CUHK . School of Architecture . 2026

CUHK
Course Commons

Smart City + Architecture Studio Resource Commons

A searchable resource commons, API and skill catalog, knowledge base, and platform for two CUHK courses -- combining public datasets, open APIs, GitHub repositories, accreditation policy, and instructor-curated internal files for teaching, research, and project development.

Two Courses
URSP3600
Designing Smart Cities
Undergraduate workshop course . Open data, APIs, BIM, AI agents, IoT, entrepreneurship
Explore ->
M.Arch Studio
Archipelago of Habitats
MEGASTUDIO 4 . Ecology, bounded systems, mapping, simulation, spatial intervention
Explore ->
33Total Resources
8Live APIs
12Downloadable Items
18Shared Resources
10Studio-Specific
6Toolchains
Featured

API & Open Data Resources

Live APIs and datasets from Hong Kong government open-data portals, ready for student projects and agent workflows.

Featured

RAG & Skill Resources

Policy PDFs, curated repos, and notebooks structured for RAG pipelines and agent skill building.

Resource Categories

What's in the Commons

API-Ready
Open APIs & Datasets
Live government APIs, downloadable datasets from DATA.GOV.HK covering buildings, parking, air quality, and spatial data.
RAG-Ready
Policy PDFs & Repos
Smart city blueprints, open-data plans, and curated reading lists ready for RAG ingestion and agent context building.
Skill-Ready
Repos, Postman & Notebooks
APS BIM repositories, Postman collections, Jupyter notebooks, and geospatial tool repositories ready for skill extraction.
Context / Precedent
Articles & Case Studies
Digital twin precedents, urban AI case studies, planning-tech reading maps for background and inspiration.
Accreditation / Policy
HKIA & ARB Criteria
HKIA/ARB accreditation criteria, professional assessment pages, and MOU documents for studio alignment.
Internal / Upload
Manual Upload Placeholders
Reserved slots for private course documents, codebooks, and instructor-provided files to be uploaded manually.
Alternate Toolchains

Six Resource Stacks

Resources grouped into workflow-ready stacks -- each with primary options, alternates, and teaching/agent use notes.

STACK 1
HK Smart City Open Data
Best baseline for URSP3600. API literacy, dashboards, project framing.
STACK 2
BIM / Autodesk / Cloud
BIM concepts, cloud workflows, Postman collections, model properties.
STACK 3
Urban AI / RAG / Agent
Agent workflows, RAG references, skill-building, AI-based urban tooling.
STACK 4
Digital Twin / Platform
System precedent, digital twin logic, platform imagination.
STACK 5
Architecture / HKIA / Ecology
Studio alignment, accreditation awareness, site/ecology/data support.
STACK 6
Mapping / Geospatial / Site
Site lookup, mapping, territorial analysis, spatial workflows.
CUHK Course Commons . Courses

Two Courses

The Course Commons supports two CUHK courses -- an undergraduate smart-city workshop and a postgraduate ecology studio -- sharing resources, APIs, tools, and methods.

Undergraduate . Year 1-3
URSP3600
Designing Smart Cities

An undergraduate workshop-based course teaching students how to design a smart-city system, service, or urban application by combining open data, APIs, BIM, digital twins, IoT, AI agents, RAG workflows, scripting, dashboards, and social innovation / entrepreneurship. Each week combines a short lecture/presentation and a hands-on workshop.

Open Data APIs BIM Digital Twin IoT AI Agents RAG Workflows Entrepreneurship
M.Arch Studio . MEGASTUDIO 4
ARCH5110/6210
Archipelago of Habitats

An ecology-focused architecture studio treating islands and bounded systems as architectural and ecological problems. The studio uses field research, mapping, simulation, and spatial intervention as design methods. Computational tools support architectural judgment, technical integration, and ecological transformation.

Island Systems Ecology Simulation Mapping Intervention HKIA Field Research Agent-Based
Undergraduate Course . URSP3600

Designing Smart Cities

A workshop-based course for Year 1-3 students combining open data, APIs, BIM, digital twins, IoT, AI agents, RAG workflows, and entrepreneurship to design smart-city systems and urban applications.

