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January 12-18, 2020.

In June 2019, as part of the World Urban Campaign by UN Habitat, CUHK hosted an Urban Thinkers Campus, bringing together a diverse group of local stakeholders to discuss the future of the New Territories. There was consensus across the community that the ambitious proposal of building new islands near Lantau would not sufficiently address Hong Kong’s spatial needs. The forum identified opportunities to unlock complex planning and ownership arrangements that prevail in the New Territories, enabling a variety of strategically located sites at scales suited to the production of inclusive and participatory urban space in line with the UN Habitat urban agenda.

Next year’s IFoU Winter school at CUHK will bring together students and researchers to engage further with the community and develop a series of visionary scenarios and pilot schemes to reframe the development potential of the New Territories. Reflecting on the new town model, students will be challenged to envision a more human centric approach based on a wider understanding of infrastructure, enabling a more equitable city that promotes social mobility. Proposals will implicitly address related issues ranging from blue and green infrastructure, inclusive public space and liveability, to participatory infrastructure design and urban regeneration. These framework proposals will also kickstart the CUHK Urban design studio for 2020.

All interested IFoU partner schools and students interested in joining should contact us via hktieben@cuhk.edu.hk.

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Octorber 10, 2018.

The M.Sc. in Urban Design programme of the School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong was accredited by the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design (HKIUD) on September 18, 2018, presented by Joel Chan (Chairman of HKIUD, Stephen Tang (President of HKIUD) and PY Tam (Hon. Secretary of HKIUD).

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10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. June 15, 2019, AIT Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Urban Thinkers Campus 2017

In the Chief Executive's 2018 Policy Address, the government of the HKSAR has announced a mega-project- Lantau Tomorrow Vision that includes the construction of artificial islands with a total area of about 1,780 hectares through massive land reclamation in the eastern waters of Lantau Island. The built-up area of Hong Kong made up only 24.3% of land and discounting country parks in largely rugged terrain and other conservation areas (47%), the city should still have some 29% of land for use. More importantly, a lot of this land lies in the New Territories. Perhaps Hong Kong needs a New Territories Vision too?

In the 2017 Urban Thinkers Campus 2.0, participants have come up with the following principles for planning the future of Hong Kong:

  • Inter-disciplinary and interdepartmental coordination for regional planning
  • Small is beautiful: localised planning and building guidelines with early involvement of urban designers to promote diverse neighbourhoods
  • People-centric approach
  • Environmental friendliness, sustainability and resilience
In a Preparatory Workshop held on 16 March 2019, participants use the "Six Thinking Hats" to explore the following dimensions of development in the New Territories:
  • Information required
  • Positive aspects of development in the New Territories
  • Negative aspects of development in the New Territories
  • Creative ideas
  • Emotional issues
  • Process issues
Based on the results of the Preparatory Workshop, we hope to invite more stakeholders to identify collectively challenges and opportunities in planning, designing and developing the New Territories in this Urban Thinkers Campus 4.0. We aim at providing an open platform for stakeholders to think and explore various issues related to the future development of Hong Kong in general and the New Territories in particular, with reference to United Nation's New Urban Agenda.


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May 26-31, 2019.




As Part 2 of Parsons New School & CUHK workshop: 'Designing Infrastructures of Inclusion', the workshop is hosted by our partner Parsons New School with CUHK and Pratt. In our workshop we follow metro line number 7 (the international express) from America’s most exclusive development at Hudson Yards and the High Line to Flushing, comparing “public spaces” in private developments and citizen driven placemaking initiatives. This trip is organized by Hendrik Tieben and Miodrag Mitrasinovic with his Parsons team. Then the students participate in the public space workshop at the New School with group work and a talk by Emily Weidenhof, Director of Public Space, NYC Department of Transport (DOT). The lecture inputs by Emily Weinderhof (Director of Public Space, NYC DOT), Monica Carillo Zegarra (Community Organizer, Queens Museum), Sociologist William Kornblum (coauthor of the book “International Express - New Yorkers on Subway Line 7”, the inspiration of our “Public Space Matters” workshop), Joseph Heathcott (Associate Professor of Urban Studies, The New School) and Ana Traverso-Krejcarek (Manager of the High Line Network).

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9am-5.30pm, April 13, 2019, School of Architecture, CUHK

What are the coming issues urban dwellers are going to face in the future? Come and learn about them. Can you visualise a design to address this future? Come and enlighten us. Can you articulate a theory/framework to guide our next steps? Come and discuss with us.

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March 29-30, 2019, School of Architecture, CUHK

This short and intensive workshop is offered to students at the School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The course will introduce participants to computational design processes using Evolutionary Algorithms, specifically through a new Rhino/Grasshopper plugin called ‘Wallacei’ which was launched in 2018. The design methodology shown in the workshop can be used by students for their individual project applications at a range of scales, taking into consideration multiple optimisation criteria such as site density, sunlight access, views, circulation and programming.

Students will be taught the theory behind evolutionary computation; it’s foundations in biological evolution; and its significance as a model in design. After which the students will be introduced to Wallacei, where the different features and functions of the plugin will be explained. The workshop tutors will lead the students towards how to efficiently formulate the design problem, which in the context of the workshop will focus on the design of urban blocks and superblocks and the connections between them, and analyse the generated results. Once the students run their evolutionary simulations, they will analyse the results and select a final set of design solutions.

As there is a limited number of places available, interested students will need to register to participate and are required to be fully available (daytime and evenings) during the two days of the workshop. More information is available at https://www.wallacei.com/

To register, please email Jeroen.vanameijde@cuhk.edu.hk

Instructor: Dr. Mohammed Makki (Architectural Association, London

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January 22, 2019.

HKIUD + Aedas + HKU + CUHK had a urban design dialogue on 22 Jan 2019.

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December 10, 2018.

Urban Design Dialogue opens to the urban design master students in HKU and CUHK and includes two events coorganized by Aedas and RLP.

HKIUD + RLP + HKU + CUHK had a urban design dialogue on 10 Dec 2018. This was to create a platform for information sharing on urban design for both academic and private practice.

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January 12, 2019.

Parsons New School & CUHK workshop: 'Designing Infrastructures of Inclusion' with Hendrik Tieben, Miodrag Mitrasinovic, Darren Snow and Nuno Soares co-hosted by CURB (Macau) was held in Hong Kong. Part 1 of this workshop is investigating the urban areas around the just opened Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge during Jan 11-12 and then workshop at CUHK during Jan 13-17. Part 2 will follow in late May in New York. Thank to Nuno's team from CURB, Francisco Pinheiro and Tim Simpson for the days in Macau.

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November 2, 2018.

MSc Urban Design Adjunct Associate Professor Sujata Govada held the event on Livable Cities with living legend Jan Gehl.In the meantime also UD students developed some complementary ideas for the surrounding of DVRC and Aberdeen Praya as walkable Neighborhoods should not only be provided in central business areas.

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November 2, 2018.

Cities shape the way people live and vice versa, where people and place interact and influence each other on a daily basis. How should we, as built environment professionals, help create more liveable cities?

