Dr. Wenbo Lai

Dr. Wenbo Lai is an Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Architecture, South China University of Technology (SCUT). His academic and professional appointments include the Director of the Guangdong Virtual Simulation Joint Laboratory for Safe and Healthy Human Settlements (University-Enterprise Cooperation), the Director of the Research and Science Popularization Base for Lingnan Human Settlements Art in the New Era (SCUT), and the Deputy Director of the Guangdong Provincial Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Digital Landscapes at SCUT. Dr. Lai obtained his Ph.D. in Design Strategy from Kyushu University, Japan, and completed his postdoctoral research in Urban and Rural Planning at Chongqing University. He was also a visiting scholar at the Department of Architecture, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and the Department of Architecture, Waseda University, under a China Scholarship Council (CSC) fellowship. Additionally, he holds an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degree from China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Dr. Lai currently serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of UED Urban Environment Design and as an Editorial Board Member of Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

Research Interests:

(1) Safe, healthy, and inclusive human settlements：urban and rural emergency shelter planning and design, age-friendly and child-friendly environments, and healthcare landscape design.

(2) Cultural security and digital conservation of the built heritage: disaster risk mitigation in traditional rural settlements, protection of military cultural heritage and coastal defense heritage sites, and digital conservation and adaptive renewal of urban and rural built heritage.

Dr. Lai has served as Principal Investigator for more than 20 national and provincial research projects. These include one key project under the National Key R&D Program for Intergovernmental International Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation (Disaster Reduction and Prevention), three sub-projects of the Major Projects of the National Social Science Fund of China, and one project supported by the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of the Ministry of Education. He also serves as the principal investigator of a Guangdong Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Course (Social Practice). As a core member of the research team, he contributed to projects that received the the IFLA Asia-Pacific Landscape Architecture Outstanding Award and the Second Prize in Planning and Design of the Science and Technology Award from the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture.

Dr. Lai has received several prestigious honors individually, including:

■ Outstanding Young Designer 2023, awarded by Landscape Architecture and Beautiful China Committee, Chinese Society for Urban Studies;

■ Outstanding Young Landscape Architect of Guangdong Province 2022;

■ Guanghua Longteng Award: China’s Top 100 Young Designers (2022), awarded by Guangdong Society of Landscape Architecture;

■ Top Ten Outstanding Young Professionals in Guangdong’s Design Industry (2022), awarded by Guangdong Industrial Design Association.