Why This Course Matters

From Data to Urban Intervention

Cities are increasingly instrumented, networked, and data-driven. URSP3600 equips students with a practical toolkit: how to find and use open data, connect to live APIs, reason about BIM and spatial information, prototype IoT-adjacent systems, apply AI coding support, and frame their work as social innovation.

Students progressively build a project using a shared course commons of datasets, APIs, scripts, and templates -- or their own custom resources.

What students can build
Real-time dashboards . Smart service prototypes . BIM-data systems . Agent-powered urban tools . IoT sensing interfaces . Entrepreneurial city-tech pitches
Key Themes
01
What makes a city "smart"
Data, sensing, coordination, prediction, adaptation, value creation
02
BIM and information-rich models
Building information, asset lifecycle, cloud-connected models
03
Digital twin thinking
Virtual city mirrors, simulation, real-time feedback loops
04
Open APIs and data ecosystems
DATA.GOV.HK, APS, government portals, sensor feeds
05
IoT and smart services
Devices, sensors, connectivity, real-time systems
06
AI coding support + agents
RAG, LLM agents, workflow design, AI-assisted development
07
Social innovation
Entrepreneurial value, civic design, inclusive smart city
Workshop Model

Weekly Structure

Each week combines a short lecture/presentation with a hands-on workshop. Students progressively build their smart-city project by combining modules from the shared course commons.

  1. 01
    Smart City Orientation
    Introduction to smart cities: domains, actors, data flows. Policy framing using HK Smart City Blueprint 2.0.
  2. 02
    Open Data Literacy
    Navigating DATA.GOV.HK, understanding API structures, downloading and inspecting datasets.
  3. 03
    APIs in Practice
    Connecting to live APIs (parking, air quality, location search). Building first API-driven outputs.
  4. 04
    BIM Fundamentals
    Building information models, APS ecosystem, model properties and cloud workflows.
  5. 05
    Digital Twin Concepts
    What a digital twin is. Platform precedents (MCity, City Science Lab). System framing.
  6. 06
    IoT and Sensing
    Sensor logic, data streams, connectivity patterns, real-world smart-service examples.
  7. 07
    AI Coding Support
    Using AI to write scripts, query APIs, structure data workflows, and debug projects.
  8. 08
    RAG and Agents
    Retrieval-augmented generation basics. Feeding documents to agents. Agent workflow design.
  9. 09
    Dashboard and Prototype
    Building a functional prototype or dashboard integrating data, APIs, and analysis.
  10. 10
    Social Innovation + Pitch
    Framing smart-city work as social innovation. Project pitch and course commons contribution.
Featured Resources

URSP3600 Resource Set

Priority resources for Designing Smart Cities. Click any card to see details, ingestion method, and alternates.

Agent Integration

How an Agent Can Use This Course

Recommended Agent Ingestion Strategy -- URSP3600
  • Policy RAG: Ingest A01 (HK Smart City Blueprint) and A02 (DEVB Open Data Plan) as foundational domain context. Chunk by section headings.
  • API Discovery: Use C05 (DATA.GOV.HK API Spec) as a guide document. Register C01-C04 as available API endpoints.
  • Skill Files: Treat B03 and B04 (Postman collections) as structured skill artifacts. Extract endpoint/request/response patterns.
  • RAG Pipeline Reference: Use A03 (Awesome Urban LLM Agents) README as a curated reading index. Supplement with B17 (LLM RAG PDF).
  • Agent MCP Bridge: B07 (mcp-open-data-hk) provides an agent-ready bridge to the full DATA.GOV.HK catalog.
  • Notebook Skills: B05 (ACC notebook) and B10 (IBM RAG notebook) can be loaded as agent skill examples.
How Students Can Use This
Beginners
Start with C06 (data portal) and C05 (API spec) for open-data orientation. Use A01 for smart-city framing. Try C03 (parking API) for a first live data exercise.
Advanced Students
Build RAG pipelines using A03 + B10 + B11. Use B07 for agentic open-data access. Study B03/B04 Postman collections as API skill patterns. Extend with B14 VoxCity for 3D.
M.Arch Studio . MEGASTUDIO 4 . CUHK School of Architecture

Archipelago of Habitats

Agent-Based Ecologies and the Architecture of Intervention. An ecology-focused studio treating islands as bounded systems and ecological problems -- using field research, mapping, simulation, and spatial intervention as design methods.

