Research Interests

• Urban Ecology

• Exposure Ecology

• Nature-based Solutions

• Environmental Remote Sensing and Climate Change

Biography

• Fudan University, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, December 2020 – Present   

• University of Copenhagen, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Science and Natural Resource Management, August 2019 – December 2020   

• University of Copenhagen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Earth Science and Natural Resource Management, May 2018 – July 2019   

• University of Copenhagen, Ph.D. in Urban Ecology, September 2015 – May 2018   

• Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, Master’s in Ecology, September 2012 – July 2015   

• Southwest Minzu University, B.A. in Tourism Planning, September 2008 – July 2012

Prizes and Awards

• Top 2% Global Scientist, Stanford University & Elsevier, 2024   

• Shanghai Leading Talent Program, 2022   

• Pujian Scholar, Shanghai, 2021   

• Fudan University “Zhuoxue Outstanding Talent” Plan, 2023   

• Fudan University Teaching Innovation Award (First Prize), 2022   

• Chinese Ecological Society “Young Ecologist Talent Program”, 2020   

• Shanghai Higher Education Teacher Teaching Innovation Competition Second Prize, 2023   

• Fudan University Teaching Innovation Award (Grand Prize), 2022   

• Fudan University Young Teacher Teaching Competition Second Prize, 2021

Selected Leadership and Academic Service

• Secretary-General, Youth Committee of the Ecological Society of China  

• Vice Secretary-General, International Association for Landscape Ecology - China (IALE-China)  

• Executive Director, Urban Forestry Branch of the Chinese Forestry Society  

• Editorial Boards: Ecological Frontier (Lead Editor), City and Environment Interactions, Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, Geography and Sustainability

• Board Member, Chinese Society for Ecological Restoration

Key Publications

1. Siqi Zhou, Zhaowu Yu*, Wanben Wu, Wenjun Yang, Yujia Zhang, Yingying Hao, Qi Yuan, Dongfan Xu, Jinyu Hu, Bin Zhao*. Quantifying Cumulative Cooling Threshold of Greenspaces Using a Newly Developed 3D Model Across Global Cities, Remote Sensing of Environment, 2025, Doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2025.00070

2. Zhaowu Yu*, Siheng Li, Wenjun Yang, Jiquan Chen, Mohammad A. Rahman, Chenghao Wang, Wenjuan Ma, Xihan Yao, Junqi Xiong, Chi Xu, Yuyu Zhou, Jike Chen, Kangning Huang, Xiaojiang Gao, Rasmus Fensholt, Qihao Weng, Weiqi Zhou*. Enhancing Climate-Driven Urban Tree Cooling with Targeted Nonclimatic Interventions, 2025, Environmental Science & Technology, doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c14275

3. Zhaowu Yu*, Mingchuan Shao, Wenjuan Ma, Chenghao Wang, Jiachuan Yang. Satellite-driven evidence of forest-induced temperature variability and its biophysical and biogeochemical pathways across latitudes, 2025, Ecological Indicators, 175, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113545 

4. Zhaowu Yu*, Gaoyuan Yang, Boyi Yang, Jun Yang, Zhuohui Zhao, Lan Wang, Hongxiao Liu, Jinguang Zhang, Bin Jiang, Henrik Vejre. Transforming Urbanite Health with Upstream Knowledge. 2024, Environment & Health, doi: 10.1021/envhealth.4c00237

5. Siqi Zhou, Zhaowu Yu*, Weiyuan Ma, Xihan Yao, Junqi Xiong, Wenjuan Ma, Shuyao Xiang, Qi Yuan, Yingying Hao, Dongfan Xu, Benyao Wang, Bin Zhao*. Vertical canopy structure dominates cooling and thermal comfort of urban pocket parks during hot summer days. Landscape and Urban Planning, 2024, Doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2024.105242

6. Xihan Yao, Shan Jin, Zhuohui Zhao, Ranhao Sun, Chunfang Wang, Zhaowu Yu*. A novel integrated socio-ecological-economic index for assessing heat health risk, Ecological Indicators, 2024, Doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.112840