The Institute for Sustainable Urbanisation (ISU) is honoured to have world-renowned urbanist Mr. Jan Gehl (Founder of Gehl Architects) as our keynote speaker; with Dr. Sujata Govada (Founding Director of ISU) as the moderator, along with Ms. Waltraut Ritter (Knowledge Dialogues), Mr. Phil Kim (Managing Director Asia Pacific of Jerde Partnership, Inc.), and Ms. Jennifer Walker Frisinger (CEO of Walk DVRC Ltd.) as the panelists. Our panel of experts will have an interactive session with participants on how to create liveable cities using the Smart Cultural Triangle Precinct in Central, Hong Kong as a potential case study.

  1. Date: 2/11/2018 (Fri)
  2. Time: 7.00pm -8.30pm (Registration start from 6.30pm)
  3. Venue: 3/F Multi-purpose Hall, City Gallery
  4. Fee: (Payment method and detail will be informed via email once register)
    HKD$ 250 for General Ticket
    HKD$ 100 for Student Ticket
  5. Free for ISU Full member (Please contact Leon at leon@udpcltd.com for enquiries on ISU membership)
  6. * Seats are available on a first-come-first-served basis. Registration required.
  7. * Cocktail and Canape Served

For any enquiries, please contact leon@udpcltd.com

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Octorber 10, 2018.

The M.Sc. in Urban Design programme of the School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong was accredited by the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design (HKIUD) on September 18, 2018, presented by Joel Chan (Chairman of HKIUD, Stephen Tang (President of HKIUD) and PY Tam (Hon. Secretary of HKIUD).

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Octorber 10, 2018.

MScUD graduate Wang Ruochen and Shen Hui was chosen by the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design (HKIUD) as the recipient of the Best Student Award 2018, presented by Joel Chan (Chairman of HKIUD) and Karl Chan (Founder and Chairman of Hong Kong Public Space Initiative).

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Octorber 10, 2018.

Urban Design and Public Space Boot Camp workshop 2018 was organized by Human Cities Initiative of Stanford and Msc Urban Design program of CUHK, in partnership with Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design (HKIUD), Hong Kong Design Institute (HKID) and the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

The hosts and co-organisers including Joel Chan (President of HKIUD), Barry Wilson (HKU) and Herman Chan (Eldpathy) and Kady Wong (HKDI), Casey Nai-Huei Wang (CUHK) and Hendrik Tieben (CUHK). The students are from MSc Urban Design of CUHK, Tsinghua University, HKID and Deparment of Landscape Architecture of HKU.

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September 18, 2018.

As a part of Boot Camp Workshop, Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design (HKIUD) organized a urban design activity for students to think how to consider more how to design for active aging.

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December 20, 2017, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

IFoU 2017

‘The Entrepreneurial City’ is the theme for the 10th conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU). Nine conferences have been held in various countries across the world. In face of global and local environmental, social and economic challenges, we invite international planners and designers to deliberate on theories, design and practices related to the entrepreneurial city.

IFoU is a network of universities, research institutes and knowledge centres with the task to strengthen the international collaboration in the field of Urbanism.

Following the goals of UN Habitat’s New Urban Agenda, the 10th IFoU Conference‘The Entrepreneurial City’ explores: How to create urban prosperity and an inclusive economy?

The conference was hosted by the School of Architecture of the Chinese University of Hong Kong on December 14-16, 2017.

IFoU 2017 IFoU 2017 Conference Website | Conference Ebook

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December 14-16, 2017, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

IFoU 2017

In context of our 10th IFoU Conference "The Entrepreneurial City" in Hong Kong we are happy to announce that we are preparing two thematic issues for the following journals with a selection of peer reviewed papers.

  • 1) The Journal of Public Space
    (for those papers linking the discussion of the entrepreneurial city with public space issues)

  • 2) The ICE Journal Urban Design Planning
    (Call for Papers: Urban design for an inclusive economy)

  • Conference Website
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    16 September 2017

    POST INDUSTRY WORKSHOP CURB x CUHK

    How can citizens, community groups, and socially-oriented companies engage in the design, stewardship, and creative development of public spaces? Can collective action result in better sites and spaces for all citizens to enjoy?

    "Retaking the Commons: Opportunities to engage with a city’s public spaces" - Field studies, presentations and discussions organised by the Human Cities Initiative of Stanford University at the Asian Society. We will continue with the same topic at our ACU Summer Workshop at CUHK in July 2018.

    Event Page

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    4 September 2017, The Chinese University of Hong Kong


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    May 22-27, 2017, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

    IFoU 2017

    The inadequate provision of open spaces in urban areas is one of the most recurrent challenges for the Hong Kong government. High-quality open public spaces can significantly increase a city's attractiveness by encouraging business investment and improving living conditions.

    The aim of the workshop is to design proposals to regenerate underused public spaces of Hong Kong's districts in response to local needs. Four teams of 8-10 students led by a group of international architects and urban designers, representing both academia and practice, will develop an urban design intervention to encourage the use of public space with innovative ideas.

    Website

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    9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. April 1, 2017, AIT Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

    Urban Thinkers Campus 2017

    The Urban Thinkers Campus is an initiative of UN-Habitat's World Urban Campaign, conceived as an open space for critical exchange between urban actors. It is intended as a platform to build consensus on urbanization challenges and solutions to urban futures. The Urban Thinkers Campus creates a platform to reflect on current urban challenges and trends as well as to propose a new urban paradigm. The outcomes will contribute to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito 2016.

    The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR Government”) is undertaking a six-month consultation process on the “Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030” (Hong Kong 2030+). This strategy will decide the future of sustainable urban development of the city towards 2030 and beyond. Meanwhile, the adoption of the New Urban Agenda at the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in October 2016 presents a critical framework to mobilise cities and regions around sustainable development in urban settings. The objectives of this UTC will be to:

  • Provide a forum for discussion regarding Hong Kong’s urban future,
    as part of the Hong Kong 2030+ consultation process
  • Examine avenues for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in the Hong Kong setting
  • Identify areas of linkages and synergies between the New Urban Agenda
    and the Hong Kong 2030+ process and advocate for their systematic alignment and integration

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    22 - 28 May 2017, Berlin.

    Berlin Trip 2017
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    17 - 21 January 2017, AIT Building, Macau, China.

    POST INDUSTRY WORKSHOP CURB x CUHK

    POST INDUSTRY Workshop part of a multi-format initiative conceived with the aim to explore the status of the city's industrial fabric, and to investigate possible strategies, policies, and design speculations as a means to identity Macau's potential in a post-industrial scenario.

    Macau holds a vast industrial fabric, yet the city's industrial sector is declining rapidly.

    Through the development of seven study-cases of different typologies, this think-thank in urban regeneration and resilience aimed to retrofit a number of buildings and to connect them with the future economy, while serving as catalysts to uplift their surrounding environment.

  • Organizer: CURB - Center for Architecture and Urbanism
  • Partner: Master in Urban Design, School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • Support: Ponte 9 - Creative Platform
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    17:30 – 20:00, January 26, 2017, Open Space of Cattle Depot Artist Village (63 Ma Tau Kok Road, Tokwawan).

