
School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Urban conservation and design
National Engineering Survey and Design Master
Doctoral Supervisor, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
Deputy Director, National Heritage Center
Member of the Expert Committee on Historical and Cultural Heritage Conservation and Inheritance, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development
Vice President, Urban Planning Society of China
Chair, Urban Design Branch, Architectural Society of China
Chair, Academic Committee on Industrial Architectural Heritage, Architectural Society of China
Vice President, Urban Renewal Branch, China Engineering Construction Standardization Association
Vice President, Chinese National Committee of ICOMOS
China’s first Lifetime Honorary Member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)
Chair, Asia-Pacific Branch of ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Historic Towns and Villages (CIVVIH)
UNESCO Chairholder in Heritage Conservation Planning and Social Sustainable Development
Professor Jie Zhang has long been engaged in scientific research, teaching, and practical work in the fields of urban and rural heritage conservation and renewal, urban character shaping, and sustainable development. He has achieved groundbreaking research results in the cultural cognition, conservation, and renewal of traditional Chinese cities and settlements, publishing 20 monographs, including Tracing the Origins of Ancient Chinese Spatial Culture and Methodology for Historic City Conservation Planning, as well as over a hundred journal articles in domestic and international publications. As a key drafter, he has compiled national standards, local guidelines, and group standards, and holds multiple software copyrights and invention patents. He has led and completed numerous national and international collaborative research projects, including key projects under China’s 13th Five-Year National R&D Program, National Natural Science Foundation projects, and projects funded by the U.S. Energy Foundation. He has supervised nearly 100 doctoral and master’s graduates and received the Beijing Municipal Teaching Achievement Award (First Prize).
He has directed the completion of several major conservation and renewal projects, making significant contributions to exploring urban conservation systems suited to China’s context and establishing long-term, effective approaches to multi-level conservation and renewal at the "city-district-building" scale. Representative projects include conservation plans for nationally designated historic cities such as Guangzhou, Kunming, and Chengde, as well as conservation and renewal designs for districts, buildings, and environments, including Fuzhou’s Three Lanes and Seven Alleys, Beijing’s Imperial College-Yonghe Temple area, Nanjing’s Old Southern City, and Jingdezhen’s Taoxichuan Cultural and Creative Block.
As the primary contributor, Jie Zhang has received numerous prestigious awards, including:
UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation (Awards of Excellence, Innovation, and Distinction)
Ministry of Culture Innovation Award
Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Award (First Prize)
Architectural Society of China Science and Technology Progress Award (First Prize)
China Industry-University-Research Collaboration Innovation Achievement Award (First Prize)
German Design Award (Gold in Architecture)
The Architecture MasterPrize (Best of Best)
ICONIC Awards: Innovative Architecture (Best of Best, twice)
Ministry of Education Engineering Survey and Design Award (First Prize, five times)
National Planning and Architecture Industry Awards (First Prize, over ten times)

Neoland School of Chinese Culture, Ontario, Canada
Architectural humanities; Architecture and urbanism; Courtyard architecture; Chinese culture; Philosophy of architecture
Dr Donia Zhang is an author, writer, and editor of Architectural Humanities in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. She is the director of Chinese Culture Publishing, Neoland School of Chinese Culture, Neoland-Neolife Cross-Cultural Studies; the founding editor of Courtyard Architecture: Along the Silk Roads, around the World; and the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism (JCAU).
She has authored four scholarly books: Courtyard Houses of Beijing: Past, Present, and Future (2009/2010/2011), Schoolyard Gardening as Multinaturalism: Theory, Practice, and Product (2009), Courtyard Housing and Cultural Sustainability: Theory, Practice, and Product (2013/2016), and Courtyard Housing for Health and Happiness: Architectural Multiculturalism in North America (2015/2017).
Moreover, she contributed three chapters in two eBooks, Dialogues of Sustainable Urbanisation: Social Science Research and Transitions to Urban Contexts (2015), and New Approaches in Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism (2020). She has also published 20 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals. WorldCat has listed most of these publications.
Donia has seven years of work experience in the architectural industry in Toronto and Chicago, and eleven years of teaching experience in higher education in Ontario, Canada. The subjects she has taught include: History of Art and Architecture, Interior Design, and AutoCAD, among others.
Donia is a graduate of Oxford Brookes University (BArch, MA, PhD) in the UK and Brock University (MEd) in Canada. She has also obtained a Verified Certificate of Achievement in The Architectural Imagination from Harvard University | edX, and a Verified Certificate of Achievement in Interpreting Vernacular Architecture in Asia from the University of Hong Kong | edX. She is a former associate at the City Institute at York University, and a visiting scholar/occasional co-instructor at McMaster University, Canada.

School of Architecture, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, China
Building adaptability technology in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau; Protection and inheritance of traditional wooden buildings
Professor Xianmin Mai graduated with a Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. in Architecture from Tsinghua University and completed her postdoctoral research at the International Research Center for Transport and Urban Studies, Nagoya University, Japan. She currently serves as a Standing Committee Member of the Party Committee and Vice President of Southwest Minzu University.
She leads the Plateau Building Ecological Adaptation Technology Youth Innovation Team of Sichuan Province and holds key academic roles, including:
Council Member, Urban Design Branch, Sichuan Society of Architecture
Council Member, Student Branch, Architectural Society of China
Member, Sichuan Higher Education Teaching Guidance Committee for Architecture-related Disciplines
Professor Xianmin Mai has been selected for several prestigious national talent programs, including:
China’s National Major Talent Program
Young Top-Notch Talent of the "Ten Thousand Talents Plan" (Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee)
Young and Middle-Aged Talent Development Program of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission
Reserve Candidate for Sichuan Province Academic and Technical Leader
She has led three National Natural Science Foundation projects and participated in over 20 additional research projects at various levels. She has published three academic monographs, one textbook, and more than 90 Chinese and English research papers in SCI-indexed journals, Chinese core journals, and other key academic publications. Her primary research focuses on: Adaptive Building Technologies for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; Zero-Carbon Building Technologies for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; Architectural Cultural Heritage Preservation and Transmission.

School of Architecture, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, China
History; Theory and criticism of modern Chinese architecture
Dr. Guanghui Ding is the author of Constructing a Place of Critical Architecture in China: Intermediate Criticality in the Journal Time + Architecture (Routledge, 2016), with Charlie Xue, co-author of A History of Design Institutes: From Mao to Market (Routledge, 2018) and co-editor of Exporting Chinese Architecture: History, Issue and “One Belt and One Road” (Springer, 2022), and with Jiawen Han and Xianwen Kuang, co-author of Chinese Cities as Pedagogy: Interdisciplinary Teaching Practice (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). He is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Architecture at City College of New York.
Ding’s research focuses on the history, theory, and criticism of modern Chinese architecture.

