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Head of Department

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Department of Design and Architecture
PhD (HKU), MLA (UBC, Canada), BASc Civil (UWaterloo, Canada), BEnvS Geog (UWaterloo, Canada)

Contact Details

Email: chanyinlun@thei.edu.hk

Phone: +852 3890 8270

Dr Yin-Lun Chan is a landscape architect and urban historian, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Design and Architecture at the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi). He holds a PhD in Architectural History and Theory and Master of Landscape Architecture. He is currently President of the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA), Chief Editor of the HKILA Journal Yuan Lin, and Chair of the Centre for Community Cultural Development (CCCD). His teaching and research explore intersections of community arts, ecological design, and landscape architecture. He is editor of The Landscape Profession of Hong Kong, 1978–2015.

TEACHING AREAS
  • Urban regeneration and sustainable landscape design studios
  • Asian cities and landscape history
  • Cultural landscapes

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Architectural History and Theory, The University of Hong Kong

  • Master of Landscape Architecture, The University of British Columbia, Canada
  • Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) in Civil Engineering, Distinction, University of Waterloo, Canada
  • Bachelor of Environmental Studies (Honours) in Geography, Dean’s Honours List, University of Waterloo, Canada

  • Registered Landscape Architect, Landscape Architects Registration Board, Hong Kong

  • Professional Member, The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects

