Research Centre for Urban Hazards Mitigation

Research Centre for Urban Hazards Mitigation

The Research Centre for Urban Hazards Mitigation was established by the Faculty of Construction and Environment in 2002 to conduct focused and multidisciplinary research on the consequences of natural and man-made hazards in urban areas as well as to develop innovative engineering methods and new technologies for monitoring and mitigating damages to urban infrastructures. It facilitates knowledge dissemination and technology transfer to the Government and related industries through specialist consultancy, continuing professional training as well as undergraduate and postgraduate education. The Centre focuses on the effects of windstorms and earthquakes on tall buildings and long-span bridges and the effects of landslides. The Centre is also actively investigating the effects of global climate change on urban infrastructure as well as multi-hazard assessment and mitigation.

Urban areas today have become increasingly vulnerable to natural and man-made hazards, not only because of the extremely high concentration of population and infrastructures, but also because global climate change has accelerated. The Research Centre for Urban Hazards Mitigation was established at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2002 to minimize the risks associated with natural and man-made hazards. It has been conducting focused but multi-disciplinary research in 14 major areas, namely

Earthquake Engineering
Wind Engineering
Slope Engineering
Bridge Engineering
Retrofit of Structures
Vibration Control and Smart Structures
Structural Health Monitoring and Damage Detection
Reliability and Risk Evaluation
Performance-based Structural Analysis and Design
GNSS for Hazard Monitoring
GIS for Hazard Management
INSAR for Crustal Deformations
Remote Sensing for Early Warning and Crisis Mapping
Sustainability of the Aging Residential Building Block

Mission:

To investigate the risks and potential consequences of natural and man-made hazards in urban areas, and to plan for hazard mitigation in sustainable urban development;
To develop innovative technologies and state-of-the-art engineering solutions for monitoring and mitigating damages to urban infrastructures, and reducing the physical, economic and social losses due to catastrophic hazardous events;
To offer efficient and effective measures to various post-hazard actions, including hazard assessment, rescue control and management and structural retrofitting; and
To facilitate knowledge dissemination and technology transfer to the Government and related industries through specialist consultancy, continuing professional training as well as undergraduate and postgraduate education.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University provides strong support for the development of the Centre. In 2002, the Centre was selected as one of the University's Areas of Strategic Development. Becoming an Area of Strength of the University since 2005, the Centre was identified as one of its Niche Areas in 2007 to further its development. It is composed of more than 20 academic staff members from the following departments:

A full member of the Asian-Pacific Network of Centers for Earthquake Engineering Research (ANCER), as well as a member of the Shenzhen Network of National Key Laboratories, the Centre has collaborated with many renowned overseas institutions in the USA, Australia, UK, Japan, Singapore, Korea, etc.

Should you have any enquiries, please contact:

Dr Kaiming BI
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Kowloon, Hong Kong

Phone: (+852) 2766 6075
Fax: (+852) 2334 6389
Email: kaiming.bi@polyu.edu.hk