The Making of Hong Kong:
3D pedestrian network as the critical walking infrastructure
The three-dimensional pedestrian network, enabling multi-level city living in a vertical metropolis, is a fundamental consideration in urban planning and design practices for high-density cities.
The Making of Hong Kong:
3D pedestrian network as the critical walking infrastructure
The three-dimensional pedestrian network, enabling multi-level city living in a vertical metropolis, is a fundamental consideration in urban planning and design practices for high-density cities.
within HKUrbanLabs, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong
Departmental website: https://www.arch.hku.hk/staff/upad/sun-guibo/
Current Research
I am an Assistant Professor and the founding director of Urban Analytics and Interventions Research Lab at the University of Hong Kong. My research interests in urban development and sustainability lie at the interfaces of urban planning, land policy, transportation, and public health. The social, economic and health impacts of large-scale interventions, such as new metro infrastructure, urban renewal, large-block gated communities, and global street experiments, are profound. I specialise in using natural experiments to infer the causality of such impacts. I am also interested in the institution and governance of the infrastructure provisions, using experimental economics approaches to formulating the decision-making processes in local governments.
My research establishes essential urban data, new methodologies, and causal evidence to extend the scientific understanding of the institutions and outcomes of large-scale interventions, contributing to healthy, equitable, and sustainable cities. My work has won several prestigious awards, including the US Lincoln Institute China Program International Fellowship in 2023, three academic awards for research excellence from the UK’s Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) in 2019 and 2021, and HKU Research Output Prize in 2021. Moreover, I received HKU Faculty Teaching Award 2022 for my teaching dedication and innovative pedagogy. I am an associate editor of the Journal of Transport & Health.
I hold a PhD in Geoinformation Science from the Inter-Faculty Programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2014). I had four years of research experience as Postdoc Fellow and Research Assistant Professor. I also held short-term visiting researcher positions in Transport Studies Unit at University of Oxford (2023), Peking University-Lincoln Center (2023), Faculty of Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund (2021 & 2022), Department of Geography at University of Cambridge (2014), and CGA and Medical School at Harvard University (2013).
Selected Publications
J. Zhao, G. Sun *, C. Webster (2024). Global Street Experiment: A Geospatial Database of Pandemic-induced Street Transitions. Landscape and Urban Planning, 242, 104931 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104931
D. He, G. Sun *, C. Li, C Webster (2024). New metro and housing price and rent premiums: A natural experiment study in China. Urban Studies, 61(7), 1371-1392. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980231208560
G. Sun, E. Choe, C. Webster (2023). Natural experiments in healthy cities research: How can urban planning and design knowledge reinforce the causal inference? Town Planning Review, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.2022.14 (Featured Article)
G. Sun, Y. Du (2023). New metro and subjective wellbeing among older people: A natural experiment in Hong Kong. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 1-15 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2023.103592
J. Zhao, G. Sun*, C. Webster (2022). Does China-Pakistan Economic Corridor improve connectivity in Pakistan? A protocol assessing the planned transport network infrastructure. Journal of Transport Geography 100:103327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103327
D. He, G. Sun*, J. De Vos, C. Webster (2022), The effects of metro interventions on physical activity and walking among older adults: A natural experiment in Hong Kong. Health & Place https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102939
G. Sun, C. Webster, X. Zhang, (2021). Connecting the city: A three-dimensional pedestrian network of Hong Kong. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399808319847204
G. Sun, J. Zhao, C. Webster, H. Lin (2020). New metro system and active travel: A natural experiment. Environment International, 138, 105605 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105605
G. Sun, D. Wallace, C. Webster (2020). Unravelling the impact of street network structure and gated community layout in development-oriented transit design. Land Use Policy, 90, 104328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104328
G. Sun, C. Webster, A. Chiaradia (2018). Un-gating the cities: A permeability perspective. Urban Studies, 55 (12), 2586–2602, https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017733943
Policy reports:
G. Sun, C. Webster (2024). Are gated communities capturing the lion’s share of metro accessibility? The path dependence, localised bargaining, and institutional outcomes in financing the development-oriented transit in China. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
G. Sun (2024). Market Research for Hong Kong Planning and Development Surveyors in Belt and Road Countries: Case studies of Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors.