Qingyun Ma, dean of the USC School of Architecture, will be the curator of the 2007 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Biennale to open Dec. 1 simultaneously in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. It is the first bi-city biennale and will run through March 1, 2008. An estimated 100,000 international visitors are expected to attend.

“City of Expiration and Regeneration” is the theme of the biennale that will explore the notion of the lifecycle of built environments and the need for revitalization to take advantage of new materials, technology and resource management techniques as well as accommodate changing trends in the way people live, work, play and communicate.

“Should cities have an expiration date like everything organic?” asks Ma. “Or should they be preserved as built? Both ideas need to be challenged,” said Ma, noting that the media of inquiry at the biennale will be exhibitions, films, symposia and special events.

Ma believes that architecture must make sense in the whole stream of the social construct and mass communication, calling this concept “an architecture without boundary” which will be demonstrated in the biennale.

One of Ma’s curatorial missions, he said, is to showcase how information and imaging technology have reshaped our environment and our perception of the environment. He is calling this initiative “Digitopia/Geospace” and has invited technology and digital companies to participate, as well as architects, planners, artists and urban thinkers.