Studio Concept

Island as Bounded System

MEGASTUDIO 4 treats islands -- and other bounded systems -- as both ecological and architectural problems. The studio asks: what happens when a contained environment reaches the limits of its own logic? And how can architecture intervene with ecological intelligence?

Computational tools are used not as ends in themselves but as design instruments that support architectural judgment, technical integration, and ecological transformation. Students work collectively, develop case studies, and produce individual or team architectural projects.

Field Trip 2026 -- Setouchi + Gunkanjima
Following Step One fieldwork across the Hong Kong outlying islands, students travel to Setouchi (Naoshima, Teshima, Inujima -- curated archipelago) and Gunkanjima (Hashima -- collapsed contained system) before defining Step Two island projects.
Studio Themes
01
Island as bounded system
Constraints, metabolisms, thresholds, and recovery logics
02
Ecology as design method
Systems thinking, environmental conditions, biological precedents
03
Agent-based / systemic thinking
Agent simulation, collective behaviour, emergent form
04
Mapping + simulation + intervention
Spatial research, parametric ecology, design proposals
05
Architecture as primary agency
Building as instrument of environmental and societal change
06
HKIA-aligned learning framing
Accreditation-aware outcomes, communication, technical integration
07
Environmental + societal needs
Ecology, habitat, community, resilience, regeneration
Studio Roadmap

Step Structure

  1. 01
    Step One -- Collective Fieldwork
    Collective fieldwork across Hong Kong outlying islands. Group exhibition of field observations, ecological data, and spatial documentation.
  2. 02
    Field Trip -- Japan
    Travel to Setouchi (Naoshima, Teshima, Inujima) and Nagasaki/Gunkanjima. Document, sketch, compare curated vs collapsed island conditions.
  3. 03
    Step Two -- Island Definition
    Each team defines their own "island" project site and brief. Design concept review. Ecological and architectural framing.
  4. 04
    Step Three -- Research + Simulation
    Deep research and simulation phase. Mapping, parametric ecology, agent-based modelling, and spatial analysis.
  5. 05
    Step Four -- Schematic Design
    Schematic architectural design integrating ecological research. Structural, environmental, and material integration.
  6. 06
    Final Review
    HKIA-aligned final presentation. Full architectural documentation, ecological rationale, and technical integration.
Accreditation

HKIA / ARB Alignment

The studio is structured to align with HKIA/ARB accreditation criteria. Resources S01 and S02 (HKIA documents) are the primary accreditation references. Internal studio documents S04 and S05 are reserved placeholders for instructor-provided private criteria.

Learning Outcome Clusters
01
Design Ability
Architectural project development, spatial judgement, ecological design
02
Technical Knowledge
Structural, material, environmental, and building-technology integration
03
Communication
Presentation, documentation, drawing, and model quality
04
Professional Context
HKIA awareness, professional pathway, industry orientation
05
Research & Inquiry
Field research, precedent analysis, simulation methods
HKIA Resources
Featured Resources

Archipelago Studio Resource Set

Resources for Archipelago of Habitats -- including accreditation, mapping, ecology data, digital twin precedents, and manual upload placeholders.