College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Urban design; Urban form; Settlement space analysis; Architectural space composition
Dr. Cui Liu is an Associate Professor at the College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, and serves as the Deputy Director of the Department of Architecture.
Editorial Board Member: Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, Contemporary World's Architecture
Reviewer: Routledge, IGI Global, Regional Studies, Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture
Consultant: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Department of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province, Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province, International Exchanging Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology
Member: International Seminar on Urban Form, Regional Studies Association, Triple Helix Association, China Architectural Society, China Urban Planning Society
Dr. Liu’s research focuses on urban morphology and physical-virtual interaction of public space. Leveraging theories such as urban morphology, landscape ecology, and spatial production, she employs digital intelligence technologies to investigate the morphological characteristics, dynamic mechanisms, and design methodologies of urban and rural spaces.
Dr. Liu has led multiple research projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation, Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project, and the Ministry of Education’s Humanities and Social Sciences Research Program. She was also awarded the EU Erasmus+ Research Grant and has directed numerous architectural design and urban-rural planning initiatives.
Her academic contributions include 10 books (in Chinese and English) and over 30 journal articles published domestically and internationally. Recognized for teaching excellence, she has received two National Outstanding Teaching Plan Awards for architectural design and developed two provincial first-class undergraduate courses in Zhejiang. Additionally, she has led the compilation of several key textbooks, including those under the China Association of Higher Education’s "New Engineering" 14th Five-Year Plan, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs’ 14th Five-Year Plan, and Zhejiang Province’s New Engineering Key Textbook Series, while contributing to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development’s 14th Five-Year Plan textbook.
Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
Contemporary architecture and design strategies for the revitalization of rural territories in China and Italy
Gerardo Semprebon is an architect and assistant professor at the Politecnico di Milano. PhD at the same university and at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
He is interested in contemporary architecture and design strategies for revitalizing rural settlements. He conducts research and teaching in architectural design at the Politecnico di Milano and Xi'an Jiao Tong University. He is also an associate editor for the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, for which he curated the special issue “Reshaping Rural China” and a contributor for Domus. His books Rural Futures. Toward an Urban(ized) Peasantry in the Chinese Countryside (LetteraVentidue, 2022) and Fragile Heritage in Chinese Ruralities. Enacting Architectural Tools to Valorize Historical Palimpsests (Springer, 2024) elucidate the methodological aspects developed in theoretical and applied research.

CERIS – Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Architectural design; Urban studies; Sustainable urban design
Dr. Miguel Amado is a full professor and researcher in Architecture and Urban Planning at the Instituto Superior Técnico of Lisbon University.
He is a member of the National Technical Commission for Building Standardization - CT 171 - Sustainability of Buildings; National Technical Commission for Building Standardization – CT151 – Building Thermal; Sector Technical Committee for Construction of the National Quality Council. He has been a member of the CS10 – Standardization of the Construction sector; Working Group on Sustainable Development of the National Association of Built Environment Technology – ANTAC of Brazil, and he has been invited to several international scientific events and is still are consultant to various governments of CPLP, were his work in the design of new public policies.
He is a member of the Editorial Board of 14 international magazines, including 3 from Q1 and 4 from Q2; Associate Editor at a journal; Academic Editor of 2 journals; Guest Editor in 6 journals; Advisor Board in 2 journals. Also, Miguel has been a Keynote Speaker in several international scientific events, and his involvement with society and knowledge transfer is recognized by various activities with the public, private, or non-profit sector, or to the public in general.
Dr. Miguel Amado is dedicated to advancing knowledge and methodologies for sustainable development and the built environment. His approach emphasizes the integration of sustainability principles and the environmental parameters of the SDGs, alongside cultural and economic considerations in spatial planning, urban design, and architecture.
His work spans strategic planning and housing policy programs, focusing on the regeneration of informal settlements and developing sustainable urban planning and architectural design solutions. He is deeply involved in areas such as global, regional, and local governance, metropolitan area studies, community planning, socio-spatial segregation, eco-mobility, circular economy, globalization strategies, and renewable energy implementation.
Additionally, his previous projects have centered around smart cities, sustainable urban planning, and energy efficiency within urbanism and architecture. He continues to apply these principles in his practice of design in urban planning and architecture.
Amado's research areas include social housing, residential segregation, governance at various scales, city-regional development, community planning, spatial segregation, eco-mobility, planning theory, urban development, slum upgrading, housing policy, incremental housing, migration, globalization, and sustainable development.

Department of Architecture, KU Leuven, Ghent/Brussels, Belgium
Regenerative; Architecture; Biodesign; Sustainability; Post Anthropocene; Ecosystems; Biodiversity; Circular economy; Resilience
Dr. Rachel Armstrong is Professor of Design-Driven Construction for Regenerative Architecture.
She holds a First-Class Honours degree with 2 academic prizes from the University of Cambridge (Girton College), and a medical degree from the University of Oxford (The Queen’s College). She was admitted as a Member to the Royal College of New Zealand General Practitioners between 2005 and 2015 with a PhD in Architecture (2014) awarded by the University of London (Bartlett School of Architecture), which established the principles of ‘living’ technologies for architectural design.
Her work interrogates the transition from an industrial era of architectural design to an ecological one. Drawing together the fields of architectural design, natural and medical sciences, she develops “living” technologies within the practice of the built environment, which apply some of the characteristics of biological systems to perform work, to establish new standards for sustainable living. Bringing living technologies into proximity with architecture and design with biologically produced materials, like mycelium biocomposites, she looks for approaches that can radically change the impacts of human inhabitation on the environment, so our lifestyles are beneficial for living systems. Heralding an era of change, the implementation of ‘living’ technologies and biomaterials can fundamentally change the impact of the built environment on our living world, to reach new levels of sustainability where building impacts are aligned with the natural realm and are resilient against climate change.

