Fields of interest:
Land Use Planning; Urban Renewal; New Towns; Geographic Information Systems; Transport and Big Data; Smart Cities; Urban Planning and Development in Hong Kong and China, and S.E. Asia

I joined the Centre in 1981 after working as a Research Officer of the Strategic Planning Unit of the Hong Kong Government. I am now the Chan To Haan Professor in Urban Planning and Design and Chair Professor of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Director of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Research Centre. I have been the Dean of the Graduate School, Director of Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning, Director of Institute of Transport Studies, and Convenor and Deputy Convenor of Contemporary China Studies Strategic Research Area of the University. My main areas of specialization are urban planning and development in Hong Kong, China, and SE Asia, and the applications of geographic information systems in urban and regional planning and smart cities. I was elected as an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2003, Fellow of TWAS (The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World) in 2010, and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in UK in 2013.  I was the recipient of the 2008 UN-HABITAT Lecture Award in recognition of  outstanding and sustained contribution to research, thinking and practice in human settlements development and planning and 2012 Dr. Gill-Chin Lim Global Award presented in the 53rd Annual Conference of Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) held in Cincinnati, USA, 2 November 2012, in recognition of global commitment and leadership as a scholar and an educator in the field of humanistic globalization. I also received the Distinguished Research Achievement Award of HKU in 2016 and the Life Time Achievement Award in GIS from the International Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographical Information Sciences (CPGIS) in 2017.   I have been Founding Secretary-General of the Asian Planning Schools Association (APSA), Founding Secretary-General of Asia Geographic Information System Association. I have been Chairman of the Hong Kong Geographical Association, Vice-President of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners (HKIP), Vice-president of the Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP), Programme Director of the Geographic/Land Information Technology Programme of the Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP), Founding President of the Hong Kong Geographic Information System Association (HKGISA), and Chairman of the Geographic Information Science Commission of the International Geographic Union (IGU). I am also honorary professor at various major universities and research institutes in China, including Institute of Geography, Beijing; Tongji University, Shanghai; Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, and Wuhan University, Wuhan. Apart from working in Hong Kong and China, I have done fieldwork in Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. I have been invited to attend many expert group meetings of the United Nations Centre of Regional Development (UNCRD) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). I have conducted many CPD training courses on urban planning and management and geographic information systems in Hong Kong and China. I have served on various planning related bodies of the Hong Kong Government. At present I am a member of the editorial board of Computers, Environment and Urban System, Transactions in GIS, Progress in Planning, International Planning Studies, Environment and Planning B and other international journals. I have been a member of the Planners Registration Board, Transport Advisory Committee, Town Planning Appeal Board, Member of the Pan-PRD Panel of the Central Policy Unit and Chairman of the Transport Complaint Unit of the Hong Kong SAR Government. At present, I am a member of the Appeal Tribunal (Buildings Ordinance). I have been invited to participate in many expert group meetings on master plans of Chinese cities, such as Guangzhou , Zhuhai, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou.

Awards & Achievements

• Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award 2017-18
• Chan To-Haan Professorship in Urban Planning and Design 2016
• Distinguished Research Achievement Award 2014-15
• Dr Grill-Chin Lim Global Award 2012
• UN-HABITAT Lecture Award 2008
• Research Output Prize 2011-12, 2007-08
• Fellow, The World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries (TWAS)
• Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences
• Academician, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) 2003
• Croucher Senior Research Fellowship 2001-02
• Outstanding Research Award 2000-01

Grants

• “The Applications of Virtual Reality Technologies for Cultural Heritage Conservation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”, Key R&D Program of the Guangdong Province (廣東省重點領域研發計劃)
• “Europe-China International Joint Research Project on Sustainable Mobility and Equality in Mega-City Regions (SIMETRI)”, Joint Programming Initiative Urban European (JPIUE) and National Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
• “In Search of New Economic Cooperation Models Between Hong Kong and the Big Bay Area”, Strategic Public Policy Research (SPPR), Research Grants Council
• “The Development of New Central Business Districts (CBDs) in China: Development Model and Dynamics”, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council
• “Unsupervised Short-Term Monitoring of Human-Induced Land Cover Change Using Repeat-Pass RADARSAT-2 Polarimetric SAR Images”, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council
• “High Speed Railway Accessibility and the Spatial Restructuring of Producer Services in China”, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council
• “Short-interval monitoring of urban land development with satellite SAR images using object-oriented image analysis and knowledge-based systems”, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council
• “The Linkages of Producer Services between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta”, Strategic Public Policy Research (SPPR), Research Grants Council
• “A Study of Urban Living and Employment Compactness Based on Multi-source Spatio-temporal Data”, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
• Endowed Professorship as “Chan To-Haan Professorship in Urban Planning and Design”, Mr Chan To-Haan
• “The Development of Producer Services in the Chinese Urban System”, Direct Allocation Grant, Research Grants Council
• “Economic, Infrastructure and Real Estate Development Forum for A Competitive Pan-Pearl River Delta Region”, Professional Services Development Assistance Scheme
• “Urban simulation for sustainable development in the Pearl River Delta using remote sensing and GIS”, Croucher Foundation – Research Grants
• “Inter-jurisdictional Cooperation in the Pearl River Delta: Towards an Analytical Model”, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council
• “GIS road network data model for the display and navigation of multi-lane complex intersection transport network”, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council
• “The use of the integration of cellular automata and geographic information system in urban modelling”, Croucher Senior Research Fellowships in Natural Sciences, Technology and Medicine
• “Virtual Hong Kong University Campus”, Environmental System Research Institute Hong Kong (ESRI)
• “Spatial-temporal Compression of Large-scale Traffic Data”, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council
• “A comparative study of the land use planning systems in Hong Kong and selected cities in Guangdong Province, China”, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council
• “Changes in industrial linkages with China and intra-metropolitan industrial location in Hong Kong”, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council
• “Errors and uncertainties in urban simulation using cellular automata and GIS”, General Research Fund, Research Grants Council

