The constructal law governs evolution in biology, physics, technology, and social organization. This conference focuses on the state-of-the-art development with the constructal law. It explores the unifying power of the constructal law and its applications in all the domains of design generation and evolution, from animate to inanimate. Since the constructal law was proposed in 1996, it has generated a worldwide movement that continues to grow toward “design as science”. See www.constructal.org. The Nanjing conference in 2013 will be the 8th in a series of spontaneous annual conferences that defined the field. The previous seven conferences were: 2006 Constructal Theory of Social Dynamics, Duke University, USA 2007 Constructal Theory of Social Dynamics, Duke University, USA 2008 Constructal Human Dynamics, Security and Sustainability, Evora, Portugal 2008 Shape and Thermodynamics, Florence, Italy 2009 Constructal Theory and Multi-Scale Geometries, Paris, France 2010 Constructal law Symposium, Design and Nature, Pisa, Italy 2011 Constructal law Conference, Porto Alegre, Brazil We invite you to the Nanjing Conference, and encourage you to contribute your ideas to the growth of the constructal law field, and to design as science.