Dr Guibo Sun

Guibo Sun is an Assistant Professor in Department of Urban Planning and Design at the University of Hong Kong, where he also directs the Urban Analytics and Interventions Research Lab (www.ulab.hku.hk), working with his PhD students and Postdoc Fellows on researching large-scale interventions in cities. He received PhD degree in Geoinformation Science from the Inter-Faculty Programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2014). After that, he had four-year postdoc research experience before he joined the University of Hong Kong as an assistant professor (2018-). He was a visiting researcher at Peking University (2023), TU Dortmund (2021 & 2022), University of Cambridge (2014) and Harvard University (2013).

During his semester at TSU, he welcomes contact regarding research opportunities, and he is highly interested in engaging in meaningful academic discussions.

Guibo’s research interests lie in the social, economic and health outcomes of large-scale interventions in cities such as new metro lines, large-block gated communities, and urban renewal projects. He specialises in developing natural experiment research designs to estimate the causal effects of such interventions. His work established essential urban data, new methodologies and causal evidence to extend the scientific understanding of the impacts of new transport infrastructure and neighbourhood and street changes, contributing to healthy and sustainable cities in Asia. Part of his research agenda expands to China-contracted transport infrastructure projects in Africa and South Asia (e.g., Ethiopia and Pakistan).

Guibo’s research won the US Lincoln Institute International Fellowship-China Program 2023, the UK’s RTPI Academic Awards for Research Excellence in 2021 and 2019, and HKU Research Output Prize 2021. Moreover, he received Faculty Teaching Award 2022 for his teaching dedication and innovative pedagogy.

Guibo is an associate editor of the Journal of Transport & Health (Elsevier). He served on the Technical Committee of the Buildings Department to revise Design Manual for Hong Kong (2017-2023). In addition, he constructed the three-dimensional pedestrian network of Hong Kong, the first such database in the world to cover a whole city, and made it open access.

• Sun, G. and Du, Y. (2023) New metro and subjective wellbeing among older people: A natural experiment in Hong Kong. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 1-15.
• Sun, G., Choe, E. and Webster, C. (2023) Natural experiments in healthy cities research: How can urban planning and design knowledge reinforce the causal inference? Town Planning Review, 1-22. (Featured Article)
• Choe, E., He, D. and Sun, G. (2023) Trading-off transit and non-transit physical activity among older people: Evidence from longitudinal accelerometer data of a natural experiment study. Journal of Urban Health. 
• Du, Y., Sun, G., Choe, E. and Kwan, M. (2022) Mediation effects of social isolation on pathways connecting public transport use with subjective wellbeing among older people. Journal of Transport & Health. 
• He, D., Sun, G., De Vos, J. and Webster, C. (2022) The effects of metro interventions on physical activity and walking among older adults: A natural experiment in Hong Kong. Health & Place. 
• Zhao, J., Sun, G. and Webster, C. (2022) Does China-Pakistan Economic Corridor improve connectivity in Pakistan? A protocol assessing the planned transport network infrastructure. Journal of Transport Geography, 100: 103327.
• Sun, G., Du, Y., Ni, M., Zhao, J. and Webster, C. (2021) Metro and elderly health in Hong Kong: Protocol for a natural experiment study in a high-density city. BMJ Open. 
• Zhao, J., Sun, G. and Webster, C. (2021) Walkability Scoring: Why and how does a 3D pedestrian network matter? Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 1-20. 
• Sun, G., Zhao, J., Webster, C. and Lin, H. (2020) New metro system and active travel: A natural experiment. Environment International, 138, 105605. 
• Sun, G., Wallace, D. and Webster, C. (2020) Unravelling the impact of street network structure and gated community layout in development-oriented transit design. Land Use Policy, 90, 104328.
• Sun, G., Webster, C. and Zhang, X. (2019) Connecting the city: A three-dimensional pedestrian network of Hong Kong. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 1-16.
• Sun, G., Webster, C. and Chiaradia, A. (2018) Un-gating the cities: A permeability perspective. Urban Studies, 55(12): 2586-2602. 
• Sun, G. and Zacharias, J. (2017) Can bicycle relieve overcrowded metro? Managing short-distance travel in Beijing. Sustainable Cities and Society, 35: 323-330. 
• Sun, G., Webster, C. and Chiaradia, A. (2017) Objective assessment of station approach routes: development and reliability of an audit for walking environments around metro stations in China. Journal of Transport & Health, (4): 191-207. 
• Sun, G., Zacharias, J., Ma, B. and Oreskovic, N. (2016) How do metro stations integrate with walking environments? Results from walking access within three types of built environment in Beijing. Cities, 56: 91-98.