7. Yuenan Jin, Zhaowu Yu*, Gaoyuan Yang, Xihan Yao, Mingming Hu, Remme, R. P., Schrama M, Bodegom P. van; Morpurgo, Joeri, Yunfeng Huang, Jingyi Wang, Shenghui Cui*. Quantifying physiological health efficiency and benefit threshold of greenspace exposure in typical urban landscapes, Environmental Pollution, 2024, Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124726

8. Xiaolei Geng, Dou Zhang, Wei Sun, Yuan Yuan, Chengwei Li, Zhaowu Yu*. Heterogenous impact of background meteorological factors on the cooling effect of two types of typical urban parks: Evidence from Shanghai, China, Building and Environment, 2024, Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.112024

9. Jike Chen, Kaixin Wang, Peijun Du, Yufu Zang, Peng Zhang, Junshi Xia, Cheng Chen, Zhaowu Yu*. Quantifying the main and interactive effects of the dominant factors on the diurnal cycles of land surface temperature in typical urban functional zones, Sustainable Cities and Society, 2024, Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2024.105727

10. Zhaowu Yu*, Jiaqi Chen, Jike Chen, Wenfeng Zhan, Chenghao Wang, Wenjuan Ma, Xihan Yao, Siqi Zhou, Kai Zhu, Ranhao Sun. Enhanced observations from an optimized soil-canopy-photosynthesis and energy flux model revealed evapotranspiration-shading cooling dynamics of urban vegetation during extreme heat, Remote Sensing of Environment, 2024, 305, doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2024.114098 (ESI高被引论文).

11. Zhaowu Yu*, Gaoyuan Yang*, Tao Lin, Bin Zhao, Yaoyang Xu, Xihan Yao, Weiyuan Ma, Henrik Vejre, Bin Jiang. Exposure Ecology drives a unified understanding of the nexus of (urban) natural ecosystem, ecological exposure and health, Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 2024, DOI: 10.34133/ehs.0165(ESI高被引论文).

12. Xinyu Bai, Zhaowu Yu*, Siqi Zhou, Xiaohan Sha, Siheng Li, Xihan Yao, Xiaolei Geng, Quantifying threshold and scale response of urban air and surface temperature to surrounding landscapes under extreme heat, Building and Environment, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.111029

13. Xihan Yao, Zhaowu Yu*, Weiyuan Ma, Junqi Xiong, Gaoyuan Yang. Quantifying threshold effects of physiological health benefits in greenspace exposure, Landscape and Urban Planning, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.10491(ESI高被引论文).

14. Yingyi Cheng, Zhaowu Yu*, Chi Xu, Gabriele Manoli, Xiaopeng Ren, Jinguang Zhang, Yawen Liu, Rui Yin, Bing Zhao, Henrik Vejre. Climatic and economic background determine the disparities in urbanites' expressed happiness during the summer heat. Environmental Science & Technology, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c01765

15. Zhaowu Yu*, Weiyuan Ma, Shiyuan Hu, Xihan Yao, Gaoyuan Yang, Zhaowen Yu, Bin Jiang. A simple but actionable metric for assessing inequity in resident greenspace exposure, Ecological Indicators, 2023,153:110423, DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110423 

16. Yingnan Li, Dongli Lin, Yuhan Zhang, Zipeng Song, Xiaohan Sha, Siqi Zhou, Cen Chen, 

    Zhaowu Yu*. Quantifying tree canopy coverage threshold of typical residential quarters considering human thermal comfort and heat dynamics under extreme heat, Building and Environment, 2023 (233), doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110100(ESI高被引论文).

17. Gaoyuan Yang, Zhaowu Yu*, Yi Xiao, Liangjun Da. The quantity-quality and gain-loss conversion pattern of green vegetation during urbanization reveals the importance of protecting natural forest ecosystems, Landscape Ecology, 2022, doi:10.1007/s10980-022-01519-4.

18. Wanben Wu, Zhaowu Yu*, Jun Ma, Bin Zhao*. Quantifying the influence of 2D and 3D urban morphology on the thermal environment across climatic zones, Landscape and Urban Planning, 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104499. (ESI高被引论文).

