Twenty undergraduate and postgraduate students have experienced urban regeneration, adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, natural hazard mitigation, animal habitats and land reclamation initiatives first hand in a UQ|UP international field trip to Hong Kong and Macau. The trip enabled students to learn about the natural landscapes and urban developments in the fast-growing Pearl River Delta region.

Among UQ|UP staff, urban planner Dr Sébastien Darchen led the interdisciplinary trip, organised regularly over the past 10 years. Dr Darchen said the trip exposed students to environmental and development challenges different to those they would find in Queensland cities: “I have run this course for five years now and each time the students gain a lot out of it – they understand planning and environmental challenges in another context, and it broadens their perspective on what they can achieve within their discipline.”

Student Jacob Boomsma said the Hong Kong field trip enabled him to explore a region of the world about which he had no idea. “The coordinators facilitated an informative perspective on Hong Kong, and I’ve gained a bunch of new friends,” he said.