School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Advanced architectural design, and algorithm development; Bio-inspired sustainable architecture and structures; Building information modelling and building performance optimisation; Computational design, robotic fabrication and additive manufacturing technologies
Dr. Ding Wen 'Nic' Bao is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Architecture Technology Stream Coordinator at the School of Architecture and Urban Design, as well as a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Innovative Structure and Materials and a member of the Post-Carbon Research Centre at RMIT University. His research explores design methodologies for establishing a complementary relationship among architecture, computational design, structural engineering, behavioural algorithms, robotic fabrication, additive manufacturing, and intelligent construction.
Dr. Bao is a practising architect with 12 years of professional experience, and he holds an Australian Registered Architect (ARBV). US Registered Architect (NCARB) and RIBA Chartered Architect. He used to work for Architectus, Bates Smart, Fender Katsalidis, Billard Leece Partnership, with Cox and Noel Robinson Architects. Currently, Nic is the Director & Principal Architect of BWA Architects, Founder of FormX Research Lab and Partner at Ameba Institute of Engineering Structure Optimisation. Nic is also a committee member of the Australian Institution of Architects (AIA) Design Technology Advisory Group to the National Practice, as well as an officer/committee member and Secretary at the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA). He is a core member of the organising committee of DigitalFUTURES International conferences (2020 - now) and the IASS 2023 Annual Symposium. He is also an editorial board member of three high-impact international journals, including the Sustainable Structures journal (Q1 journal), the Architectural Intelligence journal (Springer) and the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism.
Dr. Bao has published over 60 articles, including high-impact journal papers, book chapters and conference papers. Nic's work has been exhibited widely, and is recognised at the national and international levels, including Hong Kong BoDW, Shanghai DigitalFutures Exhibition, Barcelona IASS Expo, Shenzhen Biennale, Melbourne Design Week, Venice Biennale, Melbourne IASS Expo, National Gallery of Victoria and Melbourne Design Fair, Current Chinese Science, etc.
Dr. Bao also played a role as a scientific reviewer and session chair for the international conference, including CAAD Futures, CAADRIA, ASCAAD, eCAADe and CDRF - DigitalFutures, as well as ran 14 workshops at international conferences including DigitalFutures, CAADRIA, ACADIA, and SIGraDi. Recently, he led the AA Visiting School in Hainan, China and the IASS Masterclass in Melbourne, Australia.
Recently Dr. Bao received the 2024 & 2025 DigitalFUTURES Project Award, 2024 CDRF Best Paper, 2023 A'Design Award, 2023 DigitalFUTURES Young Award, 2023 RMIT Award for Research Excellence (Early Career Research), the third prizes of IASS Design & Competition of Innovative Lightweight Structures in 2023, 2022 IAI Design Award, 2021 Grand Prix Design Paris Gold Award, 2021 Muse Design Award, 2021 RMIT Prize for Research Impact (Design), 2021 Young CAADRIA Award, 2020 RMIT Engineering Publication & Impact Prize, 2019 CISM Research Excellence Award and two significant first prizes in structural optimisation and additive manufacturing competitions nationally and internationally in 2019 & 2020.

Department of Architectural Science, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada
Sustainability; Urban physics; Energy efficiency; Nanotechnologies; Acoustics; Lighting
Umberto Berardi is Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Founder Director of the Building Science BeTOP Lab (and Inc.)
Principal Investigator of the Center for Urban Energy
Associate Researcher to the Center for Urban Research
affiliated with the Environmental Applied Science and Management graduate (Master's and Ph.D.)
His Research Interests are Building Science/Physics, including:
green cities: climate change adaptation, natural-based solutions, green infrastructure
new materials: organic and inorganic Phase Change Materials, aerogel-enhanced products
Energy efficiency: integration of energy-saving technologies (green roofs, double skin facades) in buildings
acoustics: both architectural acoustics (sound propagation, energy decay, shape optimization) and building acoustics (noise insulation, new natural materials)
lighting: daylight, glare metrics, shading systems, building simulation
sustainability: sustainability assessment at building, community, and city level, diffusion of green technologies, smart city

Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Sustainability and resilience; Urban and rural sustainable development; Smart urbanization and urban-rural integration; Urban and peri-urban agriculture; Regional cooperation and governance; Strategic planning and rural revitalization
Dr. Jianming CAI is an emeritus professor of the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the former RUAF China regional coordinator of RUAF Foundation, which is an international organization in promoting urban agriculture based in the Netherlands. He got his First Degree from Beijing University and Master Degree from ITC of the Netherlands, and his Ph.D. from The University of Hong Kong. He is the author of Modern Geographical Sciences and co-author of more than twenty books in Chinese and English. He has published more than 180 papers in academic journals since 1990, both in Chinese and English, as well as many consultant reports. He frequently serves as a senior consultant or expert on urbanization, regional development, urban agriculture and food security issues to both international agencies such as the World Bank, ADB, AIIB, EU, IDRC, Lincoln Institute and Chinese Government Ministries such as the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, local governments and private sector (e.g. the Shui On Land). He is also an active member of many academic associations and editors of numeric international journals. His current research focuses on urban-rural sustainable development, regional/urban/rural planning, urban food resilience and agro-tourism.

International Studies and Global Societies, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Studies of Asian society; Urban geography; Political geography; Political economy and social change; Human geography
Carolyn Cartier is Professor of Human Geography and China Studies in International Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney, where she teaches 'Contemporary China' and has convened the Asia Pacific Research Group. A specialist in urban China and geographical thought, she is a Founding Member of the UTS China Research Centre (2009-14) and a Founding Fellow of the Centre for China in the World at the Australian National University. As a geographer with teaching specialties in nature-society relations, she also teaches 'Planetary Decarbonization' for the Sustainability and Environment program.
The core of Cartier's current research concentrates on fields of human geography, cities, and China Studies. Her research, funded by the Australian Research Council, focuses on how China changes subnational territory to establish and transform cities through changes to the administrative divisions, establishing the concept of territorial urbanization. She received the Association of American Geographers’ China Geography Specialty Group Outstanding Service Award 2022 in recognition of this work and for ‘significantly advancing China research in and beyond the discipline through highly impactful scholarship'.
The larger ambit of Cartier's research program concerns debates in the history of urban theory, contemporary socialism in China, and the conjunctures of spatial thought and political economy. She maintains research interests in comparative Asian studies, including the urban landscape and built environment, the political economy of cities and regions, and representations of the city in contemporary alternative art.
Committed to the priority of research design based on new ideas that advance the scholarship in combination with sustained local fieldwork, Cartier's general approach to research in Asia is theoretically informed comparative international area studies. She supervises doctoral research on topics concerning cities, regions, territory, urban political economy, and comparative urbanization. Her advising approach supports students to pursue originality and critical significance.

Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Green building construction; Heritage conservation; Construction project management
Professor Albert Chan is a Distinguished Research Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). His extensive leadership experience includes serving as PolyU's Dean of Students from 2021 to 2025 and as the Head of the Department of Building and Real Estate from 2015 to 2021. His dedication to academic excellence is further highlighted by roles such as Associate and Interim Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment from 2011 to 2014, and as the Associate Director of the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development from 2016 to 2025. In addition, Professor Chan held the title of Endowed Able Professor in Construction Health and Safety from 2019 to 2025 and served as the Chair Professor of Construction Engineering and Management from 2015 to 2025. His academic credentials include an MSc in Construction Management and Economics from the University of Aston in Birmingham and a PhD in Project Management from the University of South Australia. Before joining PolyU in 1996, he was a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of the School of Building and Planning at the University of South Australia. His influence extends globally, as he has served as an Adjunct Professor at numerous prestigious institutions both in Mainland China and internationally.
Professor Chan is a highly committed and influential researcher, specializing in diverse subjects such as project management, procurement strategies, public-private partnerships, and health and safety within the construction industry. His remarkable body of work boasts over 1,000 published articles, including refereed journal papers, international conference contributions, consultancy reports, and a variety of other scholarly articles. Recognized for his expertise, Professor Chan has served on prestigious panels including the Engineering Panel of the Research Grants Council in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Built Environment Panel of FORMAS in Sweden, as well as the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Professor Chan is a non-official member of the Construction Industry Council (CIC), which is a statutory body to forge consensus on long-term strategic issues concerning the construction industry. Since 2020, he has stood among the top 2% of scientists globally, according to Stanford University researchers. His dedication to advancing the field was further acknowledged when he received the Medal of Honour (M.H.) from the Government of the HKSAR on July 1, 2024. This honour recognizes his vital contributions to construction policy research and his commitment to developing the next generation of professionals in the industry.

