The inaugural Urban Systems Forum was successfully held on 19 July 2026. The forum, themed “Advanced Modeling of Urban Systems for Sustainable Cities”, was organised by the Urban Systems Institute of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and co-hosted by the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), the HKU Institute for Climate and Carbon Neutrality, the State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building and Urban Science Hong Kong Base, and the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Hong Kong Chapter.
The forum served as a premier international platform for academic exchange. Renowned scholars from across the globe gathered to explore cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence, digital twins, remote sensing and spatiotemporal analytics. Discussions focused on multi-scale urban modelling of population, environmental, ecological and infrastructure systems, aiming to drive theoretical research and facilitate its translation into policy and practice.
Prof. John SHI, Director of SCRI and Chair Professor of Geographic Information Science and Remote Sensing at PolyU, delivered a keynote presentation titled "Scientific System of Urban Informatics". Prof. Shi and his team pioneered the discipline of “Urban Informatics” in 2013. During the presentation, he analysed its unique scientific problems and development direction, demonstrating that it has become a new interdisciplinary science. He also illustrated how urban informatics can effectively address complex urban challenges such as transportation, public health, and spatial governance by showcasing representative core technologies and empirical cases.
Prof. Shi also introduced the ISUI Global Smart City Index developed by his team using urban informatics methodologies. The Index encompasses six dimensions and nearly 100 indicators, enabling systematic benchmarking of urban development levels across cities worldwide.
The forum provided an important platform for dialogue on global urban challenges and opportunities, while exploring innovative strategies and technologies for building more liveable and sustainable urban environments. The diverse perspectives and forward-looking insights shared will serve as valuable references for future research and development in urban systems and planning.
ISUI Smart City Index: https://www.isocui.org/smart_city_index
Article elucidating the science of urban informatics: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2025.12.036
Online coverage:
Bauhinia – https://polyu.me/4fSrSlw
Eurek Alert – https://polyu.me/3RL5jY9
| Research Units | Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute |
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