    In the pass 9 months, during our engagement process in 13 street, we have heard from Kai fong their feelings for Cattle Depot Artist Village - “This is not a place for us.”,”It is about art and I don’t know anything about it.” However, the people here can always recall the memory of having cattle and stories about Cattle Depot - which is an important part of the local collective memory.

    “Cattle Monkey Chicken Carnival” will celebrate the Chinese New Year, Year of Rooster, with the local community and the public on this day. It is seemingly a typical “Fun Day”, however the combination of the participating groups may bring us surprise. With karaoke and game zone provided by Lung Ching Entertainment and green carpet and screening by Magic Carpet, we hope to re-establish the connection between 13 street Kai Fong and the Cattle Depot Artist Village.

    Opening hour of “The Day after Tokwawan” exhibition will be extended to 10:00 pm on this special day.

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    January 4-February 5, 2017, Unit 12 Cattle Depot Artist Village (63 Ma Tau Kok Road, Tokwawan).

    Following a number of urban renewal and urban-rural development, the creator of this exhibition created an intangible timeline based on the development of To Kwa Wan, thus imagining the new directions of both To Kwa Wan and future community. With 25 Community Living Projects selected from open recruitment, Community Living Approach Exhibition also invites organizations based in To Kwa Wan to make response to urban development which is happening right now in this area, with a series of workshops, activities and researches. As community groups in other districts will share with us their approach, the public can refer to these cases and imagine community autonomy comes to life in different neighbourhood, exploring more possibilities for their future living. Facebook Page


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    Decemeber 20, 2016.

    Student Work

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    December 15-17, 2016 at LT4, Yasumoto International Academic Park, CUHK.

    ‘Agency and Resilience’ is the theme for the 10th conference of the Pacific Rim Community Design Network.Nine conferences have been held in various countries across the Pacific Rim, covering issues surrounding democratic planning and participatory design. In face of global and local environmental, social and economic challenges, we invite international planners and designers to deliberate on theories, design and practices related to resilience. The theme ‘Agency and Resilience’ is set for community designers and related scholars or professionals around the globe to explore how to examine the roles of various stakeholders in advancing and realising resilient urban planning and design in diversified spatial and temporal settings to address issues related to climate change and socio-spatial polarisation.


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    December 7, 2016, AIT Building.

    Dr. Peter Cookson Smith (Founder of Urbis Limited, Adjunct Professor, CUHK), Chris Romano (Associate at Urban Design, Arup), Dr. Sujata Govada (Urban Design & Planning Consultants Limited, Adjunct Associate Professor, CUHK), Zhang Qian Chris and Han-Hsi Ho attended this review.


    Student Work

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    September 17,2016, Hung Fook Street, To Kwa Wan.

    Transform community space with a carpet and a screen. Hung Fook Street in To Kwa Wan was turned into an outdoor cinema for one evening at the Mid-Autumn Festival (17 September 2016, Thursday). Local residents and the general public were invited to enjoy movies made by local secondary school students about the neighbourhood, under the “full moon”, and re-imagine the public space of one of the oldest districts in Hong Kong, which might soon disappear due to urban redevelopment.

    “Magic Carpet: Re-envisioning Community Space in To Kwa Wan" is initiated by the School of Architecture and the School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), as an outreach project combining the documentation of daily life, community engagement and urban design. From December 2015 to June 2016, the project team visited Heep Yunn School, a long-established secondary school in To Kwa Wan, and conducted a series of guided tours and video workshops with 26 teenage students. The guided tours, organised in collaboration with House of To Kwa Wan Stories (ToHome) and Caritas Community Centre - Kowloon, informed the students of the district’s history and current situation, such as urban redevelopment, sub-divided flats and rooftop settlements, and introduced them to ethnic minority groups living in the neighbourhood. The video workshops then equipped the students with skills for conducting video interviews with community members. Over the summer, the participating students left their classroom and interviewed people from all walks of life in To Kwa Wan, capturing their life stories, views on the district’s (re-)development, and ideas as to how the district could change for the better. The students are currently editing their videos to be shown at the "Magic Carpet" open cinema on 17 September.

    The CUHK team has been researching To Kwa Wan’s community and urban environment since 2015. A mixed residential-industrial district in central Kowloon, To Kwa Wan has undergone drastic changes in recent years, due to urban renewal and major infrastructure projects (for example, the MTR’s Shatin to Central Link is expected to be opened in 2019). Despite its central location, To Kwa Wan is less developed than the other parts of Kowloon accessible by the MTR. Most residential dwellings in the area are mid-rises of 10 or fewer floors built in the mid-20th century. In a way, To Kwa Wan manages to retain its local qualities, with more affordable flats for senior citizens and ethnic minorities to live in.


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    September 9, 2016.

    MScUD graduate Hu Shang was chosen by the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design (HKIUD) as the recipient of the Best Student Award 2016, presented by Peter Cookson Smith (Past President of HKIUD) and Stephen Tang (President of HKIUD).

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    In 2012, the Chinese University of Hong Kong launched a new BSSC in Urban Studies and a new MSc in Urban Design program. Since then, both programs focused on the challenges and opportunities arising from the rapid urban transformation in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta; and aimed to respond to the growing aspirations of local citizens to live in a healthier, more inspiring and socially just environment.

    Similar to our UrbanLab+ partner programs, we organized teaching and research activities in a laboratory set-up. Central part of our approach is learning by organizing own community projects and public space interventions.

    "Magic Tables" is such a project. Students collaborate with residents building tables, which encourage strangers to come together and interact. The project thus empowers students and residents to re-build their community spaces.

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    September 10, 2016 at G/F, AIT Building, CUHK.

    Time and again, Hong Kong has weathered many storms such as the Global Financial Crisis and come out alright. Do we let its future unfold or strive to make our city resilient? Simultaneously, a growing and ageing population, development pressure on natural resources and a genuine for quality of life, provide a canvas of limitations and opportunities that can impact our future.

    This dialogue seeks your opinion to describe a new, shared vision for Hong Kong. Which direction should our economy follow? How can we adapt the built environment to cater for an ageing population and a lower carbon future? How can we better support our vulnerable communities? How can we better conserve our natural resources for our future generations?

    This first workshop (Hong Kong Futures: a dialogue) is part and partial of a town and gown collaborative research between Arup and CUHK to envision a smart green resilient Hong Kong. The outputs will feed into the World Urban Campaign, a multi-stakeholder and international platform to formulate and implement the New Urban Agenda to be finalized at Habitat III.

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    September 16-18, 2015 at UCL Urban Laboratory, UK.

    The M.Sc. in Urban Design Programme at CUHK participated in the concluding symposium of the URBAN LAB+ network of urban laboratories, hosted by the UCL Urban Laboratory in London. The symposium offered a chance for a wide community of urban educators and practitioners to address how inter- and trans-disciplinary learning can enhance global knowledge and address international issues in a world that is both rapidly urbanising and globalising. The CUHK team, together with partners Technische Universit?t Berlin and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile within the Interdisciplinarity Cluster presented recent work and conclusions in the project that started in 2012, along with talks from over thirty urban educators, researchers and practitioners who work in a wide range of contexts worldwide.

