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Neville Mars

Associate Professor in Practice, Urban Design

Neville Mars is an Associate Professor of Urban Design at Monash University, Indonesia. He holds a PhD from RMIT University on the topic of Asian urbanism and a Master of Architecture from Delft University of Technology. He is a registered architect in Rotterdam.

Before joining Monash University, Indonesia, Mars founded MARS Architects Shanghai, an award-winning design studio delivering innovative public buildings and numerous masterplans across Asia, Europe, and Central America — including post-disaster planning for UN-Habitat in Tacloban, Philippines, and United Mumbai for the BMW Guggenheim Lab.

His practice bridges urban theory and practice through the ongoing research and publications of the Dynamic City Foundation (DCF), a non-profit research platform investigating rapid urbanisation in Asia. His research focuses on context-specific, regenerative spatial models for rapidly urbanising territories in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, including a transit-based regional development strategy for Central Java, and the research-by-design competition on the future of Nusantara as a forest city (EPOCH45) with UNDIP Semarang.

Mars is the author of ‘The Chinese Dream — a society under construction’ (010 Publishers, 2008), a seminal work on Chinese urbanism. Mars is the author of The Chinese Dream — a society under construction (010 Publishers, 2008). His forthcoming book, Zero City — A Manifesto for Urbanisation in the Anthropocene, examines regenerative models for a world dominated by insular, greenfield planning practices.

Instagram: @_zero.city_ (urban research), @MARS_Architects_Bali (architecture)

More information

Books

Zero City — A Manifesto for Urbanisation in the Anthropocene (forthcoming). Examines regenerative models for a world dominated by insular, greenfield planning practices.
The Chinese Dream — a society under construction (2008). With A. Hornsby. 010 Publishers, Rotterdam. 800 p.
The Little White Book — participatory planning in China. Urban China Publishers. 100 p.

Journal articles

"From Contours to Constituencies: Reimagining Political Boundaries Through Land Use Clusters." With et al. Land, 15(1):104 (2026).

Guest editor, journals

Urban China Magazine #67 — "China’s Creative Cluster Conundrum"
Urban China Magazine #35 — "How to be holistic spending 4.2 Trillion"

Selected articles in professional books and journals

"Dealing with Dynamic Density, Measurable / Non-Measurable — Intensities in ten cities." In Keio Institute for Architecture and Urbanism, edited by Darko Radovic.
"China’s Dreams Deconstructed." Volume #16 ‘Social Engineering’, Archis + AMO-OMA + C-lab.
"New City Nation, Cities from Zero." In Shumon Basar (ed.), AA Publications, London.
"400 New Cities and the Impossibility of Planning." Blauwe Kamer, Blauwdruk Publishers, NL.
"Carving Landscapes." Domus — The China edition, edited by Stefano Boeri.
"Taming Beijing." In Beijing 798 — Reflections on Architecture and Society in China, Timezone 8 Publishers.
"Now or Never: 100% renewable by 2030." Zhou Mo Hua Bao, Shao Foundation Publishers.
"The Fear Factor." Area, special issue: China, In the wake of cities.
"Utopie. Utopisch denken doen en bouwen in de twintigste eeuw." NIOD, Luuk van Middelaar. (Utopia: Utopian thought models in planning and building in the twentieth century)
"100 Urban Trends — Mumbai." Guggenheim Publishing and Media, New York.
"A Self-Contained Utopia." AD: New Urban China — The Chinese City, Vol. 78, Architectural Design.
"Flash Urbanism — From Micro-planned to Macro-Organic." Urban Flux (currently E-Flux).
"The Cunning City — When Megacities Merge." Kilometer Zero #3, Kilometer Zero Publishing, Paris.
"Satellites, Split Cities and other powerless planning models." Tank, Volume 3.
"Fortification the Final Formula." World Architecture #206, WA Publishing (Chinese), Beijing.
"Between Walls and Water." AC, 12/08, Special Issue: Super Dutch in China, Archicreation, Shanghai.
BURB — the future of Asian cityscapes. With A. Hornsby. Urban China Publishers.
Phaidon 10x10_3: 10 Curators x 10 Architects. With Shumon Basar. Phaidon Publishers.

Other publications

Manifesto United Mumbai — towards an integrated urban fabric. BMW Guggenheim Lab.