  • Full Member, American Society of Landscape Architects

  • Member, Docomomo Hong Kong
  • Member, Asian Cultural Landscape Association
  • President, The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (2026–Current)
  • Vice President, The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (2024–2026)
  • Honorary Secretary, The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (2022–2024)
  • Chief Editor of The HKILA Journal Yuan Lin
  • Chair, Scientific Committee, International Federation of Landscape Architects World Congress 2026
  • Member, Education & Academic Affairs Committee, International Federation of Landscape Architects Asia-Pacific Region
  • Chair, Centre for Community Cultural Development
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, The University of Hong Kong
  • Head of Landscape, Aedas Urban Design & Landscape Ltd, Hong Kong 
  • Team Lead, L&A Group, Shenzhen, China
  • Landscape Designer, Greenways, City of Vancouver, Canada
  • Environmental Consultant, Golder Associates, Toronto, Canada
  • Smart cities and sustainable design
  • History of landscape architecture
  • Modern Asian cities and transnational networks
  • Cinema, cities, and entertainment landscapes
  • Establishing a Tool for Measuring the Carbon and Biodiversity Performance of Urban Trees, UGC-RMG; Principal Investigator (2025–2027)
  • Establishing Climate Positive and Nature-based Solutions Practice Guidelines for Hong Kong, UGC-RMG; Principal Investigator (2025–2026)
  • The New Roles of Sustainable Landscape Design and Management Practices for Factory Production in the Age of Industry 4.0, UGC-RMG; Principal Investigator (2025–2028)
  • Unleashing the Southern District’s Potential for Cultural Tourism: Developing an Art, Culture, and Technology Exploration Trail and Other Design Proposals, THEi Research Development Fund; Principal Investigator (2024–2025)
  • Development of the Landscape Architectural Profession in Hong Kong and its Positioning in the Region, PSDAS; Team Member (2013–2015)
  • Hong Kong Platforms: Towards a Sustainable City, Sustainable Development Fund; Project Manager (2011–2013).
  • “Connecting international design workshops with grounded landscape architectural education,” Keynote Speech presented at the 2026 Guangdong Landscape Architecture Education Conference, 6 June 2026, Huizhou, China.
  • “Ten Ways to Create a Sustainable Garden,” presented at the 15th China International Garden Expo, Wenzhou, China, 15–16 April 2026.
  • “The Design Studio as a Pedagogy that Drives Industry Collaboration and Applied Research,” presented at the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN) Annual Academic Conference 2025, “Embracing Industrial Collaboration for Quality Higher Education,” 20–23 November 2025, Hong Kong.
  • “The Academic as Project Manager: Bridging Design Pedagogy with Applied Research,” Keynote Speech delivered at the International Conference of Project Management (ICPM) 2025, “Fusion Forward: Innovation in Creativity, Management, IT, and Fashion,” 10–11 October 2025, Hong Kong.
  • “Reclamation, shifting boundaries, and the challenge for a resilient coastline,” presented at the Rhea International Workshop 2025, online.
  • “Liminality, hybrids, and the reconstruction of Aberdeen’s unique floating landscape through storytelling with digital visualisation tools​,” presented at the 61st IFLA World Congress, 2025, “Guiding Landscapes,” 10–12 September 2025, Nantes, France.
  • “Regional connections, landscape typologies, and the conservation of cultural landscapes in Hong Kong,” presented at the International Workshop on Urban Landscape 2025, “Heritage Hacks: Nature-Based Solutions for Inclusive Urban Futures,” 2–8 August 2025, Bangkok, Thailand.
  • “Revisiting the relevance of regionality in a globalised landscape: Hong Kong’s ‘post-traditional’ struggle,” Keynote Speech presented at the 14th Annual Meeting of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture, 8–11 November 2026 (Chinese version) and at the Global Landscape Architecture Conference 2024, 11–13 October 2024, Taipei (English version).
  • “Fostering solidarity through dissolving boundaries,” presented at the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) World Congress “Code Red for Earth”, 4–6 September 2024, Istanbul.
  • “The continuing relevance of Chinatowns: Cultural representations and diasporic landscapes,” presented at the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS), 28 July to 1 August 2024, Surabaya.
  • “Landscape theatre: The foregrounding of place-based stories into drama education,” presented at the International Drama/Theatre and Education Association (IDEA) Congress 2024, 15–20 July 2024, Beijing.
  • “Bridging scales: Cross-border synergy and ecological urbanism,” presented at the Northern Metropolis: Hong Kong/Shenzhen Ecological and Environmental Symposium, 18 December 2023, Hong Kong.
  • “The intersecting landscapes of cinema production and exhibition: Three moments in the transformation of movie theatres in Hong Kong,” presented at the Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures conference, 1-3 December 2022, organised by the Architecture Media Politics Society (AMPS).
  • “The aesthetics of touch art,” presented at the 2019 International Conference on Cultural Accessibility and Social Inclusion, 5–6 November 2019, Taipei.
  • “Changing faces of modernity: Reconstruction, relocation, and remodelling of the Victoria and Star Theatres, 1907–1937,” presented at Rethinking Modern Asia-Pacific Architectures, Postgraduate Student Plenary, University of Melbourne.
  • “Heritage preservation and theatre,” Workshop conducted with Mok Chiu-Yu at the Forum on Community Arts and Heritage Preservation, 8–10 April 2016, CUHK.
  • Chan, YLJ. “The Design Studio as a Pedagogy that Drives Industry Collaboration and Applied Research”, forthcoming in the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN) Anthology of the 2025 Annual Academic Conference.
  • Chan, YLJ. “Dancing with the land: Weaving an artistic cultural landscape”, Yuan Lin 2023: 42–47.
  • Chan, YLJ. “Bridging scales: Cross-border synergy and ecological urbanism.” Northern Metropolis: Future City Vision. Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Institute of Architects, 2023: 26.
  • Chan, YLJ. Cinema Architecture and the Entertainment Landscape: The Interiorisation of Consumer Environments, 1907–2000, PhD dissertation. The University of Hong Kong, 2020.
  • Chan, YLJ. “Changing organisational structure and the location of landscape,” HKIA Journal 74, 2018, 88–90.
  • Chan, YLJ. “The case for a landscape archive,” Yuan Lin 2018, 140–141.
  • Jiang, J. “The Chinese model: Change and constancy,” translated by YLJ Chan in Multiple Modernities in Asia, edited by W Lim and J Chia, Asian Urban Lab, 2018: 65–80.
  • Chan, YLJ and Chan BYY. “Applying Forum Theatre as a community design method: A collaboration between landscape architecture and theatre education,” p-e-r-f-o-r-m-a-n-c-e 2 (1–2), 2015. http://www.p-e-r-f-o-r-m-a-n-c-e.org/?p=3456.
  • Chan, YLJ. “The symbolism of plants in the context of Hong Kong,” Yuan Lin 2015, 14–23.
  • Chan, YLJ. The History of the Landscape Profession of Hong Kong, 1978-2015: A Collection of Interviews. The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects, 2015.
  • Chan, YLJ. “The role of narratives and storytelling in the construction of meaning of the cultural landscapes of Hong Kong,” Meanings and Aesthetics in Asian Cultural Landscape, Proceedings of the 2013 ACLA International Symposium, Asian Cultural Landscape Association, 2013: 55–63.
  • Teaching Award 2024/2025, THEi 
  • HKILA Awards 2016, Merit Prize, Research Category, Hong Kong Platforms
  • HKILA Awards 2016, Merit Prize, Research Category, The History of the Landscape Profession of Hong Kong
  • Postgraduate Scholarship, HKU (2014–2018)
  • Canadian Graduate Scholarship, SSHRC (2006–2007)
  • Syd Skinner Scholarship, Landscape Architecture Department, UBC (2005)
  • EWB Sustainable Development Scholarship, EWB Canada (2005)
  • Undergraduate Research Fellowship, University of Waterloo (2002–2004)
  • Engineering Entrance Scholarship, University of Waterloo (2000)
  • Full Scholarship, Lester B. Pearson College, United World Colleges, Victoria (1998–2000)