CUHK
News Centre

The building of smart cities has been a global trend. The Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), released by the Central Government in 2019, laid out a concrete implementation plan of its smart cities cluster build-out, which is one of the key development goals of the GBA. A renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was recently signed between the Institute of Future Cities (IOFC) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and China Academy of Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD) for a strengthened strategic partnership on exchanging innovation and technology, urban big data, research on Hong Kong-Guangdong town planning, and talented minds, to further expand the smart cities cluster in the GBA.

An academic symposium webinar was held on 9 April by IOFC of CUHK and CAUPD, hosted by the Chief Planner of CAUPD, Mr. ZHU Ziyu, with Dr. WANG Kai, President of CAUPD, and Prof. FUNG Tung, Director of IOFC of CUHK, delivering the opening speeches. Experts and professors from CAUPD and CUHK also spoke about the recent research achievements of their respective research groups and presented the research applications and thoughts on “Smart and Sustainable City” during the academic webinar. They include Mr. ZHU Ziyu, Mr. FANG Yu and Mr. DAI Jifeng from CAUPD and Prof. FUNG Tung, Prof. NG Mee Kam, Prof. ZHOU Yu, Prof. REN Chao, Prof. SHI Yuan and Prof. HUANG Bo from CUHK.

Dr. WANG Kai, CAUPD President, said in his speech that he wished CAUPD and IOFC could work together to develop a deeper academic collaboration within the GBA through strengthening the connections and building consensus between the two parties. CAUPD aims to produce, in the next five years, with concerted effort, significant research outputs in the broad disciplines of regional and sustainable development, cultural and historical preservation, land resources and housing policies, community governance and smart cites.

IOFC of CUHK and CAUPD signed the renewed MoU at the occasion which denotes a concrete and strategic action plan for the development of the GBA through provision of a wider platform for nurturing talented minds, and for conducting interdisciplinary research and applications through this partnership.

Prof. FUNG Tung, Director of IOFC of CUHK, made a review of the course of cooperation between CAUPD and IOFC over the years. He anticipated that both parties will establish a closer relationship in academic and widen the scope of collaboration which could contribute to the development of a green, smart and sustainable development in the GBA.

Mr. ZHU Ziyu, the Chief Planner of CAUPD, also envisioned that the enhanced partnership between CAUPD and IOFC would hereafter utilise their respective advantages to co-organise academic exchange activities and launch new collaborative projects.

About IOFC of CUHK

The Institute of Future Cities (IOFC) of CUHK was established in 2013 as a hub for researchers in diverse fields to collaborate in examining a wide range of urban issues from past to present and to collectively envision, research and advocate innovative approaches to shape environmentally friendly, economically prosperous and socially just future cities. IOFC serves as a research hub for local as well as international scholars, a base for CUHK to enhance learning and teaching; and a dynamic Institute for evidence-based knowledge transfer. At present, it has four centres and one programme carrying out R&D and knowledge transfer on a variety of issues about future cities, namely the Centre of Community and Place Governance, the Centre of Land Resource and Housing Policy, the Centre of Urban History, Culture and Media, and the Centre of Urban Sustainability as well as the Urban Informatics Programme.

About CAUPD

China Academy of Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD), a research institution under the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China, is the national information centre for urban planning studies and design. It is also the service provider in the fields of urban and rural planning, engineering design, tourism planning, engineering surveying for heritage preservation, architectural design and system integration for smart buildings; and is qualified as a national service provider to undertake overseas projects in civil engineering surveying, consultancy, design and management. CAUPD is a high-tech enterprise recognised by Beijing and Zhongguancun. Offering planning advice to government authorities, establishing norms for scientific researches, providing planning consultancy services, and carrying out social and public welfare services are the four major roles of CAUPD.