[Vlog] Visit to Chongqing University in Chongqing – 重庆大学

China’s research ecosystem is not simply expanding. It is reorganizing how architecture, urban climate research, and building energy systems are studied at the metropolitan scale. I experienced this directly during my visit to Chongqing University, where I worked with colleagues from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning on questions related to urban climate, building energy systems, and renewable integration. For researchers interested in cities, Chongqing is not an abstract case study. It is a real laboratory.

With more than 30 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area, extreme humidity, complex topography, and dense urban morphology, the city presents the type of environmental challenges that will define urban resilience in the coming decades.

🏛️ Why Chongqing University matters for serious researchers

Chongqing University combines strong engineering foundations with applied urban research. What becomes clear quickly is the tight connection between research questions and real urban conditions. Key characteristics include:

• Integration of architecture, civil engineering, urban climate research, and building physics • Research programs shaped by dense urban form and subtropical climate stress • Strong focus on measured environmental performance rather than theoretical models • Access to large-scale urban datasets and monitoring infrastructure • Laboratories aligned with national decarbonization and energy transition strategies. In this context, research is not isolated from practice. It is embedded in real urban systems.

🌆 Urban climate research in one of the world’s most complex cities

Chongqing’s mountainous terrain and dense skyline make it an exceptional case for studying:

• urban heat island dynamics in high-density environments • building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and urban energy systems • climate-responsive architecture under hot-humid conditions • interactions between urban morphology and thermal comfort • large-scale renewable integration in megacities

The city forces researchers to confront real complexity. Simplified assumptions do not survive here.

🔬 Research collaboration with Chongqing

Our collaboration has focused on the relationship between renewable energy systems and urban climate effects.

🔬 Research collaboration with Chongqing

Our collaboration with researchers in Chongqing has focused on the intersection between urban climate, renewable energy systems, and climate-responsive urban design. One example is our joint publication exploring how solar technologies interact with urban environments:

Elhabodi, T. S., Yang, S., Parker, J., Khattak, S., He, B. J., & Attia, S. (2023). A review on BIPV-induced temperature effects on urban heat islands. Urban Climate, 50, 101592. https://hdl.handle.net/2268/304632

The study examines how building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) influence urban thermal environments, an issue that is becoming increasingly important as cities deploy solar technologies at scale.

Our collaboration also extends to broader work on urban resilience and livability in rapidly urbanizing environments, including the edited volume:

He, B., Piselli, C., Karunathilake, H., Cheshmehzangi, A., Attia, S., & Darko, A. (Eds.). (2025). Towards the Framework of Livable and Resilient Cities. Zurich, Switzerland: Springer. https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/330361

And research focusing specifically on thermal comfort in complex topographic cities:

Xiong, K., Attia, S., & He, B. (2025). Thermal Comfort in Pedestrian Spaces of Mountain Cities in Humid and Cold Environments. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8401-1_39

Together, these studies reflect a shared research agenda: understanding how urban morphology, climate conditions, and energy technologies interact in dense cities, particularly in mountainous or subtropical environments such as Chongqing.

🎓 A message for Master’s and PhD students considering China

If you are thinking about studying in China, Chongqing University is a place worth understanding carefully before arriving. A few realities future students should know:

• Research expectations are explicit and performance-driven • Supervisors are technically involved in research direction • Collaboration across disciplines is strongly encouraged • Research projects are often connected to real urban challenges • Long-term commitment is valued more than short visits

This environment rewards curiosity, discipline, and consistency.

🤝 Collaboration is ultimately about people

International research works because of trust, curiosity, and long-term relationships between researchers.

Working with colleagues in Chongqing reinforced something important: scientific collaboration is strongest when discussions focus on methods, data, and performance, not academic ceremony.

🎯 For students considering research in China. If you are • interested in urban climate and energy systems • motivated by data-rich applied research • curious about how megacities experiment with decarbonization. Then engaging directly with Chinese universities can be one of the most valuable academic experiences you can have.

🙏 Special thanks to the colleagues and collaborators who made this exchange possible, including: @Baojie He @Kai Xiong @Shuxian Yang and colleagues from: 🏛️ Chongqing University – 重庆大学 🏛️ University of Liège – Sustainable Building Design Lab 🏛️ Urban Climate research community

Scientific collaboration ultimately grows from:

📽️ Watch the academic vlog about the visit 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CavrVM9eEGU

📚 Learn more about our research https://www.sbd.uliege.be/

💻 Subscribe to my newsletter https://lnkd.in/diTVT5eq

🌐 Explore previous posts and resources https://www.shadyattia.org

🔗 Follow all professional links including WeChat https://lnkd.in/eN3xZhhZ

💬 If you are planning to study, collaborate, or conduct research in China, share your plans in the comments.

#China #AcademicExchange #Architecture #UrbanClimate #CivilEngineering #ResearchInChina #STEM #ChongqingUniversity #UrbanEnergy #BIPV #SBDLab #SustainableCities