Who's who: William McDonogh, architect and designer

So as well as just designing seven cities in China, William McDonogh is up to a lot in the sustainability space.

In 2002 he co-authored Cradle to Cradle, which takes a fresh look at the lifecycle end endcycle of things.

According to the wonderful ideas and thinkers’ website, TED, he is also “redesigning Ford’s city-sized River Rouge truck plant and turning it into the Rust Belt’s eco-poster child, with the world’s largest “living roof” for reclaiming storm runoff. He has created buildings that produce more energy and clean water than they use.

He believes that absolute sustainability and economic success can go hand-in-hand, he’s designed buildings for the Gap, Nike and Frito-Lay that have lowered corporate utility bills by capturing daylight for lighting, using natural ventilation instead of AC, and heating with solar or geothermal energy.