Agent Integration

How an Agent Can Use This Studio

Recommended Agent Ingestion Strategy -- Archipelago Studio
  • Accreditation RAG: Ingest S01 (HKIA/ARB PDF) by criteria section. Use to cross-reference studio outcomes against accreditation requirements.
  • Ecology + Environment: Use C04 (AQHI data) as a live environmental data feed. Cross-reference with ecology themes in studio briefs.
  • Spatial Intelligence: Use C02 (Location Search API) for site lookup. Ingest B06 (geolab) examples for spatial workflow context.
  • Building Stock: C01 (Buildings Department data) provides building age, type, and usage for site analysis.
  • Digital Twin Precedent: Ingest A04 and A05 READMEs as platform context. B14 (VoxCity) for 3D modeling reference.
  • Open Data Plan: A02 (DEVB plan) provides sector-level data availability for mapping ecology and infrastructure data.
How Students Can Use This
Research Phase
Use S01 to understand accreditation expectations. Use C01 and C02 for site research. Use C04 for environmental context. Use A02 for infrastructure and ecology data availability.
Design Phase
Use B06 and B14 for spatial modeling. Reference A04/A05 for platform and digital-twin thinking. Upload S04/S05 (when available) for studio-specific criteria checking.
CUHK Course Commons . Resource Library

Resource Library

Search and filter all 33 resources -- APIs, PDFs, repos, notebooks, portals, and internal placeholders. Click any card for full details and agent ingestion notes.

Search
Course
Category
Type
Agent-Ready
Downloadable
Difficulty
Visibility
Priority
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33 resources
CUHK Course Commons . API / Skill / RAG Catalog

API . Skill . RAG Catalog

Resources organised by workflow role -- APIs, RAG-ready documents, skill repos, Postman collections, and internal placeholders. Use this catalog to design agent pipelines, student workflows, and ingestion strategies.

API-Ready
RAG-Ready
Skill-Ready
Context / Precedent
Accreditation / Policy
Internal / Upload
API-Ready

Live APIs & Open Datasets

Direct API endpoints and structured datasets ready for agent access, dashboards, and live data projects.

RAG-Ready

Policy PDFs & Curated Repos

Documents and repositories structured for retrieval-augmented generation pipelines and agent context.

Skill-Ready

Repos, Postman & Notebooks

GitHub repositories, Postman collections, and Jupyter notebooks ready for skill extraction and agent tool definition.

Context / Precedent

Case Studies & Reference Material

Articles, case studies, and reading maps for precedent study and background context.

Accreditation / Policy

HKIA & ARB Documents

Accreditation criteria and professional policy documents for studio alignment and RAG ingestion.

Internal / Manual Upload

Private & Instructor-Provided

Reserved slots for instructor-provided files that require manual upload. Not publicly accessible.

CUHK Course Commons . Alternatives / Toolchains

Alternatives & Toolchains

Resources grouped into six workflow-ready stacks -- each with primary resources, alternates, teaching use, student use, and agent ingestion guidance. Click resource IDs to view details.

CUHK Course Commons . Admin / Import

Admin & Import

Scaffold for importing new resources, uploading private files, and managing the course commons database. Data model follows the Resource schema -- edit the seed file to persist changes.

Import

Add Resource via Form

JSON Import

Paste Resource JSON

Paste a resource object or array of objects in the schema format. Preview before saving.

Data Model

Resource Schema

Every resource follows this schema. Edit src/data/resources.ts to persist new entries.

id . name . slug
courses: string[]
category: api_ready | rag_ready | skill_ready | context_precedent | accreditation_policy | internal_manual_upload
priority: A | B
resource_type: pdf | webpage | portal | dataset | api | github_repo | notebook | postman_collection | article | guide | manual_upload_placeholder
source_owner: string
source_url: string
alternate_urls: string[]
downloadable: boolean
direct_download: boolean
agent_ready: yes | partial | no
ingestion_method: string
course_use: string
student_use_cases: string[]
difficulty: beginner | intermediate | advanced
tags: string[]
alternates: string[] (resource IDs)
notes: string
visibility: public_web | manual_upload_required
status: verified | needs_manual_review
Manual Upload

Upload Private Files

Internal course documents, codebooks, and PDFs marked as manual_upload_required are reserved in the library. Attach them here when ready.