    The programme also included a launch event at the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture of the 5th issue of UCL Urban Lab's journal Urban Pamphleteer, guest edited by Paola Alfaro d’Alen?on (TUB), Ben Campkin (UCL), Rupali Gupte (KRVIA), Solam Mkhabela (WITS), Johannes Novy (Cardiff UNI) and Mika Savela (CUHK). The new issue also features a contribution from current PhD candidates Mika Savela and Mo Kar Him at the School of Architecture, CUHK.

    As part of the European Unions's Erasmus Mundus Programme Action 3, the URBAN LAB+ project will end its current in November 2015, having successfully created a cooperative platform for various urban laboratories in selected higher education institutions in Europe, South Africa, Asia and Latin America.

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    9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. August 29, 2015
    AIT Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

    Urban Thinkers Campus 2015

    In preparation of Habitat III (The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development) to be held in Quito, Ecuador in 2016, the UN Habitat is organizing the World Urban Campaign. This campaign includes Urban Thinkers Campuses around the world to build consensus with stakeholders and civic society on a New Urban Agenda: What is the future we want? What is the city we need? What direction will global urban development take in the coming 20 years? And what shall guide governments, their partners, and the international community to prepare for a progressively urban future?

    The objectives of the Hong Kong Urban Thinkers Campus is to better understand Hong Kong's challenges and the lessons for global urban development. Can we identify where we go wrong and find consensus on how to rectify the situation going forward? A number of themes have been identified for the campus: World city vs. Great city; Economy vs. liveability; Mainland integration; Public space in a dense city; Speculative vs. affordable housing and Land hegemony. Participants are invited to join talks, workshop discussions and sharing session during the full-day event.

    Confirmed keynote speakers and participants will include Ian Brownlee (Master Plan Consultancy), Kenneth Chan (Hong Kong Public Space Initiative), Cecilia Chu (The University of Hong Kong), Mee Kam Ng (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Hendrik Tieben (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Ada Wong (Make a Difference), Edward Yiu (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) and Paul Zimmerman (Designing Hong Kong).

    The event is organized by the Faculty of Social Science and the Institute of Future Cities at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as well as partnering education programs, departments, institutions and organzations.


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    Announced 30 June, 2015
    Deadline 26 September, 2015.

    ITAHK 2015

    The Cultural Association LOA (Laboratorio Oltre l’Architettura) and the Council of Architects of Naples, are organizing a Design Ideas Competition in Hong Kong SAR of the People’s Republic of China. The competition aims to develop strategies and design proposals to create a sustainable mixed-use district capable to integrate the new development into the existing context. Following the topic of the Word Expo Milano 2015 “Feeding the planet, Energy for Life” the competition will extend the original ideas of Shatin New Town, and ask how a sustainable new town could be planned in the 21st century.

    In order to improve respective professionalism and increase the possibility of joint projects between the two regions, the competition will be open to mixed groups formed by Italian architects as well as architects and urban designers from Hong Kong, even though the Team Leader must be a registered architect in Italy. To participate fill out the appropriate form on the www.na.archiworld.it and publish the project on the Archilovers website.

    Schedule:
    Announcement of competition - 30 June 2015
    End of Early bird registration - 27 July 2015
    End of Late registration - 01 September 2015
    Submission of Entries - 26 September 2015
    Jury Decision - October 2015
    Exhibition - November 2015

    Prizes:
    First prize: Euro 4000 and Certification Award + Round Trip flight to Hong Kong
    Second prize: Euro 2000 and Certification Award
    Third prize: Euro 1000 and Certification Award
    Special prize for professionals registered at College of Neapolitan Architects: Euro 1000 and Certification Award

    The organizer will exhibit the 10 best entries both at the School of Architecture CUHK and at National Council of Architects in Milan after the competition. The best projects will also be published online on the organizer's website as well the on the Archilovers platform and the competition partners' websites.

    Find out more about the competition details on the Archilovers website or download the entire competition brief as PDF here.

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    April 23rd, 2015. School of Architecture, CUHK.

    Final Review 2015 Final Review 2015

    Photos from the final review of the MSc Urban Design programme at CUHK. Thanks to all students, our teachers Francesco Rossini and Nuno Soares and the visiting critics Margaret Chan (Strategic Planning), Peter Cookson Smith (President HKIUD), Barry Day (HOK) and Casey Wang (Gensler).

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    March 31st, 2015. 14:30-16:00 Exhibition Zones D/E, AITB.

    Everyday Urbanism Margaret Crawford

    Everyday Urbanism is a concept intended to encourage architects and urban designers to “listen to the city before they tell it what to do.” Margaret Crawford and her co-editors, John Chase and John Kaliski, introduced this term in 1999. Their book defined it as a new attitude toward the urban environment, which is based on understanding ordinary human experiences. Challenging the formalism of architecture and the abstraction of planning, Everyday Urbanism is grounded in the specific activities, issues and opportunities that can be found in any urban locale. It is the product of the intricate social, political, economic, and aesthetic forces at work in the contemporary urban environment that serve as the basis for urban design.

    Margaret Crawford is Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley. She was previously a Professor at Harvard GSD and SCI-Arc. As a Fulbright Scholar, she is currently affiliated with CUHK. The lecture is organized as part of the course ARCH5731 Urban Design & Planning in the School of Architecture.

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    January 12-23, 2015. School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore.

    In January, the Urban Design programme participated in IFoU Winter School 2015 in Singapore. The joint design studio included background research, site analysis and design on the topic of Jurong Vison 2050 - one of the biggest challenges for future urban development in Singapore: The transformation of the Jurong West port area from an almost mono-functional, segregated and fragmented, highly polluted industrial area into a major catchment area for future population growth that integrates clean(ed) industrial plants with green lungs, attractive housing and vibrant urbanity for one million people.

    Graduate students from different countries, states and universities worked together under the guidance of tutors, with programmes including team work, lectures, excursions, presentations, and debates, encourage cross-cultural communication and knowledge exchange on urban design. Not only academics, but also professionals and practitioners patricipated to take part as tutors, guest lecturers, and consultants.

    See more photos of the event on the programme's Flickr account as well as the IFoU Winter School 2015 photo gallery.

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    October, 2015. School of Architecture, CUHK.

    The small exhibition was created as a travel diary using the photographs and individual experiences of students during a study trip to Taipei in October 2014. The collage of words and images expressing the collective vision of the students proved to be a positive experience. Future Urban Design field trips will also be documented with this exercise.

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    December 16-20, 2014. School of Architecture and Institute of Future Cities, CUHK.

    As part of the URBAN LAB+ project's international network of urban laboratories, the second meeting of the 'interdisciplinarity cluster' was organized in Hong Kong in Decemeber. The meeting, hosted by the M.Sc. in Urban Design programme at the School of Architecture, was attended by project partners from the Technische Universität Berlin, the XLab of Institute of Urban and Territorial Studies (IEUT) at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, as well as from the Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    Focusing on the complex theme of urban inclusion / exclusion the five-day event included public lectures, poster presentations, study trips and working sessions that will contribute to the project's finalization during 2015. The public lectures day included talks from CUHK guest speakers Prof. Mee Kam Ng, Prof. Essy Baniassad, Prof. Paul O'Connor and Prof. Edward Yiu, providing multidisciplinary viewpoints to the thematic along with partner universities' case presentations. Study trips to Hong Kong's Western Districts and New Terriories included workshops hosted by locally working organizations CACHe and Tin Sau Bazaar.

