On 28 February 2019, Centre for Sustainable Design and Environment (CSDE) hold the first seminar of CSDE Seminar Series under the theme titled “Sustainable Tree Management for Combating Climate Change” in THEi Chai Wan campus. This seminar series aims to enrich the knowledge of the students and faculty of THEi and the members of the public with the thematic focus on the relationship of the trees and green spaces, and urban climate impact in contemporary global warming era.

Dr. Tobi Eniolu Morakinyo, Post-doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Future Cities of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), shared his insight on the topic “Right Tree, Right Place: Tree Selection Approaches for Urban Heat Mitigation in Hong Kong”. The attendees included members from the Faculty of Design and Environment, students from the Horticulture and Landscape Management Programme and the general public.

In the seminar, Tobi brought out the fundamental knowledge of urban heat island effect and urban tree management strategies in Hong Kong to the audience first. He shared his tree selection research focused on mitigating urban heat island effect during the past 10 years. Through the scenario modeling combining urban geometry and tree species, he was able to present the quantified relationship of tree species selection and human thermal comfort, thus, further promoted the importance of heat mitigation potential of trees in the urban area.