Drop file or click to upload
PDF, DOCX, XLSX, JSON -- max 50MB
Pending Uploads

Manual Upload Queue

S04
HKIA PG Criteria PDF
archipelago_studio
Pending
S05
ARCH5110/6210 Studio Course Outline Draft
archipelago_studio
Pending
S06
URSP3600 Course Outline Draft / Working Docs
ursp3600
Pending
S07
URSP3600 Smart City Course Commons Codebook v0.1
ursp3600, shared
Pending
CUHK Course Commons . Powered by Grok AI

Student Sandbox

Six interactive tools powered by xAI Grok. Explore smart city data, build API calls, generate architectural briefs, classify resources, and get real feedback on your project ideas -- all without leaving the browser.

I am a student in
Grok-4.5 . Live
How the Sandbox Works
Pick a module below, fill in your inputs, and hit Run. Grok-4.5 generates a structured response in seconds -- API calls you can actually use, briefs you can submit, JSON you can import back into the Resource Library.
  1. 1
    Select your course
    Use the dropdown at the top to get course-tailored suggestions.
  2. 2
    Pick a sandbox module
    Six tools -- from chat to brief generator to API builder.
  3. 3
    Fill in your inputs and run
    Get real output -- copy it, use it in your project, or import it.
Module 01
Smart City Q&A
Grok . Hi! I'm your smart city and architecture studio tutor. Ask me anything about open data, APIs, BIM, digital twins, IoT, RAG workflows, Hong Kong urban systems, or the Archipelago of Habitats studio. What would you like to explore?
Press Enter to send . Shift+Enter for new line . Conversation history is kept for follow-up questions
Try These Prompts
Context Mode
Changes how Grok frames its answers
Module 02
Resource Explainer
Or paste your own URL below
What You Get
${['Plain-language summary of what the resource is and why it matters', 'How to use it in a URSP3600 or Archipelago Studio project', 'Step-by-step guide to feeding it to an AI agent (RAG / tool)', 'Comparison with alternate resources in the commons', 'A working code snippet (Python or JavaScript) if applicable'].map((t,i)=>`
${i+1} ${t}
`).join('')}
Tip: After Grok explains a resource, you can switch to Module 03 to build an actual API call with it, or Module 05 to generate its JSON schema for import.
Module 03
API Query Builder
This module generates real, working API calls to Hong Kong open-data endpoints. The URL and parameters are based on actual DATA.GOV.HK specifications.
Describe what you want in plain English -- Grok will find the right API and build the call
Available HK Open APIs
${[ ['C01','Buildings Dept -- Building Information','Building age, use, type, location','data.gov.hk'], ['C02','Lands Dept -- Location Search API','Address/place lookup, coordinates','data.gov.hk'], ['C03','Transport Dept -- Real-time Parking','Live parking vacancy by car park','data.gov.hk'], ['C04','EPD -- Air Quality (AQHI)','Live + 24hr air quality by station','data.gov.hk'], ['C05','DATA.GOV.HK API Spec','Full portal API guide + endpoint list','data.gov.hk'], ['C06','DATA.GOV.HK Portal','800+ datasets across all bureaus','data.gov.hk'], ].map(([id,name,desc,src],i)=>`
${id} ${name}
${desc}
`).join('')}
Click any API row to add it as context to your query
Module 04 . Archipelago Studio
Island Brief Generator
Brief Structure
${[ ['Site Reading', 'Ecological condition, bounded-system analysis, key constraints and opportunities'], ['Design Intent', 'Architectural agenda, intervention logic, ecological transformation strategy'], ['Programme', 'Spatial components, areas, relationships, uses -- appropriate to island scale'], ['Technical Integration', 'Structural, environmental, material, and landscape systems to address'], ['HKIA Alignment', 'Mapping to accreditation criteria: design ability, technical knowledge, communication'], ['Research Direction', 'Suggested datasets, field methods, simulation approaches, and precedents'], ].map(([t,d],i)=>`
${i+1}
${t}
${d}
`).join('')}
Studio use: This brief is a starting scaffold. You are expected to challenge, extend, and ground it in your own field research and design judgement.
Module 05
Tag & Classify a Resource
Paste any resource you found -- Grok will classify it using the Course Commons schema and generate a ready-to-import JSON object.
Schema Reference
category:
  api_ready | rag_ready | skill_ready
  context_precedent | accreditation_policy
  internal_manual_upload

