancy warehouses, NIMBY unites them. Instead of avoiding problems, could a buffer zone mitigate environmental and psychological impacts? Green horticultural healing could create a protective space, keeping the backyard undisturbed.
If Staten Island is New York City's "backyard", then the North Shore is Staten Island’s own backyard—a space full of potential, waiting to be rediscovered and reimagined. Building a "Not so Fancy" park could be a way to approach this, as Prof. Ellen mentioned——we don’t need more optimistic design: the sadness and history of the land can't be easily forgotten. The improvement of the area should be led by the local community rather than creating a design that appears fancy but deepens the separation between people and the land. Enhancing local engagement is key; it's not about achieving a fancy result, but about the ongoing process of daily change and the transformations that emerge from it. ‘Not Fancy’ may be a powerful way to help locals cope with Gentrification
Existing: Staten Island North Shore
03 Back to Backyard: back to History Streams
Design Scope Planning Scope
Three major flood intrusion waterways were identified on the North Shore. Historical photos reveal that these areas were once spaces for water storage. Additionally, significant bare spaces in flood-invaded blocks, such as parking lots and excessive auto industrial areas, were noted. The design scope is positioned on a narrow stretch of waterway and the block behind it. Parking lots within these blocks could align with the idea of a backyard.
04 Backyard Redefinition
Non-maritime & cleaner enterprises
The maritime industrial areas within the SMIA contain wasted land, like excessive parking lots and non-maritime industries, forming the "backyard" of the maritime sector.
While residents have private backyards, the block also has a communal one. If front yards are fancy green spaces and parks, backyards often degrade into bare parking lots or industrial zones
Redirecting floodwaters into urban parks reduces flooding and creates resilient, shared “backyards” for communities.
A public backyard is a shared green space that feels as inviting and convenient as a private one.
PLANs: After Design
Non Flooding Season
Flooding Season
Maritime Backyard Community Backyard
Once a maritime industry hub, the Maritime Backyard now restores nature. Historic streams resurface during floods, guided by buffers built from salvaged tugboat materials. These buffers, built from materials salvaged from former tugboat companies and maritime industries, are raw and unrefined but deeply connected to the site’s past. The buffers also serve as green spaces for walking, exercise, and emotional well-being. Even when flooded, the loops and new elevated roads keep the Maritime Backyard accessible, fostering a deep connection between people and water.
The Public Backyard, once dominated by car-related industries and parking lots, has transformed into a space for community resilience and ecological renewal. Historic streams now weave through the landscape, shaping gentle water flows and small mounds that help manage flooding. Unlike the Maritime Backyard, the calmer waters here allow locals to cultivate vegetables on the mounds, addressing food scarcity while horticultural healing supports mental well-being, fostering a deeper connection between people and their environment.
Detention Basin: Floodplain Backyard
Buffers: Active Shore Backyard
Islands: Wetland Backyard
Grasses: Sponge Backyard
Bridge
Loops Track
Trail Track
Sunken Pools: Reservoir Backyard
Mounds: Healing Backyard
Bumps: Playful Backyard
Public Backyard
The Public Backyard expands the waterfront green space, converting abandoned railways into a High Line-style path linked to new loops. Unlike the semiopen Community Backyard or seasonal Maritime Backyard, its high, stable seawalls ensure a fully open space, fostering movement, connection, and shared experiences in green spaces.
Site Transformation: Strategies
from communitygardento waterfront
More Shaded Area CommunityGardensfor Peopletorelax/exercise/heal
Postcards/Perspectives for Future: No Flooding VS Flooding
The site is located along the Delaware river and, an area with a severe heat island effect, also it's hard for people to touch the water, and lots of industry along the riverside. Additionally, the river serves as a critical migration route for American Shad. This design aims to mitigate the heat island effect and support the survival of the shad by introducing more shaded areas both for people and fish, and enhancing habitats through strategies such as topographic modifications and the creation of diverse landscapes.
Existing Condition
PLANs & Planting
SITE PLAN 02 & Modified Topographic Map
Early Succession& Climax Forest Trees
American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)
Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)
Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)
Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
Shaded Strategies
For Fish
Not all islands are open to visitors—those that remain closed provide a safe and undisturbed habitat for American Shad, ensuring their survival in a protected environment.
For Human
By adding vegetation, reshaping the terrain, and incorporating structures, sheltered areas are created to provide coolness and comfort for visitors.