    URBAN LAB+ is a project supported by the European Union's Erastmus Mundus Action 3. The cluster meeting was organized by the School of Architecture, and co-organized by the Institute of Future Cities at CUHK. More photos of the event will uploaded to the Urban Design programme's Flickr site shortly.

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    January, 2014.

    Check out the video recap of the Magic Carpet event held at the Tin Sau Bazaar in Tin Shui Wai last September. Find more info about the past event and the project on Magic Carpet website and Facebook page.

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    December 16, 2014. 1/F Exhibition Zone F, School of Architecture.

    The IN/EX event brings together scholars of various disciplines from Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC, Santiago), University of the Witwatersrand (WITS, Johannesburg), and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), to explore such topics as urban inclusion and exclusion, land policies and spatial practices, community activism and interdisciplinary development.

    The IN / EX Public Lectures are part of the URBAN LAB+ initiative, an Erasmus Mundus programme supported by the European Union. See the full programme and find out more about the Urban Lab+ Hong Kong Cluster Meeting here.

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    November 22, 2014. The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

    Congratualations on behalf of everyone in the M.Sc. in Urban Design programme to the Graduating Class of 2014!

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    November 9-15, 2014. Tin Sau Bazaar, Tin Shui Wai.
    Opening Reception 8 November 2014, 6:00-9:00 p.m.

    The exhibition Pop-up City, will turn Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs) Tin Sau Bazaar into an open gallery of public space – for a week in November, where local residents and the general public can gather, interact and envision public life in an existing place in the new town.

    Pop-up City is an ongoing photographic research project investigating public space. It is initiated by architect Luisa Bravo, president of City Space Architecture, Bologna, Italy. Together with Italian photographer Fabio Mantovani, Pop-up City documents suburban places in Bologna, usually with no identity and continuity with the historic environment. The photos intend to highlight existing places with a potential for public life, searching for an “ordinary magic” along everyday street spaces.

    Bologna and Hong Kong share the same suburban reality, in a way that is not difficult to perceive: even if they are related to different geographical contexts and cultures, the two cities are dealing with living communities in new, large urban landscapes far away from the historic downtown district. The suburban world can be banal, sometimes ugly, not interesting, but full of life and can transform itself into an enchanting environment. People simply have to understand a new kind of urbanity, made of small, temporary, spontaneous and creative episodes of emotional exchange. A pop-up city is overlapping on the existing designed city. It is unexpected, unconventional and exciting. It is inexpensive and freely accessible to everyone. It creates vibrant energies, embedding life and aspirations. It changes your perception, but only if you are ready to embrace it.

    Through staging Pop-up City @ Tin Shui Wai, the Magic Carpet project team and Tin Sau Bazaar hope to re-envision, activate, and transform the public space of the district, and thereby make the community more vibrant. In addition, the project aims to foster art and cultural exchange in Tin Shui Wai, where creative activities are scarce.

    Find out more about the event on the Magic Carpet website.
    More about the Pop-Up City on the City Space Architecture's website.

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    November 9, 2014. Centre Street, Sai Ying Pun - 4:00 - 10:00 p.m.

    Magic Tables is a design-build project and public event focusing on making a community space. Students from CUHK's BSSc in Urban Studies programme will be collaborating with residents of different streets in Sai Ying Pun to engage in a friendly competition to design and build tables that allow stronger social interaction in the district. In a participatory process the project empowers students and residents to re-design the urban street space and appropriate it for public use. The tables will be displayed on the sloping Centre Street as a street exhibition-cum-festival and the community will be invited to eat together at Magic Tables as a festive gathering.

    On the same night 4:00-6:30 p.m. an outdoor A Cappella concert “Voice Connected” will take place with performers from Taiwan and Hong Kong!

    Magic Tables on Facebook

    Project Initiator: Hendrik Tieben, Associate Professor
    School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

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    September 16, 2014.

    MScUD graduate Ivan ZHANG Chi was chosen by by the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design (HKIUD) as the recipient of the Best Student Award 2014, presented by the new HKIUD President Dr. Peter Cookson Smith.

    Ivan ZHANG Chi: "Building a Vibrant Waterfront in the Flooding Context of Tin Shui Wai" - a M.Sc. in Urban Design thesis project.

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    September 8, 2014. Tin Sau Bazaar, Tin Shui Wai.
    Workshop – 4:00-10:00 p.m. Moonlight Cinema – 6:30-10:00 p.m.

    Transform community space with a carpet and a screen – TWGHs Tin Sau Bazaar will be turned into an outdoor cinema for one night at Mid-Autumn Festival (8 September 2014, Monday). While watching videos about the neighbourhood under the “full moon”, local residents and the general public are also changing the function of an open space collectively. (More info about the event on Facebook)

    Magic Carpet: Tin Shui Wai is an outdoor screening of videos about different aspects of life in Tin Shui Wai told by local residents. While these life stories serve as important resources for Hong Kong’s oral histories, the outdoor cinema creates an opportunity for the residents and general public to gather and interact on Mid-Autumn Festival, and to envision how an open space can be used for community building. It was launched in 2013 in Sai Ying Pun, one of Hong Kong’s oldest districts, to a tremendous public response. (Watch the 3 min video on YouTube here).

    Magic Carpet: Re-envisioning Community Space in Tin Shui Wai is a Knowledge Transfer Fund project at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The event was organised by the School of Architecture, M.Sc. in Urban Design Programme and the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Special thanks to project partners Pui Shing Catholic Secondary School and TWGHs Tin Sau Bazaar.

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    June 19-21, 2014 at the University of Calabria, Cosenza-Rende, Italy.

    The M.Sc. in Urban Design Programme at CUHK participated in the mid-term symposium of the URBAN LAB+ network of urban laboratories, hosted by the University of Calabria in Cosenza-Rende, Italy. Concentrating on issues of "Practice Orientation" and the ethical responsibilities of designing urban environments, the symposium introduced issues ranging from locality and regional planning to immigration and integration found current today in the Southern Italian setting. The CUHK team (Prof. Hendrik Tieben, Prof. Kuei-Hsien Liao and Mika Savela from the School of Architecture and Prof. Edward Yiu from the Department of Geography and Resource Management) presented on the on-going work in the project, together with the "interdisciplinarity" working cluster partners from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and the Technische Universität Berlin.


    As part of the European Unions's Erasmus Mundus Programme Action 3, the URBAN LAB+ project will run until the end of 2015, providing a cooperative platform for various urban laboratories in selected higher education institutions in Europe, South Africa, Asia and Latin America.

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    June 4, 2014.

    Published by the M.Sc. in Urban Design programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, REFLECTIONS Vol 2 / Issue 2 / June 2014 looks into the recent Urban Dialogue event series with quotes from guests speakers, as well as collected afterthoughts and reflections from the project. The bilingual issue (Chinese and English) concludes the Urban Dialogue project, supported by the Spotlight Taiwan Project, funded by the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan.