resource_type:
  pdf | api | dataset | github_repo
  notebook | postman_collection
  portal | guide | article | webpage

agent_ready: yes | partial | no
difficulty: beginner | intermediate | advanced
priority: A | B
visibility: public_web | manual_upload_required
Valid Course Tags
${['ursp3600','archipelago_studio','shared','smart_city','open_data','hong_kong','bim','digital_twin','rag','agent','mapping','ecology','hkia','accreditation'].map(t=>`${t}`).join('')}
Module 06
Project Concept Critic
Feedback Structure
${[ ['Concept Clarity', 'Is the problem well-defined? Is the intervention clear and specific?'], ['Strengths', 'What is genuinely interesting or strong about this approach?'], ['Critical Gaps', 'What is underdeveloped, missing, or weak in the current framing?'], ['Data & Resources', 'Which datasets, APIs, or tools from the commons would strengthen this?'], ['HKIA / Course Alignment', 'How does this map to learning outcomes and review criteria?'], ['Suggested Next Steps', 'Concrete actions to take before the next review or submission.'], ].map(([t,d],i)=>`
${i+1}
${t}
${d}
`).join('')}
Note: This is AI-generated feedback, not a substitute for instructor review. Use it to strengthen your concept before presenting to the studio.
CUHK Course Commons . About

About This Platform

What Is CUHK Course Commons?

CUHK Course Commons is a searchable resource commons, API and skill catalog, and knowledge base for two CUHK courses: URSP3600 (Designing Smart Cities) and ARCH5110/6210 (MEGASTUDIO 4: Archipelago of Habitats). It is designed to grow into a broader course commons platform over time.

The platform combines public web resources -- government open-data portals, GitHub repositories, policy documents, and live APIs -- with instructor-curated internal files. Public resources are verified and linked directly. Internal resources are held as placeholders until manually uploaded.

Platform Goals

The site functions simultaneously as a course website, a searchable resource commons, an API / Skill / RAG catalog, a public-internet knowledge base, and a future-facing platform where new resources, prompts, datasets, scripts, APIs, and agent-ingestion notes can be added over time.

What Is a RAG Catalog?

In this platform, "RAG Catalog" organizes every resource in this commons by how it can be used: API-Ready (live data endpoints you can call directly), RAG-Ready (documents and repos for retrieval-augmented generation), Skill-Ready (Postman collections, notebooks, code), Context/Precedent (reference materials), and Accreditation/Policy (HKIA and ARB documents).

Design Philosophy

The platform is designed with a refined, minimal academic aesthetic drawing from the CUHK School of Architecture design language -- Work Sans for UI/labels, Cormorant Garamond for editorial headings, a near-black/white/grey palette, and systematic grid-based layouts that feel like an architecture school resource rather than a corporate product.

Two Courses

URSP3600 -- Designing Smart Cities is an undergraduate workshop course teaching students to design smart-city systems using open data, APIs, BIM, IoT, AI agents, and RAG workflows.

ARCH5110/6210 -- MEGASTUDIO 4: Archipelago of Habitats is an M.Arch ecology studio treating islands as bounded systems, using field research, mapping, simulation, and spatial intervention as design methods, and aligned with HKIA/ARB accreditation criteria.

Content Policy

All public resources linked in this platform are publicly accessible internet resources. No fabricated URLs are used. Manual upload placeholders are clearly marked and require instructor-provided files before becoming accessible. Public and private resources can coexist in the same catalog.

Credits
Prof. Tat Lam
CUHK School of Architecture
M.Arch 2026-27
MEGASTUDIO 4 -- Agent-Based Ecologies and the Architecture of Intervention
Platform Stats
33
Resources
6
Toolchains
2
Courses
7
Upload Slots
Version
Version 1.0 . July 2026
Seed data: 33 resources
Technology: Hono . Cloudflare Pages . Work Sans . Cormorant Garamond
Design standard: MEGASTUDIO 4 Field Trip 2026 deck