School of Architecture, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Urban morphology and typomorphology; Urban design and planning policy
Dr. Fei Chen is a Reader in Urban Design at the Liverpool School of Architecture. She is an urban morphologist and urban designer. She is interested in how physical spaces, particularly public spaces, affect people's sense of identity, place value, quality of life, health, and well-being. She is also interested in urban design governance across various planning cultures, focusing on new development, conservation, and regeneration practice.
Dr. Chen leads the Urban Form and Social Space research group in Architecture, and she is the Executive Editor of the Journal of Urban Management (Elsevier). She was the inaugural Director of the European Chapter of the International Association for China Planning (IACP) and a key member of the International Seminar on Urban Form (ISUF).
She mainly engaged in research on:
Urban morphology and typomorphology
Urban design and design governance in planning practice
Public spaces and health and well-being

Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Visual anthropology; Cultural heritage; Social change; Aquaculture development
Prof. Sidney C.H. Cheung received scholarships given by the Japanese Government/Monbusho (1984-94) for his undergraduate, master's, and doctoral programmes and his anthropological training in Japan. He is the Professor and Associate Director of the Centre for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Studies. He has been doing research about freshwater fish farming in Hong Kong in order to understand the fishermen and their perspectives on environmental change, sustainable development, and wetland conservation. Currently, he is working on an ongoing multi-site research project exploring the impact of the move of American crayfish from the U.S. to Asia and on the global consumption and production of crayfish in China, Japan, and the U.S.
Besides academic publications, Cheung was co-hosting three RTHK radio/television programmes entitled: 《港饮食、讲文化 (Hong Kong Foodways and Culture)》in 2004, 《文化非主流 (Culture Unconventional)》in 2005,《考饮考食》in 2017/2018, 《味之天下:中华色香味》in 2022 and《艺文谷之味觉漫游系列》in 2025, through which he was able to bring anthropological perspectives to the mass public. Again, some of his research findings were used for the RTHK documentary series of 《香港故事 (Hong Kong Stories) 》, such as [年年有鱼] and [东江逆流] in 2008.
Prof. Cheung's Research interests include:
Visual anthropology, anthropology of tourism, cultural heritage, food and identity, social change and aquaculture development, Ainu-Japanese relations, coastal communities, incense traditions.

Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore, Singapore City, Singapore
Sustainable urban planning and design; Urban design and conservation of historic districts; Built environment and health
Professor Heng Chye Kiang is the Provost’s Professor at the College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore, where he was the former Dean of the School of Design and Environment (SDE) (2007 to 2016) and the Head of its Department of Architecture prior to his deanship. He teaches and researches urban history, sustainable urban design, and planning, and publishes widely in these areas. Professor Heng has served on the boards of government agencies, including the URA, HDB, CLC, JTC, BCA, and advises academic institutions like SIT, NAFA, CUHK, and HKU. He is currently appointed Honorary Professor at CUHK and has been appointed Visiting Professor at Hanyang University (Korea), Keio University (Japan), Southeast University, Chang’an University, Xiamen University, Tongji University (China), and EAVT (France). He has served as a jury member in numerous international design competitions and on several editorial boards of international journals. He is also a planning consultant to several award-winning urban planning and design projects in Asia.
Prof. Chye Kiang's Research Areas/Specialisations include:
Singapore’s urban planning and design
History of Chinese cities and architecture
Urban design and conservation in Asia
Sustainable urban planning and design

School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
New technical methods and applications of urban and rural planning; Theories, techniques and methods of digital urban-rural planning; Spatial information technology and its application in urban and rural planning; Fundamentals of landscape geology and landscape planning and design
Dr. Dang Anrong teaches at the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University. His main research and teaching focus is on human settlements, urban and rural planning, and digital cities, using remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS).
His research and teaching areas mainly include:
New technical methods in urban and rural planning and their applications
Digital urban and rural planning theories, technologies, and methods
Spatial information technology and its applications in urban and rural planning
Basics of landscape geoscience and landscape planning design

Department of Landscape Architecture, The University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, US
Landscap architecture; Urban sustainability; Geodesign; Resilient systems
Brian Deal is Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Brian Deal's research activities have focused on developing and deploying planning tools that engage the profession of planning and ultimately help communities make better decisions. His current research includes urban land use transformation and modeling, the development of useful decision support tools, and research into energy systems and planning for climate change. He is the Director of the Land use Evolution and impact Assessment Modeling (LEAM) Laboratory and the Director of the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center (SEDAC). He is also one of the primary authors of the University of Illinois’ climate action plan (iCAP), is a faculty mentor to the Student Sustainability Committee, and chairs the facilities committee for campus sustainability planning efforts.
Previous positions have included a decade of professional practice in architecture and as a senior researcher with the Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL), where he focused on issues of sustainable design and development utilizing spatial simulation modeling techniques for military facilities. Professor Deal received a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois with a specialization in land use planning, modeling, and analysis. He also holds a master’s degree and a professional license in architecture.
Prof. Deal's primary research areas are sustainable planning and decision support systems. His current work includes follow-up and implementation planning for the campus climate action plan, a look at how urbanization is affecting rural amenities in Korea, and the technological advancement of a next-generation, ‘sentient’, decision and planning support system.

Department of Architecture, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
Architectural/urban heritage conservation and regeneration
Dr. Yiping Dong is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture at Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University. She is a trained architect and architectural historian. She has a Master of Architecture Design and Theory, and completed her PhD in Architecture History and Theory from Tongji University in 2013. During her graduate study and research period, she was involved in several research and practice projects on architectural/urban heritage conservation and regeneration. She was invited as a Master's exchange student in Germany (2002-2003) and was a visiting Ph.D. candidate at ETH Zurich in Switzerland (2007-2008), funded by scholarships from DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) and CSC (China Scholarship Council). She is active in the research of architectural history and heritage.
Her research interests include: Heritage theory, Chinese architectural history and theory in a global context, Industrial heritage and heritage-led regeneration, Garden History, Architectural design in context, and the adaptive re-use of buildings. She has published over 10 papers within these fields. She serves as a peer reviewer for multiple journals, and she is an academic member of IAHAC (Industrial Architecture Heritage Academic Committee) of China; a member of TICCIH (International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage); and Vice President of ACHS (Association of Critical Heritage Studies). Her recent research, “Western Origin of Chinese Modern Industrial Buildings and the Localization Process-Case study of Textile Mills in Jiangsu and Shanghai Area”, is funded by the Young Scholar NSFC (National Natural Science Foundation of China).

