Detail
Abstract
The “AI – Arboreal Intelligence Workshop” is presented by ‘The HK Digital Arboretum’ (www.digarb.hku.hk) and is designed to provide practical training to colleagues on the application of the output from TDG project no. 968, Digital Arboretum and Planting Course Gallery – Phase 2 – Building a Community of Enquiry. The word ‘arboreal’ means ‘relating to trees,’ and an ‘arboretum’ is a ‘place where trees, shrubs, and other plants are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes.
The HKU Digital Arboretum grew out of project proponent, Gavin Coates’ insistence on the importance of outdoor field trips in teaching planting and ecology. COVID curtailed outdoor and face-to-face teaching for 4 years, resulting in Coates’ production of 100s of videos to fill the gap. This approach is inspired by the concept of ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’, a phrase coined by Richard Louv in his book Last Child in the Woods, Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder.
Part of the TDG project output consisted of organizing a PLANTING KNOWLEDGE SEMINAR 2025 with 100 participants from diverse fields who shared insights on effective teaching and learning practices in planting and ecology, as well as exploring how nature-based education can help address our collective nature deficit disorder, supported by 11 educational and professional organizations providing speakers, interactive activities, and logistical assistance. In recognition of these contributions to knowledge exchange, Mr. Coates and the HK Digital Arboretum team received the Faculty of Architecture KE Award in 2025.
This workshop will consist of the following main segments:
- 20-minute project introduction and on-screen demonstration of the HK Digital Arboretum content and how to use the platform
- 50-minute interactive and experiential ‘Tree Walk’ on campus, guided by Gavin Coates, during which participants will learn to identify 5 tree species and see for themselves what the trees are doing, how they are far from passive bystanders in the landscape, how they grow, interact with other plants and animals, and depend on as well as contribute to their surrounding habitats. The walk will include a number of narratives and storytelling which may be used by teachers as metaphors for situations and relationships in other disciplines apart from landscape architecture.
- 15-minute round table discussion on what there is we as teachers can learn from trees and how could these ideas apply to other disciplines.
- 5-minute promotion of PLANTING KNOWLEDGE SEMINAR 2026 which will be held on 16 May 2026
About the Speaker(s)
As a landscape architect in Hong Kong since 1982, Gavin worked on key projects for the HK Government, including Tseung Kwan O New Town infrastructure, Yuen Long Town Park, the waterfall area of Hong Kong Park, and the planting of over 20,000 street trees under the Greening Master Plans between 2004 and 2015. He joined HKU as a senior lecturer in the Division of Landscape Architecture in 2015, focusing primarily on planting design, landscape technology and biophysical systems. In 2016 he designed and co-taught a Common Core Course entitled ‘Nature in the City, Beyond the Concrete Jungle’ focusing on the relationship between humanity and nature – this course was rerun as a summer course from 2017 to ‘20, and 2022 to ’25. In this event, Gavin will introduce the ‘HK Digital Arboretum’ (www.digarb.hku.hk) a planting and planting design teaching and learning resource featuring hundreds of plant and tree related videos mostly taken during Covid lockdown when field trips could not be conducted in person. The HK Digital Arboretum and Planting Knowledge Seminar 2025 won the Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Award, 2025.
He is also well known as a children’s book author and illustrator.
- Teaching Research Assistant for CCHU9058 (Summer 2025)
- Bachelor of Arts in Landscape Studies (Year 3), Dean’s Honour Award
- Additional Committee Member, Tuen Mun District Council Food and Environmental Hygiene Committee 2025-2027
Yan Chi Hong is a Teaching Research Assistant for CCHU9058 (Summer 2025) and a Year 3 Bachelor of Arts in Landscape Studies student, awarded the Dean’s Honour Award. He also serves as an Additional Committee Member of the Tuen Mun District Council Food and Environmental Hygiene Committee (2025–2027). Hong is passionate about landscape planning, environmental issue, and sustainability. With strong experience in teaching and the education field, he is dedicated to engaging students and promoting community awareness of environmental protection, striving to create cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable urban environments.