Selected Recent Publications

Chen, Z., & Yeh, A.G.O. (2020). Socioeconomic variations and disparity in space-time accessibility in suburban China: A case study of Guangzhou. Urban Studies. DOI: 10.1177/0042098020916416

Fang, B., & Yeh, A.G.O. (2020). Spatial-economic impact of missing national highway links on China’s regional economy. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 84, 102377.

Guo, H., Li, W., Yao, F., Wu, J., Zhou, X., Yue, Y., & Yeh, A.G.O. (2020). Who are more exposed to PM2.5 pollution: A mobile phone data approach. Environmental International.

Li, X., & Yeh, A.G.O. (2020). Cellular automata modelling for urban planning in fast-growth regions. In S. Geertman, & J. Stillwell (Eds.), Handbook of Planning Support Science (pp. 397-415). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Yeh, A.G.O., Yue, Y., Zhou, X., & Gao, Q.L. (2020). Big data, urban analytics and the planning of smart cities. In S. Geertman, & J. Stillwell (Eds.), Handbook of Planning Support Science (pp. 179-198). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Zhou, X., & Yeh, A. G. O. (2020). Understanding the modifiable areal unit problem and identifying appropriate spatial unit in jobs–housing balance and employment self-containment using big data. Transportation.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-020-10094-z

Mu, X., & Yeh, A. G. O. (2020). Regional delineation of China based on commuting flows. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 52(3), 478 – 482.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19873006

Xia, C., Yeh, A. G. O., & Zhang, A. (2020). Analyzing spatial relationships between urban land use intensity and urban vitality at street block level: A case study of five Chinese megacities. Landscape and Urban Planning, 193, 103669.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.103669

Wang, J., & Yeh, A. G. O. (2020). Administrative restructuring and urban development in China: Effects of urban administrative level upgrading. Urban Studies, 57(6), 1201–1223.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019830898

Qi, Z., Yeh, A. G. O., & Li, X. (2019). Scattering-mechanism-based investigation of optimal combinations of polarimetric SAR frequency bands for land cover classification. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, 85 (11), 799-813.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.85.11.799

Xia, C., Zhang, A., Wang, H., & Yeh, A. G. O. (2019). Predicting the expansion of urban boundary using space syntax and multivariate regression model. Habitat International, 86, 126–134.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2019.03.001

Xu, S., Qi, Z., Li, X., & Yeh, A. G. O. (2019). Investigation of the effect of the incidence angle on land cover classification using fully polarimetric SAR images. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 40 (4), 1576-1593.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2018.1528021

Xia, C., Zhang, A., & Yeh, A. G. O. (2019). Shape-weighted landscape evolution index: An improved approach for simultaneously analyzing urban land expansion and redevelopment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 244, 118836.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118836

Xia, C., Zhang, A., Wang, H., & Yeh, A. G. O. (2019). Predicting the expansion of urban boundary using space syntax and multivariate regression model. Habitat International, 86, 126–134.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2019.03.001

Chen, Z., & Yeh, A. G. O. (2019). Accessibility inequality and income disparity in urban China: A case study of Guangzhou. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 109(1), 121-141.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2018.1470923

“Angle Difference Method for Vehicle Navigation in Multilevel Road Networks With a Three-Dimensional Transport GIS Database” (2017), IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 140-152  (A.G.O. Yeh, Teng Zhong, Yang Yue)

“Measurements of POI-based Mixed use and Their Relationships with Neighbourhood Vibrancy” (2016), International Journal of Geographical Information Science  (Yang Yue, Yan Zhuang, A.G.O. Yeh, Jin-Yun Xie, Cheng-Lin Ma and Qing-Quan Li)