Department of Architecture, Harvard University, Massachusetts, United States
Contemporary Chinese architecture; Chinese garden history; 20th-Century architecture; Architectural theory; Australian residential architecture
Prof. Fung is a researcher who has published widely on Chinese architecture landscapes in both traditional and contemporary contexts. As Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he is supervising PhD students on topics ranging from Song and Ming dynasty gardens to contemporary Chinese architecture. As Lecturer in Landscape Architecture in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University for the last four years, Stan Fung has developed a course entitled “Topology and Imagination” into a lively platform for introducing Chinese design culture to students in the GSD. More recently, as Visiting Professor of Architecture in the School of Architecture at Southeast University in Nanjing, Stan Fung is a member of the Virtual Department of Architectural History and Theory, an initiative funded by the Chinese Ministry of Education to develop and share high-quality online courses among Chinese universities. Before joining CUHK, he had previously held teaching positions at the University of Adelaide, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of New South Wales.
Stan Fung’s work has been supported by grants from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange in Taipei, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Architecture in Chicago and the Ian Potter Foundation in Melbourne. In recent years, he has been awarded two GRF grants from the University Grants Council in Hong Kong.
As a PhD supervisor, Stan Fung has worked with research students on a wide range of topics: the emergence of interior design in 19th-century Europe, modern publicity and the image of professional architects in Australia, the modern architecture of Richard Neutra and Richard Schindler, the contributions of Nadar Ardalan to modern Islamic architecture and historic images of Tiger Hill in Suzhou. An account of his views on doctoral education can be found in InterVIEWS: Insights and Introspection on Doctoral Research in Architecture (edited by Federica Goffi, Routledge, 2021).

School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Architecture; Sustainable design; Building technology; Urban microclimate
Prof. Zhonghua Gou is a professor of the School of Urban Design, Wuhan University.
Professor Gou serves as the deputy editor, guest editor, and editorial board member of several SCI journals. At the same time, he acts as the publishing advisor for the series of books on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals published by Springer. Besides, he has been serving as a reviewer for numerous government-funded funds from various countries and regions, such as the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (HK-RGC), the Australian Research Council (ARC), the United Kingdom Natural Environment Research Council (U.K. NERC), and the Israel Science Foundation (ISF).
His research interests include green building design and technology, building performance simulation, healthy buildings, and environmental control etc.

School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Urban morphology and urban design; Urban landscape management; Urban planning and design of Chinese cities
Prof. Kai Gu is a Professor of the Faculty of Engineering and Design, Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland.
Following research appointments at the University of Birmingham, UK, and the University of Waterloo, Canada, Kai Gu joined the University of Auckland in 2006. He now teaches urban design at the School of Architecture and Planning. Most of his research publications are on urban morphology and urban landscape management. His field-based urban research has been supported by the British Economic and Social Research Council, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the Natural Science Foundation of China. He served as Secretary-General of the International Seminar on Urban Form between 2010 and 2018.

Shanghai Key Laboratory of Urban Design and Urban Science, NYU Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Urban big data and space-time computation on smart eco-city systems from a multi-disciplinary context; Urban infrastructure planning and real estate development in low-carbon cities
Dr. ChengHe Guan is an Assistant Professor of Urban Science and Policy at NYU Shanghai, Global Network Assistant Professor, and PhD Advisor at NYU Wagner.
He is the founding co-director of the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Urban Design and Urban Science (LOUD) https://urban.shanghai.nyu.edu/. Dr. Guan is affiliated with the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, the School of Ecology and Environmental Sciences at East China Normal University, and the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Additionally, he serves as a senior research consultant to the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society at the University of Oxford.
Dr. Guan’s research focuses on spatial analytics of urban morphology and green space planning, organized around two interconnected themes: (1) Urban green space analytics with AI-enhanced urban sensing techniques, and (2) Urban form analytics and simulation for climate-adaptive cities. His work is published in leading academic journals such as Nature Communications, Communications Earth & Environment (Nature Portfolio), Journal of Planning Education and Research, Landscape and Urban Planning, Land Use Policy, Health and Place, Journal of Urban Affairs, Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, and Cities.

National Institute of Cultural Development, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
History of China's modern cultural industry; Landscape planning and design
Dr. Han Han currently serves as an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication of Wuhan University, the deputy director of the Jingyuan Planning and Design Institute of Wuhan University, and the editor-in-chief of "Cultural Soft Power Research" (CN42-1878/G0).
His main research focuses on the history, theory, and "Chineseization" path of the cultural industry. The main issues he explores include: (1) Based on the background of knowledge exchange and mutual learning of civilizations under the global perspective, he discusses the role and significance of the cultural industry in the construction of national image, dissemination, and soft power building. (2) In the context of the cultural exchange between China and the West since modern times, he proposes and studies the concept of "Modern Chinese Cultural Industry History", and is dedicated to the research and exploration of the "Chineseization" path and disciplinary institutionalization of the cultural industry. (3) From the perspectives of cultural industry, cultural production, urban planning, and cultural dissemination, he discusses issues related to industrial heritage, and has proposed and explained concepts such as "Red Industrial Heritage" and "Industrial Heritage of Reform and Opening-up".

Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Urban design; Architecture design; Place-making; Urban revitalisation and historic city quarters; City centre/urban living; Urban heritage conservation; Adaptive re-use of buildings
Professor Heath is a qualified architect and town planner and joined the University of Nottingham after working in practice. He is the Course Director of the MArch Sustainable Urban Design and the Director of Postgraduate Programmes. He has previously been the Director of the Institute of Architecture, Head of the School of the Built Environment and subsequently head of the Department of Architecture & Built Environment. He has also been the Associate Dean for Internationalisation and External Relations in the Faculty of Engineering and Acting Vice Provost for Research & Knowledge Exchange at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC).
Professor Heath gained his BA (Hons) Architecture (RIBA/ARB Part 1) from the University of Manchester before completing his DipArch (RIBA/ARB Part 2) and Certificate of Professional Architecture (RIBA/ARB Part 3) at the University of Nottingham. He subsequently successfully completed an MA in Environmental Planning (RTPI) and his PhD in Architecture & Urban Design also at the University of Nottingham.
Professor Heath has worked in the UK, China, South East Asia,and the Middle East, where he has undertaken consultancy and projects related to architecture, urban design, and building and urban environmental performance assessments.
He has also acted as an external examiner in many prestigious universities around the World for undergraduate, postgraduate programmes as well as being a PhD examiner. He has chaired many academic and professional accreditation and validation panels in the UK, Malaysia, China, Qatar, and for the UAE's Commission for Academic Accreditation.
Professor Heath is also a member of the Human Factors Research Group.
His Research Interests:
Urban Design; Architecture Design; Place-making; Urban Revitalisation; Historic City Quarters; City Centre/Urban Living; Urban Heritage Conservation; Adaptive Re-use of Buildings.