    The latest 82-page issue of REFLECTIONS is edited by Janice Leung (CUHK) with Hendrik Tieben (CUHK) and Kang Min-jay (NTU).

    You can find the electronic version of the issue as well as other MSCUDxCUHK publications at the programme's Issuu account. A printed edition will be shortly available.

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    May 25,2014.

    The The Urban Dialogue: Taipei × Hong Kong project has created a short video clip, highlighting the keypoints and the exchange that occured in the forums, workshops and film screenings from February to March 2014. (Watch the video above or on YouTube)

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    Roundtable and Exhibition Opening Reception
    March 24,2014. 5:30-7:30pm School of Archicture, CUHK.

    Work from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Urban Design Studio in China 2013 titled "Macau: Cross-Border Cities" is exhibited at the School of Architecture. The exhibition opening will start off with a roundtable panel discussion event on the 24 March 2014, 5:30-7:00pm at the AITB Atrium (see event details here). For enquiries, please contact y enquiry, please Ms. Mandy Chan (manlokchan@cuhk.edu.hk) or Ms. Prudence Wong (prudencewong@cuhk.edu.hk).

    The discussion and exhibition is presented by professor Christopher Lee (Harvard GSD) and moderated by professor Colin Fournier (UCL / CUHK). Speakers include professor Francisco Pinheiro (Univ. of St. Joseph, Macau), professor Hendrik Tieben (CUHK), professor Nuno Soares (CUHK / Univ. of St. Joseph) and teaching fellow Simon Whittle (Harvard GSD).

    The exhibition will run at the School of Architecture until 4 April 2014.

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    March 11, 2014.

    Published by the M.Sc. in Urban Design programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, REFLECTIONS Vol 2 / Issue 1 / March 2014 is titled RE-DO NEW TOWN: QUESTIONS FROM HUNG SHUI KIU. Concentrating on the currently developing district of Hung Shui Kiu in Hong Kong's New Territories, the 200-page book contains student work and projects, workshop results (IFoU Winter School 2013) and exhibition material (UABB*HK) as well as reflections and afterthoughts from a roster of international partners and scholars, including Im Sik Cho (NUS), Roberto Cavallo (TU Delft), Michela Turrin (TU Delft), Maurice Hartevelt (TU Delft), Arnd B?etzner (Univ. St. Gallen) and Vivienne Wang (IFoU General Director). Edited by Mika Savela and Hendrik Tieben.

    You can find the latest issue of REFLECTIONS as well as other MSCUDxCUHK publications at the programme's Issuu account.

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    February 15 & 22, March 1, 2014.

    Launched as a cultural exchange focusing on community building and urban design, “Urban Dialogue: Taipei × Hong Kong” comprises a series of forums, workshops and screenings, joined by social activists, filmmakers, artists, architects, educators, scholars, urban planners/designers and policymakers from the two cities.

    Organized by the urban planning and design programs at National Taiwan University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the event series takes place on three consecutive Saturdays starting from 15th of February. “Urban Dialogue: Taipei × Hong Kong” is a Spotlight Taiwan Project funded by the Ministry of Culture (Taiwan), and a collateral Fringe Urbanism event at the 2013 Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism \ Architecture (HK), with Dr. Samuel Yin as the Exclusive Sponsor of the event.

    Find out more about the upcoming forums, workshops and film screenings:

    The events are free with online registering and more details at: www.taiwanculture-hk.org. Events are held in English and/or Mandarin.

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    December 20, 2013 - February 28, 2014. Kwun Tong Ferry Pier, East Kowloon.

    The M.Sc. in Urban Design program participates this year in the Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture on multiple fronts. The main exhibition opened on 20th of December at the Kwun Tong ferry pier.

    The Magic Carpet project is shown in a new collaboration with the National Taiwan University. The exhibition, Magic Carpet: Re-Envisioning Community Spaces in Taipei and Hong Kong, showcases ongoing projects in two old inner-city districts (Wanhua and Sai Ying Pun) and two urban villages (Tod and Pokfulam Villages) in both cities. The mixed media exhibition will be linked with public roundtable discussions, workshops and video screening events. The projects are supported by a Spotlight Taiwan Fund of the Ministry of Culture Taiwan and a Knowledge Transfer Fund of the University Grants Council Hong Kong. (Exhibition G111)

    Work from our Hung Shui Kiu themed events and studios is also presented at the exhibition Re-Do New Town: Hung Shui Kiu, accompanied by an upcoming publication in the program's REFLECTIONS series. Curated by Mika Savela and Hendrik Tieben, the exhibition and its related gathers edited ideas, discussions and questions surrounding an ongoing Hong Kong new town development, as well as various voices from the international scene. (Exhibition E220)

    This year, the curatorial team of the biennale has also strong ties with our program: Chief Curator Colin Fournier,the Excecutive Curators Tat Lam and Travis Bunt from Urbanus, as well as Joshua Lau, are also involved in running the current and upcoming urban design studios at CUHK.

    We welcome you to see our exhibitions and visit the biennale, running until the 28th February. In the meantime, see updates on events during the biennale on our website, Twitter and on the Magic Carpet project website and Facebook page.

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    December 9-13, 2013. Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago.

    As a member of the URBAN LAB+ (International Network of Urban Laboratories), the urban design team from CUHK took part in the 2013 cluster meeting in Santiago as part of the three-year collaboration project. Themed around interdisciplinary approaches to inclusive public spaces, the workshop provided a platform for presenting work and experiences from partners in the Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), the XLab of Institute of Urban and Territorial Studies (IEUT) at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (PUC), and the M.Sc. in Urban Design program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. As results, the cluster will produce new joint projects and develop further collaborations between participants in the coming year.

    The workshop also included visits to several ongoing neighborhood studies and projects in central Santiago, focusing on public space and communities amidst urban development and planning.

    The CUHK team included Prof. Hendrik Tieben, Mo Kar Him and Mika Savela. A special thank you to PUC professors Roberto Moris and Felipe Link and workshop coordinator Carmen Catan, as well as to the whole team of partners, experts, guests, teachers and students.

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    November 6, 2013. 4:00-6:00 pm. AIT Building, Exhibition Zones E-F.

    Urban Design Talks series continues with the theme of Contemporary Urban Design in Europe. The speakers include prof. Dr.-Ing. Detlef Kurth (University of Applied Sciences Stuttgart, Germany) on "Urban Planning and Renegeneration Strategies in Europe", followed by architect Alfonso Femia (5+1 AA, Italy) on the "Relationship Between Territory City and Architecture".

    The event will start with and introduction from Francesco Rossini (UPC Barcelona/CUHK) and both talks will be moderated by Prof. Hendrik Tieben (CUHK). Prof. Manfredo Manfredini (University of Auckland) will act as guest respondent.

    (Please download the full event posters for both talks as PDF here)

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    September 19, 2013.

    The sloped Centre Street in Sai Ying Pun was transformed into an outdoor cinema for one night at the Mid-Autumn Festival (19 September 2013). While enjoying movies about the neighbourhood under the "full moon", community members and the general public were invited to re-imagine the public spaces of the district.