”Transportation Disadvantage and Activity Participation in the Cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan” (2016), Transport Policy, 47(1),  pp. 1-12. (Adeel, Muhammad, A.G.O Yeh and Feng Zhang)

”Spatial Proximity and Location Dynamics of Knowledge-Intensive Business Service in the Pearl River Delta, China” (2016), Habitat International, Vol. 53, pp. 390-402 (Jiejing Wang, Xiaohu Zhang, and A.G.O. Yeh)

”Monthly Short-Term Detection of Land Development Using RADARSAT-2 Polarimetric SAR Imagery” (2015), Remote Sensing of Environment, 164, 179-196. (Z. Qi, A.G.O. Yeh, X. Li, X. Shi, and X. Zhang)

“A Three-Component Method for Timely Detection of Land Cover Changes Using Polarimetric SAR Images” (2015), ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 107, 3-21. (Z. Qi, A.G.O. Yeh, X. Li, and X. Zhang)

”Hierarchical Polygonization for Generating and Updating Lane-based Road Network Information for Navigation from Road Markings” (2015), International Journal of Geographical Information Science,  Vol. 29, No. 9, pp. 1509-1533. (A.G.O. Yeh, Teng Zhong, Yang Yue)

”Producer Service Linkages and City Connectivity in the Mega-City Region of China: A Case Study of the Pearl River Delta” (2015),  Urban Studies, Vol. 52, No. 13, pp. 2458-2482.  (A.G.O. Yeh, Fiona F. Yang, Jiejing Wang)

”Economic Transition and Urban Transformation of China: The Interplay of the State and the Market” (2015), Urban Studies, Vol. 52, No. 15, pp. 2822-2848.   (A.G.O. Yeh, Fiona F. Yang, Jiejing Wang)

“Zooming into Individuals to Understand the Collective: A Review of Trajectory-based Travel Behaviour Studies” (2014), Travel Behaviour and Society, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 69–78. (Yang Yue, Tian Lan, A.G.O. Yeh, Qing-Quan Li)

“Patterns of Residential Adjustment for Older Person: Who will Recover and How Do They Recover? A Study in Different Residential Environments in Hong Kong” (2014), Social Indicators Research, 119(1),  pp. 295-319. (Kevin H. C. Cheng, David R. Phillips, Oi-Ling Siu and A.G.O. Yeh)

Producer Services in China: Economic and Urban Development (2013), London: Routledge, 356 pp. (edited by AG.O. Yeh and Fiona F. Yang)

“Spatial Development of Producer Services in the Chinese Urban System” (2013), Environment and Planning A, Vol. 45, pp. 159-179. (Fiona F. Yang and A.G.O. Yeh)

“Interjurisdictional Cooperation through Bargaining: The Case of the Guangzhou–Zhuhai Railway in the Pearl River Delta, China” (2013), The China Quarterly, 213, pp. 130-151. (Jiang Xu and A.G.O.Yeh)

“An Improved Distance Metric for the Interpolation of Link-Based Traffic Data Using Kriging: A Case Study of a Large-Scale Urban Road Network” (2012). International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 26(4). pp. 667-689. (H. Zou, Yang Yue, Q.Q. Li, and A.G.O. Yeh)

“Integration of Polarimetric Decomposition, Object-Oriented Image Analysis, and Decision Tree Algorithms for Land-Use and Land-Cover Classification using RADARSAT-2 Polarimetric SAR Data” (2012), Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Vol. 78, No. 2, pp. 169-181. (Z. Qi, A.G.O. Yeh, X. Li and Z. Lin)

“A Novel Algorithm for Land Use and Land Cover Classification Using RADARSAT-2 Polarimetric SAR Data” (2012), Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 118, pp. 21-39. (Z. Qi, A.G.O. Yeh, X. Li and Z. Lin)

“A Self-Learning Short-Term Traffic Forecasting System” (2012), Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Vol. 39, pp.471–485 ( Zhu, Jiasong and A.G.O. Yeh)

High-Rise Living in Asian Cities (2011), Dordrecht: Springer, 195 pp. (Belinda Yuen and A.G.O. Yeh (eds.))

Governance and Planning of Mega-City Regions: An International Comparative Perspective (2011), London: Routledge, 272 pp. (Jiang Xu and A.G.O. Yeh (eds.))

China’s Pan-Pearl River Delta: Regional Cooperation and Development (2011), Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 243 pp. (A.G.O. Yeh and Jiang Xu (eds.))

“Intraurban Location of Producer Services in Guangzhou, China” (2011), Environment and Planning A, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 28-47. (Hong Yi, Fiona F. Yang and A.G.O. Yeh)

“Hong Kong: The Turning of the Dragon Head” (2011), in Stephen Hamnett and Dean Forbes  (eds.),Planning Asian Cities – Risks and Resilience, London: Routledge, pp. 180-200. (A.G.O. Yeh)