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, analyzed its unique scientific problems and development direction, thus 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
首屆「城市系統論壇」於2026年7月19日圓滿舉行。是次論壇由香港大學城市系統研究院主辦，並由香港理工大學（理大）潘樂陶慈善基金智慧城市研究院、香港大學氣候與碳中和研究院、亞熱帶建築與城市科學國家重點實驗室香港基地，以及 IEEE 地球科學與遙感學會香港分會共同協辦，主題為「面向可持續城市的前沿城市系統建模」。 論壇旨在搭建高水平的國際學術交流平台，活動匯聚全球知名學者，圍繞人工智能、數字孿生、遙感及時空分析等前沿技術，深入研討人口、環境、生態和基礎設施等多尺度城市建模方法，全力推動前沿理論探索與政策行動落地。 理大潘樂陶慈善基金智慧城市研究院院長兼地理資訊系統及遙感講座教授史文中教授，以《城市信息學的科學體系》為題發表演講。史教授團隊早於 2013 年首創「城市信息學」的學科概念，並於演講中剖析其獨特科學問題與發展方向，從而論證了其已成為一門新交叉科學。他亦通過展示城市信息學代表性核心技術與實證案例，闡釋城市信息學如何有效應對交通、公共衛生及空間治理等複雜的城市難題。此外，史教授亦分享了團隊以城市信息學方法論自主研發的「ISUI 全球智慧城市指數」。該指數覆蓋六大維度及近百項指標，能精準橫向對比全球各城市的發展水平。 是次論壇為應對全球城市面臨的挑戰與機遇提供了深度的交流平台，並就建設更宜居、更可持續的城市環境，探討創新策略與技術。與會專家的多元視角與前瞻見解，將為未來城市系統研究及規劃發展提供寶貴的啟發與參考。
| Research Units | Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute |
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