    The event included other actitivies, such as a drawing competition, for all ages to re-envision the district's future. The event also celebrated the unique character of one of the oldest districts in Hong Kong, and aims further to cultivate a sense of belonging to Sai Ying Pun at a time of change.

    See more current info and photos of the even on the Magic Carpet website and on Flickr. Find latest updates on Facebook.

    The event was organised by the School of Architecture, M.Sc. in Urban Design Programme and the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as part of the Magic Carpet research project with support from the Knowledge Transfer Fund, CUHK. Special thanks to project partners King's College and CACHe.

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    May 24-28, 2013. Hong Kong.

    Professor Darko Radović and his co+labo team of Keio University recently visited CUHK and Hong Kong for the fieldwork of an upcoming publication In the Search of Urban Intensities - Asia as part of an on-going research project Measuring the non-Measurable, conducted at IKI - International Keio Institute for Architecture and Urbanism.

    Continuing its collaboration in the project, CUHK hosted the co+labo team in Hong Kong, where over the course of three days the teams explored various urban districts and conditions, reflecting the Situationist International derive as a method of charting urban intensities, environmental and cultural specifities as a way of describing the measurable and non-measurable qualities of cities.

    The Keio team included professors Darko Radović and Davisi Boontharm with Tamao Hashimoto, Milica Muminović and Ken Akatsuka. The M.Sc. in Urban Design programme's team included professor Hendrik Tieben, Mo Kar Him and Mika Savela. CUHK's second team led by professor Thomas Chung included Cherry Wong, Della Cheung, Daniel Ho and Bill So.

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    June 1, 2013. School of Architecture, CUHK

    In discussion with distinguished guests from Switzerland and Hong Kong, Prof. Colin Fournier sought answers to questions on how urbanized societies can satisfy the increasing hunger for energy.

    Speakers included Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard (DETEC), Prof. Colin Fournier (CUHK), Dr. Patrick Hofer-Noser (Cleantech Switzerland, Mayer Burger), Prof. Tsou Jin-Yeu (CUHK), Dr. Remo Lütolf (ABB Switzerland), Prof. Fung Tung (CUHK) and Mr. John W.M. Cheng (CLP, Secretary of World Energy Council)

    Please download the full event poster here. Free admission with E-mail registration: manlokchan[at]cuhk.edu.hk. Please provide full name and affiliation.

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    May 16-18, 2013. Rome, Italy.

    Work from the 2012 Sai Ying Pun studio of the M.Sc. in Urban Design programme took part in the Biennial of Public Space 2013 in Rome, Italy. Prof. Hendrik Tieben presented experiences of the new programme in a roundtable event "Past present and future of public space" at the Faculty 'Architecture of Roma Tre, convened by Luisa Bravo (University of Bologna).

    An coinciding article "Negotiating and Designing Public Space – Experiences with a new M.Sc. in Urban Design Program in Hong Kong" by Hendrik Tieben and Sujata Govada was published in journal IN_BO. Ricerche e progetti per il territorio, la citta e l'architettura, Vol. 4, n. 1 (2013). The article is viewable here.

    The exhibited panels are available for download here

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    March 21-23, 2013 at the Technische Universität Berlin

    The M.Sc. in Urban Design Programme at CUHK participated in the URBAN LAB+ inaugural symposium in Berlin as one of the partner urban laboratories in the project. As part of the European Unions's Erasmus Mundus Programme Action 3, the project will run until November 2015 and provides a cooperation platform between various Urban Laboratories from Europe as well as from South Africa, Asia and Latin America.

    The three-day symposium included public presentations, internal workshop discussions, as well as talks from keynote speakers Jennifer Robinson (UCL), Dr. Uwe-Jens Walther(TUB) and Dr. Regine Schonenberg (FU Berlin). As one of the outcomes, CUHK will participate in a project cluster focusing on interdisciplinary approaches in urban design within the greater theme of urban inclusion and exclusion with the Urban Research and Design Laboratory at TU Berlin and Laboratory of Applied Urban Research (XLAB) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

    In total, the project partners include urban laboratories in the following institutions: University College London, UK; Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland; Universita della Calabria, Italy; Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies, India and University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

    The CUHK team included Prof. Hendrik Tieben, Mo Kar Him and Mika Savela. Thank you to the coordinating body at U-Lab, Technische Universität Berlin and all the partners.

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    January 20 – February 2, 2013 at The Chinese University of Hong Kong


    The IFoU Winter School 2013 focused on the new town development area of Hung Shui Kiu. Initiated by The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in collaboration with the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), the workshop gathered viewpoints, visions and observations from a wide range of guests and speakers. Over the course of two weeks, some 120 students and mentors from the participating universities focused on issues ranging from village communities and sustainable design to regional strategies and new forms of urban development and transport. Field trips, site visits and guest lectures provided the participants insight into Hong Kong's past and future new town development as well as international cases and current topics.

    Participating Universities were Beijing University of Technology (BJUT), The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Chonnam National University (CNU), Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), National University Singapore (NUS), National Taiwan University (NTU), Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), UPC Barcelona and Yaşar University. The Winter School was co-organized with the M.Sc. in Advanced Environmental Planning Technologies (AEPT) programme at CUHK.

    A very special thank you to all participating mentors, speakers, guests and students and everyone who helped us making the IFoU Winter School 2013 such a great event. Further material and information is available on the the Winter School 2013 website.

    For more photos and comments, see the Winter School's Facebook group, or MSc UD @ Flickr.

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    August 15-17, 2013.

    The inter-university seminar on Asian megacities, “Asian Urbanism and Beyond”, is set for scholars around the globe to explore the nature, evolution and uniqueness of urbanization issues and processes in Asian mega-cities, especially surrounding the relevancy of theories developed in Western contexts in describing, explaining and prescribing urban phenomena in the diverse social, economic and political Asian contexts.

    Organized by CUHK's Urban Studied Programme, Department of Geography & Reseource management and the Faculty of Social Science, the conference will include keynotes from Prof. Anne HAILA (University of Helsinki), Prof. Harry DIMITRIOU and Prof. Fulong WU (University College London), as well as Prof. Chaolin GU (Tsinghua University).

    For details and registration, please see the conference website.

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    October 20 - December 16, 2012. Guimarães, Portugal.

    "Open Cinema" opened on October 20, 2012. It was designed by professor Colin Fournier as a temporary structure for the town of Guimarães in Portugal, European Cultural Capital of the year, as part of a collaboration with artist Marysia Lewandowska. The project is an hommage to the politically radical cinema culture championed by the local CineClube as well as to the town's manufacturing past. It is free to the public, encouraging social participation, generosity and openness, a spontaneous act of urbanity. It playfully offers an unusual cinematic experience to all those who are willing to 'dive into' this magic box suspended between the imaginary and the real, the projection and the body. There is a large screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, a high-res data projector suspended from the ceiling and a 5.1 surround-sound "home cinema" speaker system. "Open Cinema" continuously screens a loop of 20 three minute long film trailers, including those of classics such as Frederico Fellini's Amarcord and La Dolce Vita, Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, Jean-Luc Godard's le Mépris, etc. The project was commissioned by Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro, curator of ReaKt – Views and Processes, an Art & Architecture programme consisting of 11 interventions in public spaces in and around the town.

