About the Hub

The APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscape Research Hub has been set up in response to increasing concerns about the sustainability of cities due to rapid urbanization and population growth worldwide. As a consequence, sustainability is becoming a key issue for urban planners, civil engineers, and design professionals. The demand for more environmentally responsive cities grows while modern society becomes more and more dependent on the use of energy and new technologies in nearly every aspect of life. Urbanization has a major impact on the environment and influences landscapes to a great extent beyond the city boundaries through increasing air temperatures, shifting water cycles, and ecological processes. Urban and landscape sustainability go hand-in-hand, and it is not possible to understand one without understanding the interdependencies between cities and their surroundings. The University of Oregon, internationally leading in sustainable urban design and landscape planning through the renowned Sustainable Cities Initiative and its Landscape Architecture and Planning, Public Policy and Management programs, hosts the APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Research Hub. The Hub aims to engage with cross disciplinary experts, government officials, and external organizations to consider Asia Pacific cities in the context of their many landscape interdependencies. This includes examining services, networks and systems within and beyond the urban periphery, comparing existing practices and models of city- landscape interactions across the region, and initiating solutions and policy interventions to make entire city-landscape metabolic processes more sustainable.


 

Core Members

APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscape member schools

University of Washington

The UW is one of the world’s preeminent public universities. Our impact on individuals, our region and the world is profound — whether we are launching young people into a boundless future or confronting the grand challenges of our time.

 

Australia National University

ANU is a research-intensive university of global standing specializing in discovery and public policy. Our research priorities address the challenges facing Australia and the world.

 

National Taiwan University

National Taiwan University (NTU) takes pride in her history and tradition in nurturing an environment of academic freedom, diversity, and comprehensive research. We wish to build an ecosystem which attracts top researchers from Taiwan and the world.

 

University of Hong Kong

HKU strives to attract and nurture outstanding scholars from around the world through excellence and innovation in teaching and learning, research, the advancement of society and the development of leaders through a global presence.

 

Tsinghua University

Tsinghua University is a research university located in Beijing, China, established in 1911. With strong research and training, Tsinghua University is consistently ranked as one of the top academic institutions in China.

 

University of New South Wales

UNSW is one of Australia’s leading research and teaching universities. We take pride in the broad range and high quality of our teaching programs. Our teaching gains strength and currency from our research activities, strong industry links and our international nature.

University of Auckland

As the leading university in New Zealand, we recognize research and research-led teaching as primary responsibilities of our academic staff. UA has formal engagements in more than 40 countries, including institutions across industry, government, philanthropy, and alumni.

 

University of Chile

Located in the capital Santiago, the 166-year old University of Chile is the country’s oldest institution of higher education. In the areas of teaching and research the University of Chile develops about 50% off all scientific and technological research at the national level.

 

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Recognized as a land, sea, and space-grant institution, UH Mānoa is a highly-ranked public university, well respected for its programs in oceanography, astronomy, Pacific Islands and Asian area studies, linguistics, education, tropical agriculture, cancer, and genetics.

 

Tec de Monterrey

Founded in 1943 by industrialists in the city of Monterrey, the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) has since grown to include 31 campuses in 25 cities throughout the country, becoming the most recognized in Latin America.

 

Korea University 

Established in 1905, Korea University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prominent institutions of higher education. It is one of Korea’s three SKU Universities, considered the most prestigious in the country.

University of Oregon

The UO is a comprehensive public research university committed to exceptional teaching, discovery, and service. We help individuals question critically, think logically, reason effectively, communicate clearly, act creatively, and live ethically.

 

University of the Philippines

The University of the Philippines Los Baños is a public research university located southeast of Manila. The University traces its roots to the UP College of Agriculture (UPCA), which was founded in 1909 by the American colonial government to promote agricultural education and research in the Philippines.

 

National University of Singapore

The National University of Singapore is an autonomous research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as a medical college, it is the oldest institute of higher learning in Singapore, as well as the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered.

 

Nanjing University

Founded in 1902, Nanjing University is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning in China. With the motto of ‘Sincerity with Aspiration, Perseverance with Integrity,’ this university carries the spirit of constant striving for educational and academic excellence.

 

Universidad San Francisco de Quito

The Universidad San Francisco de Quito is a private liberal arts university located in Quito, Ecuador. Founded in 1988, USFQ is a global leader in education, research, creativity, entrepreneurship, and freedom in Latin America.

Member Statements:

“The SCL Program has created an excellent platform for us to engage with academics, professionals and decision makers across the rapidly urbanizing Asia-Pacific region, bringing together multiple disciplines and perspectives to broaden our understanding and to allow us to discover new approaches to achieving a more sustainable future.  There is no comparable forum for engaging with these issues in this half of the world.”  Matthew Pryor, Head of Landscape Architecture, HKU.

 

“APRU has a wide field of vision and can bring together the brightest minds to resolve conflicts between cities and landscapes, human and environmental health. We believe that SCL Program has unique potential for addressing challenges of our living environment. We face challenges and issues in China, however, resolving environmental issues is a global topic which crosses borders and societies. The SCL Program can unite people from different regions and ethnicities to devote resources to this global issue.” Jie HU, Director of the Urban Planning & Design Institute, Tsinghua University.

 

“For UNSW, participation with the SCL Program provides a valuable, opportunity to engage in interdisciplinary and cross-institutional and comparative, city-to-city research projects and partnerships that, in turn, have the potential to influence policy and actions at local, state and national scales. A unique dimension is the inclusion of government partners and relevant practitioners in our conferences and working groups to ensure that research findings are shared and can encourage a change in ‘business-as-usual’ practices.” Linda Corkery, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, UNSW.