Department of Digital Architecture and Planning, Technische Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria
Embedded architectures; Experimental design; Performance-oriented design; Transscalar design; Design computation
Prof. Michael U. Hensel is Professor (part-time) of the Architecture Internationalization Demonstration School of Southeast University.
Prof. Michael U. Hensel is a registered architect, partner in the practice OCEAN Architecture | Environment, and founding member of the experimental design network OCEAN net. He is a founding and steering board member of the LamoLab Research Centre, series editor of the Springer Nature book series Designing Environments and initiator and chair of the international Architecture and Environment symposia series. He heads the research department for Digital Architecture and Planning at Vienna University of Technology, where is board and faculty member at the interfaculty Centre for Geometry and Computational Design and member of the Centre for Computational Complex Systems. His work is located at the intersection between architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, ecology, sustainable development, and data- and computerscience especially in areas of higher complexity.
He taught at world-class schools and universities including the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, Berlage Institute Amsterdam & Rotterdam, Technical University in Munich, Rice University in Houston and University of Technology Sydney. He was founding director of the Emergent Technologies and Design program at the Architectural Association and founding and acting director of the Research Centre for Architecture and Tectonics in Oslo. Furthermore, he was innovation fellow at the University of Sydney, honorary fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Technical University in Munich, and senior resident at Polytechnic University of Milan.

Department of Architecture, University of Idaho, Moscow, US
Cultural, social and political representations of architecture; Spatial identity; Non-Western architectural philosophies and history; Sustainable design; Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural learning
Dr. Xiao Hu is a professor in the Department of Architecture, University of Idaho.
Dr. Hu's research seeks to understand the architectural organizations and orders of the modern city in response to the broader cultural, social, political and psychological transformation. His current focus is on the problem of spatial identity as manifested in architectural and urban settings, with a particular emphasis on the East Asian and Middle Eastern context. Other main research interests include: non-Western architecture history, sustainable design strategies from traditional and vernacular architecture, globalization in architectural practice, human behaviors in the built environment, and interdisciplinary and cross-cultural architectural education.
Department of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Urban development; Green building; Urban sustainability; Sustainable architecture
Dr. Beisi Jia is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture, HKU. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Nanjing Institute of Technology (NIT China) and a Postgraduate Diploma from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He obtained a Ph.D in Architecture History and Theory in 1990 through a joint program of NIT and ETH Zurich. His Post-doctorate research projects in Zurich include a survey of housing projects in Switzerland. Since 2016, he has been Honorary Professor of Southeast University in China.
Since January 1996, he has been a tutor, lecturer, and coordinator of programmes of the Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Study of the school. Besides the design studio, he is teaching in courses History of Chinese Architecture and Housing in Urban development in his school. He was invited as guest and visiting professor in Ball State University in US, University of Montreal in Canada, Southeast University in China, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
He is the joint coordinator of W104-Open Building Implementation in the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB). He participated in organization an international conference on Open Building and student competition almost annualy since 2003, in Zurich, Beijing, Derban , Boston, Paris, Bilbao – named a few in last few years. Since 2008 an international student competition has been held along with the conference. Since 1996 he completed several research projects in housing adaptability and housing sustainable development based in China and Hong Kong. Jia Beisi has published 4 books and about 53 papers in international and/or national journals including Open House International, Landscape Research, Habitat International. He has been guest editor for issues of journal Open House International, reviewer and organizer of journals and conferences.
He is also the Director and Partner of the Architectural design office Baumschlager Eberle Hong Kong.Ltd, led and/or participated in 12 major projects and competition-winning projects since 2008, including housing, shopping malls, institutional buildings, urban design, and a hotel.
His major Research Interests are Quality housing design and construction, which is people-responsive and interactive, and environmentally friendly, open buildings in Asian cities.

Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Architecture; Urban planning; Sustainable development; Urbanism; Urban sustainability
Dr. Ying Jin is a Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, Director of Research, and Director of Studies for Robinson College.
Dr. Jin's main research interests are computer models of cities, and urban history. He has extensive industry experience and directed multi-disciplinary teams in building and using computer models as experimental platforms to appraise policy scenarios that involve investment, regulation, pricing and promotional campaigns. Key projects include strategic planning of London and surrounding regions, sub-regional and local planning in the English Midlands, transport and energy scenarios for the European Union, long term city region and transport plans in China and in South America, mapping urban poverty in emerging economies, and assessing development and transport options for Cambridge and surrounding regions. His interests in urban history lie mainly with the European Renaissance cities and the Chinese cities since the Tang Dynasty in the 7th Century.
At the Department of Architecture Professor Jin leads the Cities and Transport Research Group, which is one of the world’s leading centres in the creation and use of conceptual and practical models for cities and city-regions. These models have been applied in policy and planning studies to assess novel designs of buildings, neighbourhoods, transport and energy systems. The group’s past policy impacts were reviewed in a Cambridge University case study in REF2014.
Among a wide range of research projects, Professor Jin leads the city-scale data science and urban modelling applications at the EPSRC Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC 2011-2020). He is the Principal Investigator for a research project to assess the alternative growth scenarios for the Combined Authority of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, funded by the Combined Authority and Cambridge Ahead (2016-2020). He is also a co-Investigator at the EPSRC research project Managing Air for Green Inner Cities (2016-2018), and the Smart Urban Design research project funded by the Cambridge-UC Berkeley-National University of Singapore Global Alliance initiative (2016-2018). He is the lead convenor of the international symposia on Applied Urban Modelling since its launch in 2011.
Professor Jin is the current Director of the Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies.

Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Architectural acoustics; Environmental acoustics; Building acoustics; Soundscape
Professor Jian Kang, FREng, MAE, IMCAE, FIOA, FASA, DFIIAV, CEng, has been a full professor since 2003. He is past-President of the International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), and he also chaired the European Acoustics Association Technical Committee for Noise, and the EU COST Action on Soundscape of European Cities and Landscapes. He was awarded IOA Rayleigh Medal 2022, Tyndall Medal 2008 and Peter Lord Award 2014; NAS Lifetime Achievement Award 2014; and CIBSE Napier Shaw Bronze Medal 2013. He is Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering, a Member of Academia Europaea -The Academy of Europe, and an International Member (Academician) of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Prof. Kang has worked in the field for 40 years, with 80+ research projects, 800+ publications, 90+ engineering/consultancy projects, and 20+ patents. His work on acoustic theories, design guidance and products has brought major improvements to the noise control in underground stations/tunnels and soundscape design in urban areas. He is recipient of the prestigious Advanced ERC Grant Award, currently working internationally on developing Soundscape Indices.

Department of Fine Art, University of Louisville, Louisville, US
The history of modern Chinese architecture
Professor Lai Delin has a doctoral degree from Chicago University, United States. He is now an associate professor in the Art Department of the University of Louisville. His research is focused on Chinese architecture history and Western architecture history.

