The term Nature-based solutions (NBS) refers to the sustainable management and use of natural features and processes to tackle socio-environmental challenges (Nature-based solutions - Wikipedia).With NBS, we try to create a better and sustainable environment for human societies through working in harmony with nature. Here are some examples of NBS-related work.
Porous pavement is a key technology for
“sponge cities”. In 2008, I was awarded a research project entitled Improvement of Porous Pavement System for Onsite Stormwater Management by the
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Since then, I have been working on several research projects related to porous materials and structures, sponsored Hong Kong Highways Department, European Commission--Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Horizon 2020 program), and Research Impacts Fund by Hong Kong Research Grants Council. We developed “a smart integrated road pavement and drainage system for stormwater storage, de-icing, dust suppression, and cooling.” This system won Canadian Special Awards and Organizer’s Choice Awards in the International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada (iCAN 2020). We are still developing new porous materials and structures.
Urban heat island (UHI) effect is a well-known and extensively studied phenomenon. Excessive urban heat is expected to worsen with global climate change, and it adversely impacts the walkability of cities and health or residents. Funded by the European Commission--Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Horizon 2020 program), we evaluated different nature-based strategies to mitigate urban heat.
While climate change is a pressing issue that attracts a lot of attention, another looming crisis is the rapid loss of biodiversity. According to the United Nations, one million out of eight million of the total estimated number of species on Earth are in the brink of distinction. Many scholars believe that we are in the process of the Sixth Extinction—a term used to describe the mass extinction of biological species on Earth by Elizabeth Kolbert. Unlike the previous extinction, however, the Sixth Extinction is created by humans.
Biodiversity offers rich ecological services. It not only provides us food, construction materials, medicine, etc. but also helps regulate the climate and make human society more resilient. The construction and operation of infrastructures affect biodiversity. Funded by the European Commission--Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Horizon 2020 program), we tried to develop managerial and technical solutions to conserve biodiversity through ecologically friendly infrastructures.
Urban runoffs are highly polluted. In Hong Kong, urban pavement runoffs are discharged into streams and rivers and flow into the sea. Urban infrastructures such as pavements, drainage pipes and channels all play a role in water quality. Funded by the European Commission--Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Horizon 2020 program),
we tried to understand quality water from urban pavement runoffs and evaluate water quality of river and streams. We also tried to evaluate the effectiveness of river restoration on water quality. In addition to conventional laboratory water quality tests, innovative IoT-based sensing system is used to automatically monitor water quality, along with bioindicators such as EPT (E= Ephemeroptera, P= Plecoptera, T= Tricoptera).
Rapid urbanization causes city expansion. However, it remains a challenge to balance the competing demands of environmental conservation, economic development, and societal needs. Based on a national natural reserve in China, Hengshui Lake Natural Reserve, we developed a framework of translating general sustainable development principles into specific practices at the regional level. We tried to use multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques such as the analytic network process (ANP) to weigh the evaluation criteria and rank the proposed capital and social development projects. In this research direction, we try to incorporate techniques from project management and management science into infrastructure project development with the goal of promoting sustainable development at different dimensions.