    Colin Fournier is currently a visiting professor in the M.Sc. in Urban Design programme at CUHK.

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    November 04, 2012 at CACHE

    Welcome to the CUHK Community Workshop in Sai Ying Pun! Continuing with the community forum, the School of Architecture CUHK in co-operation with the Conservancy Association Centre for Heritage are organizing a day of talks, presentantions and exchange of opinions.

    The workshop starts at 9:30 a.m. with welcoming words from Mr. LAU Kwok Wai, Executive Director of CACHE and Dr. Sujata Govada, Adjunct Associate Professor at CUHK.

    The following panel presentations (9:40 a.m.) include presentations the District Council, Katty Law (Convenor, Central and Western District) and the M.Sc. in Urban Design programme students. The street exhibition opens at 2:30 p.m. and a special movie screening will begin at 6:00 p.m.

    The venue address: Annex Block, 36A Western St., Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong.

    (click here for full event flyer)

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    October 25-29, 2012

    Treasure Hill Island

    In 2006, the announcement of the demolition of Star Ferry Pier triggered a wave of protests in Hong Kong. Citizens and activists demanded the preservation of local heritage and rights to participate in the city’s planning processes. Despite the growing bottom-up movement and first responses from the government, ideas of how to develop and implement community-based projects are often missing.

    In contrast to the situation in Hong Kong, urban activism in Taipei began already two decades earlier and in the meantime a full range of projects have been realized. One example is the protection of the informal settlement “Treasure Hill” for its original residents by initiatives of activist and artists. In many cases, the academia played a key role in moderating the dialogue between residents and the authorities and developing research-based alternatives. Thus, Taipei offers inspiring examples for the realization of community-based projects which allow citizens to take ownership of their city.

    Lecture by Prof. Kang Min-Jay, at Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, NTU, and a guided tour in Dihua Street Regeneration Project by Hsu Yen-Hsing. Visit to Urban Regeneration Station (URS) 27W and city touring in different urban parks, initiated and managed by communities.

    For the trip, we would like to express our special thanks to our IFoU partner at National Taiwan University, Prof. Kang Min-Jay, his two dedicated and helpful PhD students, Shih Sung-Yuan and Li Guan-Nian, and to Huang Li-Ling, Director of the Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, NTU.

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    September 29, 2012 at CACHE

    SYP Community Forum 2012

    A community event organized by the School of Architecture CUHK in co-operation with the Conservancy Association Centre for Heritage.

    The forum starts at 10:00 a.m. with welcoming words from Mr. LAU Kwok Wai, Executive Director of CACHE, moderated by Dr. Sujata Govada.

    The following panel talk (10:15 a.m.) includes presentations from Laurence Yau (URA), Anny Tang (Planning Department), Wilfred Sze Wai Yueng (MTR) and Prof. Hendrik Tieben, the director of the M.Sc. in Urban Design Programme at CUHK. Discussion by the panelists and public begin at 11:30 a.m. and the street exhibition opens at 12:30 p.m. The venue address: Annex Block, 36A Western St., Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong.

    (click here for full event flyer)

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    PLANNING WEEK September 24-29th, 2012
    PLANNING CONFERENCE September 28th, 2012

    HKIP Planning Week 2012

    The Planning Week, organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Planners (HKIP) offers talks, workshops, seminars and other happenings addressing community planning. The full planning week programme is available as a PDF here.

    In addition, an urban planning exhibition, "A Better City", will launch at the newly opened City Gallery on September 24th.

    On September 28th, the City Gallery will also host the HKIP conference on community planning "Public Engagement in the Planning Process", with a broad range of local and international speakers. Find more information on the conference programme and registration in the conference flyer.

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    June 30 – July 13, 2012 at Beijing University of Technology

    Film Screening in Tiengiao

    In context of Beijing’s massive extension of its mass transit system the IFoU Summer School 2012 focused on arising challenges and opportunities. The Summer School was initiated by Beijing University of Technology (BJUT) in collaboration with the International Forum on Urbanism (ifou.org). Participating Universities were Beijing University of Technology (BJUT), Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Chonnam National University (CNU), Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and National Taiwan University (NTU).

    The team led by the Professors Kang Minjay (NTU), Zhang Fan (BJUT) and Hendrik Tieben (CUHK) focused on the condition and use of urban spaces in the Tianqiao District using filming and public screening to investigate the life in the district and engage with local residents.

    Thanks to Prof. Dai Jian, Xiaoxi Hui and the entire BJUT team. For films see: http://weibo.com/login.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fweibo.com%2Fu%2F2876498435

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    May 31 – June 11, 2012

    Urban Design in the Cascadian Region (Prof. Hendrik Tieben)

    MArch + Urban Design Study Trip 2012 - Portland MArch + Urban Design Study Trip 2012 - Seattle MArch + Urban Design Study Trip 2012 - Vancouver

    This year's study trip focused on Urban Guidelines & Design in the Cascadian Region. The three Cascadian cities Portland, Seattle and Vancouver have been pioneers for sustainable urban design since more than three decades. Their urban guidelines and policies were copied in many places of the world (especially in the Middle East and Asia. Some of these re-adaptations have created questionable results. However, the originals remain important references which should be studied in their original context.

    Thanks to our kind hosts: AP Hurd, Jeff Hou, and Gundula Proksch at University of Washington, as well as Matt Hanna, Gerry Johnson, Steven Pearce, and Peter Steinbrueck in Seattle; and Nancy Cheung and Hajo Neis at University of Oregon in Portland.

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    March 31st, 2012

    HKIUD Conference 2012

    The aim of the international conference is to showcase the importance of urban design to drive city vision and to be integrated with public policy in shaping a more sustainable development of Hong Kong and cities in the region. The conference theme is "Urban Design as Public Policy" and eminent international and regional speakers will be invited to share their experiences of other cities with local experts as respondents towards framing urban design policy for Hong Kong.

    Programme and registration details on HKIUD website.

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    March 19th, 2012

    The Present and Future of Hong Kong Urban Planning<br>and Design Guidelines

    Architect Colin Ward, a partner at Foster + Partners and professor Hendrik Tieben from the School of Architecture, showcased their current projects and research, including international case studies of Urban design guidelines, the West Kowloon Cultural District project, Kai Tak developments, among others. The symposium was convened by Prof. Marisa Yiu and moderated by Prof. Mee Kam Ng.

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    March 9th, 2012

    Sustainable Communities Future New Towns for Hong Kong Symposium

    The new programme kicked off at an international symposium hosted by the School of Architecture, CUHK. Speakers included Peter Rowe (Harvard GSD), Ernest Chui (HKU) Colin Fournier (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL), Zhang Qi (Tianjin University), Chen Yi-xin (Shenzhen Municipality), Raymond Wong (Planning Department, HKSAR) and architect, eco master planner Robert Powell.

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    Contact

    Mr. Polar Lee
    Project Coordinator
    Tel. +852 3943 1309
    Fax. +852 3942 0982
    polar.lee@cuhk.edu.hk
    www.arch.cuhk.edu.hk

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    @MSCUDxCUHK