Yu Kongjian and Vicente Guallart joined a symposium to discuss their ideas of city planning.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

On Nov 23, Vicente Guallart, former chief architect of Barcelona City Council and Yu Kongjian, the dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape at Peking University, were at a symposium at Cervantes Institute in Beijing to discuss their ideas of city planning.

When it comes to the city and the countryside, Guallart wants to learn from the countryside and develop ecologically friendly cities.

For example, he has designed a self-sufficient city community in Spain in which chicken, geese are raised and vegetables are planted.

"We can learn from rural life. The countryside contains a lot of knowledge that we have forgotten," says Guallart.

Yu also pays attention to the countryside. And he encourages young people to go to the countryside where he has established an educational program in Xixinan village, in Huangshan city, in East China's Anhui province, to bring students close to the countryside.