Kwan Soo Chen

Kwan Soo Chen
Postdoctoral fellow

Research interests:

Community and environmental health, urban planning and built environment, health co-benefits of carbon mitigation measures

Research summary:

My previous research involved the assessment of health co-benefits of a climate change mitigation in the transport sector. I modelled the potential carbon reductions and health impacts that would result from a new mass rapid transit infrastructure in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The health impacts assessed included that from the air pollution, injury and physical activity in the urban population. I also studied the potential transition of population behaviour from using private motor vehicles to public transportation in the urban area.

Currently, my research interests continue to lie on how the design of built environment affects the community’s environmental quality, behavior, health and well-being, aside from contributing to the development of sustainable low carbon cities. I am interested to make use of the existing information and data available from cities to postulate the relationships between the built environment and population health in the developing countries of the tropical Southeast Asian region. I am also interested to use technologies such as remote sensing and Geographical Information System to produce visual results. This research aims to inform policy makers of the systematic and integrative relationships between the environment and population health, and produce evidence to facilitate their decision making process.

Research publications:

• 1. SC Kwan, R Sutan, JH Hashim. Trip characteristics and intention to shift to rail transport among private motor vehicle users in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sustainable Cities and Society, 36 (2018), 319-326.
• 2. SC Kwan, M Tainio, J Woodcock, R Sutan, JH Hashim. The carbon savings and health co-benefits from the introduction of mass rapid transit system in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Journal of Transport and Health, 6 (2017), 187-200.
• 3. SC Kwan, JH Hashim. A review on co-benefits of mass public transportation in climate change mitigation. Sustainable Cities and Society, 22 (2016), 11-18.
• 4. SC Kwan, M Tainio, J Woodcock, JH Hashim. Health co-benefits in mortality avoidance from implementation of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Reviews on Environmental Health 2016, 31(1), 179-183.