Gradual Shore & Overhanging Trees and Bushes Piers, Docks and Pilings
Islands or Sand Bars &Drop-offs & Cliffs and Steep Shore Banks
Lily Pads
Sunken Objects & Rock and Boulder Pockets
On the Loops
On the Tree Mounds
On the Tree Islands
Proximity to Tall Buildings
Undulating Grassy Ribbons Shelter Lawn Shelter
Seasonal Section
Visitors can explore the river’s small islands while contributing to rewilding by tossing seed bombs. To prevent the islands from eroding due to water currents, their slopes are carefully stabilized, and rocks are strategically placed along the edges to reinforce and protect them.
Planting List Model
Spring
Trees
Sweetbay Magnolia Magnolia virginiana
Tulip Tree
Liriodendron
American Plum Prunus americana
American Sycamore Platanus occidentalis
Shrubs
Cornelian-cherry Dogwood Cornus mas
Eastern Redbud Cercis canadensis
Summer
Trees
American Basswood Tilia americana
Black Cherry Prunus serotina Catalpa Catalpa speciosa
American Sycamore Platanus occidentalis
Shrubs
Sweet Pepperbush Clethra alnifolia
Shadbush Amelanchier
Herbaceous Snow Crocus Crocus chrysanthus
Daffodils
Narcissus pseudonarcissus
Summer Snowflake
Leucojum aestivum
Autumn
Trees
Sugar maple Acer saccharum
Red maple Acer rubrum Sassafras Sassafras albidum Shrubs
Although Canada Ontario has the one of the highest freshwater in the world, indigenous people living in remote areas like Kenora suffer from a chronic lack of access to store water. I have tried to use Kenora as a base to store water while mitigating seasonal flooding through three different strategies.
Raising the terrain and laying pipes
In addition to the cistern, rain and snow are collected by pipes
Suites (PS, AI, ID), Vray,
by Yalei Zhu and Jiacheng Sun
Playscape
Site: Pittsburgh , PA
Individual Work:
Upenn LARP Media 542 (Spring 2024)
Instructor: Keith VanDerSys
Spring
Case Study
Team Work: UPenn LARP Studio 6020 (Jan. 2025)
Instructor: Christopher Marcinkoski
by Yalei Zhu and Qian Li
Section of Wissahickon Valley
Site: Wissahickon Valley
Individual Work:
Upenn LARP Studio 5010(Autumn, 2023)
Instructor: Emma Mendel
Nursery Homes: Healing Plants
Individual Work: Winter, 2023
Mappings
Individual Work:
Upenn LARP Media 543(Autumn, 2024)
Instructor: Robert Pietrusko
O5/ Construction + Planting Details
SKILLs: AutoCAD, Civil 3D
Upenn LARP Workshops: 2023-2024
Urban Design: SFI Engagement in Greenbelt
SKILLs: ArcGIS, Figma, C4D, Adobe
Creative Suites (PS, AI, ID, AE, PR)
Site: London, UK
Team Work: AALU (2021-2022)
Instructor: Eduardo Rico-Carranza
Abstract:
In order to protect the edges of London's Metropolitan Green Belt from destruction, and with an understanding of existing UK policy SFI, our team actively explored and engaged different groups of people: farmers, students, visitors within the Greenbelt in an attempt to mitigage acute social tensions in an ecologically transformative way.
About
Green Belt:
We calculated the corridor connectivity of the Green Belt and found it to be relatively weak, with a significant presence of debris. Additionally, our analysis of Buckinghamshire(inside GB) revealed that numerous schools and farms are located near the Green Belt.
Habitat Ecological Connectivity
SFI Engagement Website for Farmer
Step 1: Registration & Upload
SFI Engagement registration page and sign in page
Based on SFI engagement criteria, we designed a website for farmers to register, manage farms, select SFI areas, and address key issues.
Step 2: Selection & Negotiation
Step1: Choose the engagement area
Users can select the regions to participate in SFI Engagement from their previously uploaded profiles, choosing different regions depending on the people they want to engage
Step 3: Simulation
Path generation page
After creating excursion routes, farm owners can select materials from the provided library or upload their own farm elements to generate customized materials.
The website displays all farms, indicating registration status, public accessibility, and main business activities. Users can upload their farm's address and introduction after selecting their farm.
Step2: finish the selection
Facilities, etc. and details of the user's farm page of threats in the farm pages of all the farms and their information
Next, farm owners can upload internal farm details, including entrances and exits, cropgrowing areas, grazing zones, and storage spaces.
Farmers must upload and discuss safety concerns, such as flood-prone areas, to ensure visitor safety. After uploading, they receive an overview of farm facilities and details, guiding their next steps.
Negociation Step1: personal account page and chat page
Users can view visitor records on their account page and contact SFI Engagement staff. They can also chat with teachers from different schools to discuss visit requirements.