Department of Architecture and Industrial Design, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples, Italy
Acoustics; Room acoustics; Metamaterial acoustics; Acoustic material properties
Dr. Iannace Gino is an Associate Professor at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, where he is qualified as a full professor in the field of environmental acoustics (9C2 ING-IND 11). With a Ph.D. in environmental acoustics, his research interests span various aspects of acoustics, particularly focusing on environmental acoustics and the acoustic properties of materials. He has published over 77 papers in indexed international scientific journals and contributed to 48 conference proceedings. Dr. Iannace has over 30 years of professional experience in acoustics, including conducting action plans, noise maps, and acoustic impact assessments. He has participated in several national and international projects and has served as a reviewer for multiple journals, as well as an editor for the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. He has held numerous academic and scientific coordination roles, leading research units in several projects. His teaching activities are extensive, ranging from undergraduate to master’s levels, and he has taught in several international universities. He is also an active contributor to acoustics and environmental control education, with a strong track record of involvement in international teaching programs and conferences.

Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Arizona, Tucson, US
Twentieth-century China; Political activism; Urban space
Fabio Lanza is a Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Arizona.
Prof. Lanza is a cultural historian of twentieth-century China, with a particular focus on political activism and urban space. He teaches introductory classes on Modern China, Modern East Asia, Communist China, and Contemporary China, as well as courses on “Asia in the World” and the history of communism. In all his courses, by expanding the reading list beyond what are usually considered historical sources, he led students to look at how history is continuously produced around us and to read everyday materials as potential “archives.”

Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom
Architectural science; Materials; Building; Sustainability; Low carbon
Dr. Eshrar Latif is an Associate Professor at the Welsh School of Architecture (WSA), Cardiff University, UK. Within WSA, he holds the role of Course Director for the MSc Sustainable Mega Buildings program and Chair of the Research Ethics Committee, responsibilities that align with his passion for sustainable architecture and ethical academic practices. He has contributed significantly to various research, consultancy, and infrastructure grants, furthering the advancement of sustainable architectural paradigms. He co-authored the book titled 'Thermal Insulation Materials for Building Applications in 2019, a collaborative effort aimed at enhancing knowledge in the realm of sustainable construction materials. In essence, his professional journey has been characterised by an unwavering dedication to advancing sustainable architectural practices through education, research, and ethical leadership within the academic sphere.
Dr. Latif's Research interests include:
Hygrothermal performance of bio-based thermal insulation materials
Hygrothermal performance of hemp-lime
Energy performance monitoring of buildings and test cells
Laboratory-based experiments related to building physics
Innovative construction materials
Low energy building design
Simulation of heat and mass transfer.
Indoor Air Quality
Circular Economy for Sustainable Buildings
Urban level sustainability
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle, United Kingdom
The history of ideas in China especially traditional ideas and the role of these concepts in the present
Dr. Andrew Law is Newcastle Director of the Confucius Institute; Senior Lecturer in Town Planning
Dr. Law's research examines the way in which societies and individuals understand, process, interpret and/or narrate their pasts; he has conducted research on social theory, the history of ideas, historical imaginaries, collective memory, national myths and narratives, nostalgia, the politics of history and the uses and abuses of history and/or the past more broadly. In his career, he has often examined these themes in relation to architecture, townscapes, urban conservation, built heritage, intangible heritage, and urban place branding. While his early research explored British/English cases, since 2010, he has investigated Chinese case studies. In this respect, he has become an enthusiastic student of Chinese studies (Sinology).
His research interests relate to:
Social theory
Sociological theory
The history of ideas
historical imaginaries
Collective memory
nostalgia
The politics of history
The politics of the past
The uses of the past
The use and abuse of history/the past
heritage
Historical place branding
Nostalgic place branding
Faux history
Historical simulacra
nationalism
national myths
national narratives
race and ethnicity
Chinese studies

Urban Futures Lab., School of Architecture, The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, US
Sustainable architectural; Resource-efficient urban design; Urban development; Future cities; Urban resilience; Environmental sustainability
Steffen Lehmann, Assoc. AIA, RIBA, AA Dipl., is an internationally renowned designer, educator, scholar, author, scientific researcher and strategic leader. He holds a senior tenured position as professor of architecture and urbanism, and has served as executive director of three architecture schools in the US and Australia, including the Las Vegas School of Architecture at UNLV. Currently, he directs the interdisciplinary Urban Futures Lab and previously led the Future Cities Leadership Lab Institute as CEO, translating strategic vision into impactful programmatic initiatives amid a rapidly evolving profession and transforming society. Prior to UNLV, Lehmann was a chair and full professor since 2002, in the UK and Australia, and for many years held the UNESCO Chair for Sustainable Urban Development in the Asia-Pacific Region.
He has dedicated his long and distinguished career as an architect, urban designer and educator to the creation of new knowledge and social impact through the improvement of cities’ public spaces and resource-efficiency, most recently as the founding director of the interdisciplinary think-tank Urban Futures Lab at UNLV. He has generated significant external research income through his involvement in numerous research and consultancy projects, industry partnerships, and publications that are highly cited. Steffen has published 24 books with prestigious publishers, and numerous (500+) articles and papers on architecture and sustainable urban development. In the 1990s, he coined the concept of Green Urbanism. In 2010, he coined the term Zero Waste City, and since then, has developed large-scale urban design projects, exploring the concepts of Density without High-rise and The City of Short Distances.
His research is mainly in the field of urban resilience, sustainable architecture and urban design. Over the last 25 years, his pioneering work and influential scholarship are best known for its holistic view of urbanization and for actively promoting sustainability, devoted to understanding and unraveling the principles of the modern metropolis and its urban systems, exploring the themes:
Sustainable Architectural and Resource-efficient Urban Design,
Urban Development for Future Cities,
Climate Change, Urban Resilience and Environmental Sustainability,
High-performance Architecture, Entrepreneurship and Leadership.

Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Toronto, Canada
Cities and globalization; Economic restructuring and urban form; Political economy of the built environment; Theory and history of planning, Urban design and architecture; Built environment, Ethnicity and immigration to urban area
Ute Lehrer is an Applicant for the MCRI on ‘Global Suburbanisms’ and holds a PhD in Urban Planning from UCLA. She taught at SUNY Buffalo and Brock University before joining York, where she serves as a Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies. She has been involved in comparative urban research on Zurich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Los Angeles and Toronto, investigating new urban forms, processes of spectacularization and megaprojects. She has recently completed a SSHRC-funded project on “Urban Images, Public Space and the Growth of Private Interest in Toronto” in which she studied the development of private residential real estate development in form of condominium towers in Toronto. She was involved in an in-depth comparative study of the financial centres of Frankfurt and Zurich in the 1990s, the first such comparative study on two global cities in continental Europe (Hitz et al. 1995).
Research Interests: Cities and Globalization; Economic Restructuring and Urban Form; Political Economy of the Built Environment; Theory and History of Planning, Urban Design and Architecture; Built Environment, Ethnicity and Immigration to Urban Area.

