Binke Lenhardt, co-founder and partner at Crossboundaries, participated in last week’s Designing New Communities in Old Spaces panel at the CHAO Hotel in Beijing, hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce. The event offered a full audience a comparative exchange on how urban regeneration in London and Beijing is shaping communities and preserving heritage.

Binke shared her observations on Beijing’s Old City, describing the challenges of its gradual transformation and the need for varied, thoughtful approaches.
She also discussed Crossboundaries’ Songzhuang Micro Community Park project, which turned a former street corner into public area encouraging social interaction and cultural expression. While small in scale, the park embodies the principles of urban regeneration, creating a vibrant community space from an overlooked corner of the city.

Panelists Charles Peace (Wordsearch), Yu Cheng (Arup), and Pearl Tang (Foster and Partners) joined the conversation, moderated by Karen Li from China Overseas, with additional questions from the audience. Many thanks to the British Chamber of Commerce and the Berkeley Group for organizing this event and bringing greater awareness of this topic to a broader audience.