Yuhao Lu

• PhD. University of British Columbia 
• BSc. Forestry, University of British Columbia
• BSc. Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University 

Dr. Yuhao Lu’s research explores the role of geospatial analytics, earth observation, and cartographic design in understanding and shaping human settlements. He is particularly interested in how mapping can reveal relationships between ecological systems, built environments, and social processes. His current research investigates urban tree canopies, regional land use change, and digital modeling methods that support more equitable, data-driven planning and design.

At the University of Manitoba, Dr. Lu leads the Future Elements Studio, an interdisciplinary research lab that measures and visualizes the intricacies of human settlements, using geospatial analytics, cartography, and an array of sensing technologies such as optical remote sensing and laser scanning.

Prior to joining the University of Manitoba, Dr. Lu contributed to urban research and planning initiatives at the Future Cities Laboratory (ETH Zurich) and elementslab (UBC), with projects spanning western Canada, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Rim.
 

• Urban and regional land-use modeling
• Remote sensing and photogrammetry for landscape analysis
• Tree canopy mapping and environmental equity
• Digital twins and 3D GIS for design scenarios
• Data visualization and information design

Dr. Lu teaches in the Master of Landscape Architecture program and the Environmental Design undergraduate program. His courses emphasize spatial reasoning, data visualization, and applied remote sensing. He also mentors graduate and undergraduate students in collaborative research projects, often linking fieldwork with computational modeling to address real-world planning and design challenges.

• Boswick, B., Pankratz, Z., Glowacki, M., & Lu, Y. (2024). Re-(De) fined Level of Detail for Urban Elements: Integrating Geometric and Attribute Data. Architecture, 5(1), 1.  a
• Lu, Y., Girling, C., Martino, N., Kim, J., Kellett, R. and Salter, J., (2023). Climate action at the neighbourhood scale: Comparing municipal future scenarios. Buildings and Cities, 4(1), p.83–102.DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.275 
• Neudecker, D., Joos, M., Muhammad, S., Lu, Y., Mangal, N., Cairns, S. (2023). ur-scape: harnessing data for stakeholder participation in city-making processes. Journal of Open Source Software, 7(79), 4664, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.04664 
• Lu, Y., McCarty, J., Sezto, J., Cheng, Z., Martino, N., Girling, C., Rysenek, A., Barron, S., Matasci, J., (2022). Modeling the Shading Effect of Vancouver’s Urban Tree Canopy in Relation to Neighborhood Variations. Arboriculture & Urban Forestry, 48-2. https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.2022.008
• Martino, N., Girling, C., Lu, Y. (2021). Urban form and livability: socioeconomic and built environment indicators. Buildings and Cities.
• Lu, Y., Scott, A., Kim, J., Curi, C., McCarty, J., Pardy, A., Rysenek, A., Kellett, R., Girling., C. (2021). Integrating an energy-economy model with an UBEM. Buildings and Cities.
• Lu, Y., Kim, J., McCarty, J., Rysanek, A., Kellett, R., (2020) BC Energy Step Code at urban scale: influence of urban scale features on performance based energy code eSIM 2020 Conference Proceedings.
• Salter, J., Lu, Y., Kim, J., Kellett, R., Girling, C., Inomata, F., Dee, B.B., Krahn, A. (2020) An approach to simulating energy and emissions of future urban form and building policy changes, Buildings and cities.
• Czekajlo, A., Coops, N., Wulder, M. A., Hermosilla, T., Lu, Y., White, J. C., & van den Bosch, M. (2020). The urban greenness score: A satellite-based metric for multi-decadal characterization of urban land dynamics. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 93, 102210

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