Department of Land Resources Management, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China
Human transformation of land and the links between urbanization; Global change; Sustainability
Dr. Huan Li got Ph.D. in Geography from Nanjing University (jointly cultivated at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), postdoctoral fellow at City University of Hong Kong; Certified Land Valuer in China, Registered Second-Class Constructor in China; Leading Scholar of Zhejiang Province, Leading Talent of Zhejiang Universities; Wrote 2 copies of "Suggestions from Scientific and Technological Workers" and 1 copy of "Zhejiang Social Science Research Bulletin"; Obtained 3 invention patents, 2 software copyrights, and published over 30 academic papers.
His current research is on the human transformation of land and the links between urbanization, global change, and sustainability. His research integrates remote sensing, field interviews, questionnaire surveys, and modeling methods to study land change and urbanization, forecast urban growth, examine the environmental consequences of urban expansion, and the changes in human behavior.

School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Urban spatial transformation and urban planning in China
Zhigang Li is a professor of urban studies and planning at the Department of Urban Planning, School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, one of the top ten universities in mainland China. He also served as the dean of this school after 2015. Before 2015, Prof LI worked at the School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

School of Architecture, Xi' an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, China
Urban design; Urban renewal; Urban reconstruction; Public space design
Prof. Hao Li is a professor in the School of Architecture, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology
Member of the Urban Design Expert Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development
Member of the National Committee for the Evaluation of Architectural Education in Higher Education Institutions
Member of the Urban Design Branch of the Chinese Society of Architecture
Member of the Architectural Education Evaluation Committee of the Chinese Society of Architecture
Member of the Urban Design Academic Committee of the Chinese Urban Planning Society
Member of the Urban Renewal Academic Committee of the Chinese Urban Planning Society
Regular Member of the Xi'an Civil Engineering and Architecture Society
His research interests include:
Urban design, urban renewal, public space, and building renovation design

Institute for Sustainable Industries and Livable Cities, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
Architectural history and theory; Architectural history in China; Vernacular architecture; Sustainability in the built environment; Architectural design
Dr Mengbi Li holds a PhD in Built Environment from the University of New South Wales, Sydney. As one of the members of the pedagogic revolution, First Year Model of Victoria University, Mengbi joined VU on a permanent basis in 2018.
Mengbi is passionate about exploring and implementing innovative teaching methods and curriculum design to address pedagogic challenges and help students reach their full potential. She is interested in nurturing curiosity in her students and an enduring enthusiasm for the discipline of built environment in today’s rapidly changing society.
Mengbi’s research interest is in promoting an understanding of the history of architecture, with a particular focus on the pre-modern architecture and settlements in China. She seeks pathways to intellectual understanding and response in architecture from its own history. She is striving for a critical rethink of a series of dogmas, mind-sets and vigorously imposed goals in the production of cities and buildings.
Currently, Mengbi’s research is contributing better practices for low-carbon living and sustainability to architecture by challenging existing principles that clash with these objectives.

Department of Architecture, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
Built heritage preservation; Preventive conservation, and adaptive reuse; Cultural heritage protection; Rural architecture renovation; Historical building restoration
Dr. Hongtao Liu is the Director of the International Research Center for World Heritage of Southwest Jiaotong University, doctoral supervisor. National Natural Science Foundation of China referee, expert of the Ministry of Education's Degree and Graduate Education Center, major project review expert of the Ministry of Science and Technology, expert of national industrial heritage projects; Member of the Agricultural Heritage Branch of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Academic Committee Member of the Chinese Ancient Bridge Protection Foundation, Member of the Japanese Institute of Architecture, Member of the Chinese Urban Planning Society, Member of the Chinese Cultural Heritage Society; Member of the Chinese Residential Architecture Professional Committee, Member of the Modern Architecture Protection Professional Committee of the Chinese Conservation Technology Association; Reviewer of International Journal of Heritage Studies, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, China City Planning Review, Journal of Architectural Heritage, and other journals. Expert of the Sichuan Provincial Expert Service Team, Expert of the Sichuan Provincial World Heritage Expert Committee, Standing Director and Director of the World Heritage Work Committee of the Sichuan Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and selected for the Chengdu Rongbo Plan in 2021. Mainly engaged in research and practical work related to the protection and utilization of local heritage, urban renewal, and preventive protection. Awarded the title of "Most Beautiful Scientist of Sichuan Province" in 2020 and reported by CCTV's "People" program.

Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (DABC), Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
Green and energy transition in architecture; Building reuse and regenerative design; Architectural conservation, and restoration cultural heritage; Diagnosis of architectural heritage; Heritage-compatible architectural design; Green rating systems at urban and building level; Preventive and planned conservation of cultural heritage; Renewable energies (photovoltaics, solar thermal, wind systems)
Dr. Elena Lucchi is MSC (m.arch.), PhD (architecture technology/environmental technical physics), M.A. Graduate of the Technical University of Milan with honors in architecture; Doctor of Research in advanced technology and design for the environmental quality of the building and urban scale, awarded at Milan Polytechnic with a dissertation on environmental quality, Conservation of cultural objects. Energy and environmental regeneration strategies of the Museum heritage."
Her research activities concern the link between energy, environment, and architecture, with particular attention being paid Environmental technical physics, energy diagnosis and environmental diagnosis, energy rehabilitation, ai Highly insulating materials (SIMS), building integrated photovoltaic systems (bipv), redesign, The estimation of energy potential on an urban scale, bioclimatic and environmental design, The analysis of comfort and the preventive conservation of cultural heritage. Her research has focused on the Internet, in particular on the efficiency and energy upgrading of existing and historic buildings, simulations, Thermometers, in situ and laboratory tests, environmental monitoring and measuring instruments Environmental assessment. She is a scientific assistant at Eurac research and has been assigned to research at Milan Polytechnic, and collaborator of Infoenergia, the energy agency of the province of Milan, and editor-in-chief. On these issues, he has participated in a number of EU-funded research projects, the Ministry, foundations, public bodies, and private companies, and has won prizes and scholarships International and national. Finally, the SAN Martino asylum architectural project in Bareggio won the Legambiente award awarded environmental and social sustainability for the municipality, and energy efficiency in building apartments.

Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Indoor and outdoor comfort (UHI,UHII etc); Natural and artificial lighting; Environmental and building acoustics; Air pollution; Renewable energy sources; Thermo-fluid dynamics (CFD, etc.)

South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
Vernacular architecture; Architectural form; Regionalism

Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Management, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Design, analysis and modelling of concrete, timber and steel structures; Construction materials technology; Dynamic performance of structures; Tests on mechanical properties and structural performance of construction materials under loading and extreme environmental conditions (e.g. fire)

School of Architecture, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Architectural design; Urban design; Community design; Universal design; Heritage conservation

School of Architecture and Design, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China
Urban and regional development; Urban-rural integration and land use; Urban-rural living circle and public service facility; TOD and spatial planning

School of Architecture, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, China
Parametric design; Computational design; AI-aided architecture design and theories

Division of Building Physics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Building physics and sustainable design; Hygrothermal simulations on building components; Restoration, renovation, and management of built heritage; Indoor environment and health