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Professor Edward Ng Yan-yung, Yao Ling Sun Professor of Architecture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s School of Architecture, has recently been honoured with the Luke Howard Award by the International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC) for his impactful contribution to “urban climate for urban design and planning”. Since 2004, the award has been annually bestowed upon a physicist, geographer or meteorologist who has made outstanding contributions to the field of urban climatology. Professor Ng is the first architect-designer and Hong Kong scholar to receive this prestigious accolade.

Professor Ng said: “I was surprised when I was notified of the award. I began researching urban climatology after the SARS outbreak in 2003, and assisted the Hong Kong government in establishing the Air Ventilation Assessment Method. As an architect, not a scientist, receiving this award underscores the importance of cross-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary research.”

The award committee was deeply impressed by Professor Ng’s lifelong achievements and unwavering commitment to the urban climate community, particularly his exceptional leadership in bridging urban climate science, urban design and planning practice.

The citation praised Professor Ng as a model to the community, in having “gone from generating academic urban climate knowledge to playing a key role in creating new urban climates”. Professor Ng is among a select group of architects who can converse freely in both the language of architecture and the equations of climatology. Additionally, it recognised his role as a leading public advocate for climate-responsive design, demonstrating his effectiveness in mastering to draft effective policies, standards, practice notes, legislation and design guidelines. The methodologies developed by his team for ventilation assessment and wind corridor planning are now compulsory for all cities in China, ensuring a lasting legacy of his work.

The award presentation ceremony will be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in July 2025.