91视频

Maul Foster & Alongi principal engineer Ted Wall has twice shared his expertise on brownfield cleanups and stormwater management with Chinese developers and design professionals visiting Portland.

Last month, Wall was the traveler. He recently returned from his first visit to China, where he attended an international symposium on urban stormwater management and hydrology in Beijing. While there, Wall also gave a series of lectures to Chinese design professionals, students and academics on cleaning up and redeveloping contaminated sites, such as former landfills and mines.

Wall’s visit to China on behalf of MFA is part of an effort by the Pacific Northwest engineering and consulting firm to forge greater connections with Chinese designers and developers. The aim is to collaborate with these industry peers on future projects in a country where rapid urban development has led to an increasing government interest in promoting stormwater management and brownfield cleanups.

鈥淭here is some sense that the next major initiative will be in the (brownfield) remediation and cleanup arena,鈥� Wall said. 鈥淲e’re well-positioned to provide a supportive role in both the stormwater and cleanup arenas.鈥�

MFA, which has offices in Portland and Vancouver, Wash., isn’t the only metro-area firm touting its expertise in sustainable design to forge business opportunities in China. Other Portland-area firms like ZGF Architects and Fregonese Associates are capitalizing on a fascination among Chinese designers, developers, academics and government agencies with the city’s approach to urban design, said Robert Liberty, director of Portland State University’s Urban Sustainability Accelerator. The PSU program helps cities, including three in China, implement sustainability projects and policies.

Liberty has traveled to China to share Oregon’s philosophy on urban growth boundaries, and led tours for Chinese delegations visiting Portland. Along with questions about sustainable development in Portland, many of these visitors are curious about how the city manages to attract large numbers of college graduates and young professionals, Liberty said.

鈥淭hey’re interested also in the story of how an urban place recreates itself around livability as an economic development strategy,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here is a surprising amount of interest in Portland. I invite them to the beautiful village of Portland. It would be like inviting someone from (Los Angeles) to Eugene.鈥�

The thirst in China to learn more about sustainable urban growth is so great that while attending the University of Oregon as a doctorate student Hong Wu established a knowledge exchange program that connects American and Chinese design and development professionals. Last fall, she organized a West Coast tour for a dozen Chinese designers and developers and served as translator for the trip, which spotlighted environmentally conscious projects in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. It was the second Chinese delegation led by Wu to meet with Wall and other MFA staffers while in Portland to learn from the firm’s expertise in the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields and management of stormwater and sediment.

Wu coordinated the visits after meeting firm leaders through the University of Oregon’s Sustainable Cities Initiative. She has since earned her doctorate degree in landscape architecture from the university’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts and is now a post doctorate fellow at Pennsylvania State University, but continues to promote such Chinese-American exchanges.

When the opportunity arose for Wu to participate in an urban stormwater symposium in May at her Chinese alma mater, Tsinghua University in Beijing, she invited Wall to attend. He was joined at the symposium by John Lenth of Herrera Environmental Consultants in Seattle and Bill Wenk of Wenk Associates in Denver.

Wu said she encouraged the reverse exchange because she believes American engineers, landscape architects and urban designers considering environmental work in China should travel there to meet potential Chinese colleagues.

鈥淚 felt it was important for them to see the country themselves,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 believe they have made some really great connections. (I’m) just trying to connect these two places together, and when opportunities come up there will be a lot more interaction.鈥�

Business opportunities abound in China for U.S. engineers, landscape architects and urban planners specializing in stormwater management and brownfield redevelopment, but breaking into the Chinese market can be challenging, Wu said. This includes language and cultural barriers as well as vastly different approaches to urban planning.

鈥淛ust trying to localize these things takes a lot of effort,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he need is definitely there.鈥�

Mostly, Chinese design professionals are hoping to learn from their American counterparts, she said.

鈥淭he (U.S.) consulting firms would be in better demand because they would be in an advisor role,鈥� Wu said.

It can be near impossible for U.S. firms to compete in China with the country’s state-owned enterprises, said William Nesmith, a Salem-based senior energy adviser with the National Association of State Energy Officials. He has done work in China since 2000.

鈥淚t’s more difficult than you’d think to do business in China,鈥� he said.

Nesmith is involved in an 鈥渆co-partnership鈥� between Portland and the Chinese city of Kunming. The U.S. State Department program promotes a best-practices knowledge exchange between American and Chinese professionals.

At this point, the best way for Oregon design professionals to find business opportunities in China is to promote expertise in environmental work, Nesmith said.

鈥淏y and large, I’d say consulting services, if you have a reputation, you’ll get work,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey’ll seek your expertise and pay for it.鈥�

MFA could be one of those advisers in China, Wall said. While there last month, he solidified the firm’s role as a technical consultant to Chinese landscape architecture and urban design firm Urban People + Space.

鈥淲e’re basically at their disposal to support project work and team with them in pursuing opportunities,鈥� Wall said.