Yiwen Zhang CMLI, MA | Partner

Yiwen Zhang’s expertise extends from urban and landscape design to the development market.

As a core design team member at the Edinburgh, Scotland office of Optimised Environments Ltd. (OPEN) and its sole representative for the China market, Yiwen worked on a variety of China-based projects that included Changzhi Island, Suzhou Eco-Town, and the Dianshan Lake masterplan in Zhousan, Jiangsu, and Shanghai, respectively. As a consultant for the Bund Finance Center, Zhang helped to integrate the design team of Heatherwick Studio, Foster + Partners, and Martha Schwartz Partners on the Center’s site design. Previously, she served as landscape architect at Gillespies’ planning and landscape office in Glasgow, Scotland, and began her career as a designer and project manager at the Ager Group in Shanghai, China. 

She was the chief author and editor of the first Chinese B&B Design Guidance and Assessment Criteria for the Dequing Morgan Mountain Region, which was made the national standard for China in January, 2017. Her extensive experience within the travel and hospitality industries is reflected in her previous roles as co-organizer for resort development and the regeneration plan for Yunnan World Heritage, and the international summit for the Morgan Mountain Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality Strategy. She also organized the British Town and Countryside Development Summit in London in collaboration with The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and The Academy of Urbanism. 

Yiwen is a member of The Academy of Urbanism and a shareholder of the China Design Centre, both located in London, UK. In addition to serving as director of the Shanghai Rural Urban Development Society (NGO) in Shanghai, China. In 2015-2016, she was general secretary of the International Leisure Industry Association.  

She was awarded a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Sheffield in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, and holds a bachelor degree in Landscape Architecture from Beijing Forest University of the University in Beijing in Haidian Qu, China.