19. Jinguang Zhang, Zhaowu Yu*, Yingyi Cheng, Xiaohan Sha, Hanyu Zhang, A novel hierarchical framework to evaluate residential exposure to green spaces, Landscape Ecology, 2022, doi: 10.1007/s10980-021-01378-5

20. Zhaowu Yu, Jinguang Zhang, Gaoyuan Yang*. How to build a heat network to alleviate surface heat island effect? Sustainable Cities and Society, 2021, 74(3). doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103135

21. <Zhaowu Yu* Ole Fryd, Gertrud Jørgensen, Gaoyuan Yang, Nevruz Cinar Özdil, Henrik Vejre. Where and how to cool? An idealized urban thermal security pattern model. Landscape Ecology, 2021, 36(7):2165-2174, doi: 10.1007/s10980-020-00982-1

22. Gaoyuan Yang, Zhaowu Yu*, Jinguang Zhang, Lone S. Kristensen. From preference to landscape sustainability: A review on landscape preference research from 1968 to 2019. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 2021, 7(1), DOI: 10.1080/20964129.2021.1948355

23. Zhaowu Yu*, Jinguang Zhang, Gaoyuan Yang, Juliana Schlaberg. Reverse thinking: A new method from the graph perspective for evaluating and mitigating regional surface heat islands. Remote Sensing, 2021,13:1127

24. Zhaowu Yu*, Tingting Chen, Gaoyuan Yang, Ranhao Sun*, Wei Sun, Henrik Vejre Quantifying seasonal and diurnal contributions of urban landscapes to heat energy dynamics. Applied Energy, 2020, doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114724

25. Jinguang Zhang, Zhaowu Yu*, Yingyi Cheng, Caijie Chen, Yi Wan, Bing Zhao, Henrik Vejre. Evaluating the disparities in urban green space provision in heterogeneous communities: The case of a rapidly urbanizing Chinese city. Building and Environment, 2020, 83, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.107170

26. Jinguang Zhang, Zhaowu Yu*, Ranhao Sun, Bing Zhao, Henrik Vejre. Links between green space and public health: A bibliometric review of global research trends and future prospects from 1901 to 2019, Environmental Research Letters, 2020, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab7f64.

27. Zhaowu Yu*, Gaoyuan Yang, Shudi Zuo, Gertrud Jørgensen, Motoya Koga, Henrik Vejre. Critical review on the cooling effect of urban blue-green space: A threshold-size perspective. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126630(ESI高被引论文).

28. Gaoyuan Yang, Zhaowu Yu*, Gertrud Jørgensen, Henrik Vejre. How can urban blue-green space be planned for climate adaption in high-latitude cities? A seasonal perspective.Sustainable Cities and Society. 2020, doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2019.101932 (ESI高被引论文)

29. Zhaowu Yu*, Yawen Yao, Gaoyuan Yang, Xiangrong Wang, Henrik Vejre. Strong contribution of rapid urbanization and urban agglomeration development to regional thermal environment dynamics and evolution. Forest Ecology and Management. 2019, 446: 214-225.

30. Zhaowu Yu*,Yawen Yao, Gaoyuan Yang, Xiangrong Wang, Henrik Vejre. Spatiotemporal patterns and characteristics of remotely sensed regional heat island during the rapid urbanization (1990-2015) of Southern China. Science of the Total Environment. 2019, 674:242-254.

31. Huiying Fan, Zhaowu Yu*, Gaoyuan Yang, Tsz Yiu Liu, Tsz Ying Liu, Carmem Huang Hung, Henrik Vejre. How to cool hot-humid cities with urban trees? An optimal landscape size perspective. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2019, 265: 338-348. (ESI高被引论文)

32. Zhaowu Yu*. Xieying Guo, Yuxi Zeng, Motoya Koga, Henrik Vejre. Variations in land surface temperature and cooling efficiency of green space in rapid urbanization: The case of Fuzhou city, China. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2018, 29: 113-121. (杂志历年最高被引论文之一)

33. Zhaowu Yu*, Xieying Guo, Gertrud Jørgensen, Henrik Vejre. How can urban green space be designed for urban climate adaptation in subtropical cities? Ecological Indicators, 2017, 82: 152-162.