Bulletin No. 1, 2016

What a University Can Do about Climate Change 15 The Future CUHK is the only research team achieving the most advanced level of data-collection so far. in mainland China have their LCZ maps completed by the CUHK team The attempt to understand t h e i n t e r - r e l a t i o n s h i p between urban planning a n d r e g i o n a l c l i m a t e goes beyond the cit y of Hong Kong . Wi t h mo r e than 50% of the world’s population living in cities, there is an urgent need to collect data on urban forms and functions for climate change solutions and adaptation strategies. ‘But we can’t do this alone. When it comes to national and international data collection and analysis on urban climate and urban morphology, collaboration is crucial,’ remarked Prof. Ren Chao , faculty member of the School of Architecture and a fellow of CUHK’s Institute of Future Cities. She is currently leading a team from CUHK to cooperate with an international research group under the International Association for Urban Cl ima t e t o und e r t a ke a g l ob a l p r o j e c t— ‘World Urban Dat abas e and Acces s Por t al Tools (WUDAPT)’. The team is working on the development of free-of-charge, open-to-public, and readily accessible urban morphology database of world cities using advanced remote sensing technology and Geographical Information System. It will serve as an information platform for climate and weather modelling, energy balance study and planning implementation. To complete the WUDAP T dat abas e, basic information on land cover and building types of urban areas is captured from aerial and satellite images and classified using the Local Climate Zones (LCZs) system. The classified zones will be spatially mapped in different colours, which will then be used as a framework for the gathering of more detailed urban parameter information. ‘Most of the overseas research teams work on LCZ maps for one single city. But the CUHK team has completed LCZ maps of city-clusters, for example, a large-scale LCZ mapping of the entire Pearl River Delta region was introduced to investigate the unique trend of mega-region development in mainland China,’ explained Professor Ren. ‘CUHK is also the only research team achieving the most advanced level of data-collection so far. The team has recently received the Best Applied Urban Heat Island Research Award in the 4 th International Conference on Countermeasure to Urban Heat Islands in Singapore’. The research findings will provide technical information and support for the National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014–2020), China’s first official plan to take lessons from home and abroad to hammer out guidelines for its urbanization and land- use planning. The CUHK team has also been actively sharing their experiences with other institutions in Hong Kong, mainland China and abroad, especially in the applications of WUDPAT data in weather modelling simulation, energy consumption, ecology, CO 2 emission, public health and air pollution. Prof. Ren Chao