Negociation Step2: Part of the planning route questionnaire
The area of the farm for engagement has been chosen and the next step will be to plan the route for the visitors. Users send a visit questionnaire to teachers, who complete and share the results. This helps refine tour requirements and generate a customized itinerary for the visit.
Model generation page
Finally, the website generates a 3D model of the SFI Engagement farm, which is displayed to children and teachers, encouraging them to visit.
Successful generation pages
The user has completed all the work on the site and is waiting for the teacher and children to visit the farm.
In order to make children understand the knowledge about nature, we designed a game. For setting up the game model, we extract the basic forms of elements in the ecological corridor to form a simplified one.
All the elements and features in the game are derived from realistic sites. The player can see the real photos corresponding to all the game scenes in the game, which are uploaded by farmers to the web page.
Game Based On Real Farms for Children
Basic Elements - Real Farms in Buckinghamshire
02
In our game, the player is a farm owner who develops and manages his farm and contributes to the community by planting, recording, trading, cooperating and more. The game takes place in a simplified version of the real farm, where the user makes agriculture decisions and accesses real infrastructure and assets that can be retrieved during the game and which will be later visited. While the game layout is simple and child friendly, context information is constantly being fed to the player to maximize its understanding of the place.
In our game, the player is a farm owner who develops and manages his farm and contributes to the community by planting, recording, trading, cooperating and more.
Players make their first harvest on the farm through traditional farming methods such as weeding and watering.
As the number of plantings increases, the player will have to face soil problems caused by over-cultivation. Butterflies will come to the farm and surprise the player when they unlock different mixes of crops to grow.
Products that have been piling up in storage for a long time are at risk of expiring. Players need to sell their produce at the market stalls in good time.
If players find it time-consuming to sell their products in the marketplace in person, then an agricultural co-operative might be a better option.
The flow of crops from
More concern for farming practices in relation to the health of the land
Exploring sustainable
When the player joins a farming cooperative, the cooperative will send out regular orders for organic products, which means that the player will need to produce products that meet the standards. At the same time, the connection between the farm and the community deepens, as the player will trigger random storylines with the residents in the community.
Thinking about farm-community relations
The logistics of daily farm products Exploring new ways of farm management
The farm will contain large areas of uncultivable moorland. The player explores this seemingly unproductive woodland to discover the value of hidden public goods. Exploring the woodland, players will meet trapped wildlife and work with neighbouring farms to build ecological corridors to help the wildlife pass through.
Moreover, players can identify and record information about vegetation, wildlife, rivers and historical sites in the woodland. Once collected, players can help build a new museum for the community and bring more community
tivities to
Public goods in the moorland. Exploring the relationship between agricultural activities and nature Knowledge of ecological corridors; the importance of eco-corridors for wildlife
Get a better
- WHAT PLAYERS
Main Scene-01 Farm
01 - BASIC GAMEPLAY
02 - WHAT PLAYERS WILL LEARN ABOUT
Main Scene-02 Community
02 - BASIC GAMEPLAY
03 - BASIC GAMEPLAY
03 - WHAT PLAYERS WILL LEARN ABOUT
Main Scene-03 Forest
overview of the work on the farm
Main Scene-03 Moorland
Visits In Real Farms for Children
Activity 01: Livestock Feeding
Upon arrival, children will find well-equipped facilities, including toilets, storage areas, and emergency clinics. They can log into their accounts before exploring the farmhouse, where they can see, touch, and feed various livestock. Interactive screens provide information on each animal’s type and features.
Activity 02: Soil Research
The first area they will ar rive is the once cultivated area. Children can study the soil conditions in dif ferent restoration and plant characteristics to help the Interplanting improve the soil.
Activity 03: Riverside
Next, children visit the Misbourne River, a flood-prone area, to learn about flooding. Railings ensure safety, and they explore the site under teacher supervision, regardless of water levels.
Visits In Real Farms for Children
Activity 04: Habitat Learning
Next stop is forest where children can enter. Here, children will learn about the fragmentation of animal habitats and the crisis of forest loss. They can track small animals by uploading photos taken and observing wildlife in a tree that they chose.
Activity 05: Crop Learning
After leaving the forest, children will arrive at a farmland where they can learn about the types and planting methods of crops. Children can also help farmers to grow and improve the quality of the soil through multi-crop.
Activity 06: Vegetable Reaping
They will also pass the vegetable field. Here children can help farmers harvest and tidy up vegetables to understand the industrial chain of food production and sales.
Activity 07: Planting
Finally, the children return to the central grassland area of the farm. Children can rest and have a picnic or help the farmers to grow flowers and trees to improve habitat connectivity.
