Theo Lim

theo.lim@ubc.ca

West Mall Annex Rm 231

1933 West Mall

Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2

CANADA

Welcome! I am an associate professor in University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning. Planning is a subset of public policy-making that is sensitive to matters of space and place. As such, planning is inherently interdisciplinary and focused on action. Academic research in planning engages with diverse types of knowledge and is oriented toward enabling positive and just societal change. In particular, my research and teaching expertise include:

Climate adaptation in cities, and building community resilience to the effects of climate change. My experience in this area spans state-led policy to grassroots participatory action research. This work has been supported by over $1M USD in US National Science Foundation (NSF) and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grants.
Use of diverse forms of knowledge and ways of knowing in planning contexts. In 2023, I was awarded an NSF CAREER grant to explore the development of computer models of the environment, and how computer models that integrate diverse types of information can be better managed to be useful in evolving policy and scientific knowledge production contexts.

In addition to my academic research and teaching, I have also worked in the following roles:

Environmental data scientist in the agricultural technology industry
Civil engineer focused on sustainable water infrastructure planning and design
Public health and urbanization researcher as a Fulbright Scholar in Northeast China

I use diverse methods in my research, including: statistical analysis and machine/deep learning, environmental simulation, focus groups/interviews, content/document analysis, and action research methods. I received my PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, MS in Environmental Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University, and my BA from Swarthmore College.

At UBC, I teach classes related to and urban analytics, policy-relevant research design, and community engagement.

I am currently the Social Media Editor of the journal Planning Theory and Practice.

My current CV can be found here .

news

Sep 21, 2023	Theo Lim and a collaborative team of researchers, artists, faith leaders, civic organizations, and local government receive a $1M Stage 2 NSF CIVIC Innovation award to pilot and evaluate a trauma-informed, healing-centered approach to building heat resilience in Roanoke, VA!
May 2, 2023	PhD student Ayda Kianmehr publishes a paper in Sustainable Cities & Society compariing spatial temperature data sources and resolutions for use in understanding intra-urban heat variation. Congrats Ayda!!
Apr 22, 2023	Theo is interviewed in a short segment by WSLS on risks of increasing temperatures in cities
Apr 21, 2023	Undergraduate researcher Jack Carroll presents research on spatial bias of ChatGPT
Feb 6, 2023	Theo Lim awarded an NSF CAREER grant "Governance of Computer Models in Sustainable Water Quality Management"

selected publications

Chimaera Modelling – when the modellers must reconcile inconsistent elements or purposes

Edmonds, Bruce, Hofstede, Gert Jan, Koch, Jennifer, Page, Christophe le, Lim, Theo, Lippe, Melvin, Nöldeke, Beatrice, and Delden, Hedwig van

Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling 2025

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Socio-Ecological System modelling projects are becoming increasingly complicated, with multiple actors and aspects being the norm. Such projects can cause problems for the modellers when this involves different elements, goals, philosophies, etc., all pulling in different directions – we call this “Chimaera Modelling.” Although such situations are common when you talk to modellers, they do not seem to be explicitly discussed in the literature. In this paper, we attempt to turn this perceived “inside” phenomenon into an “outside” phenomenon and to start a debate to increase transparency among the modelling community. We discuss the different aspects which may be relevant to this problem to start this debate, including: the underlying philosophy, modelling goals, extent of choice the modellers have, different stages of modelling, and kinds of actors that are involved. We further map out some of the dimensions with which Chimaera Modelling connects. We briefly discuss these and propose to the community as a whole to work on their methodological development, feasibility, risks and applicability as their resolution is far beyond the scope of this paper. We end with a brief description of the broad possible approaches to such situations. Our main message is a call for recognition of Chimaera Modelling as a likely side-effect of multi-stakeholder, multi-purpose projects, and to take this into account proactively at the project team level and be transparent about the tensions and contradictions that underly such modelling.
Necessary Considerations When Framing Urban Heat Resilience as an Infrastructure Issue

Lim, Theodore C.

Journal of the American Planning Association 2024

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Conceptualizing urban heat resilience as an infrastructure problem emphasizes the urgency with which we must adapt to global climate change, but also risks ignoring the continued marginalization that vulnerable populations experience as a result of infrastructure decisions. In this Viewpoint, I use my experience with participatory action research (PAR) in building urban heat resilience to show the ways in which an infrastructure framing presents opportunities, and the ways in which planners a) need to be aware of infrastructure as socio-technical systems and b) recognize spatial networks of social capital to appropriately approach interventions that benefit those most likely to be adversely affected by rising temperatures in cities.
Recognizing political influences in participatory social-ecological systems modeling

Lim, Theodore C., Glynn, Pierre D., Shenk, Gary W., Bitterman, Patrick, Guillaume, Joseph H.W., Little, John C, and D.G., Webster

Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling 2023

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Stakeholder participation in social-ecological systems (SES) modeling is increasingly considered a desirable way to elicit diverse sources of knowledge about SES behavior and to promote inclusive decision-making in SES. Understanding how participatory modeling processes function in the context of long-term adaptive management of SES may allow for better design of participatory processes to achieve the intended outcomes of inclusionary knowledge, representativeness, and social learning, while avoiding unintended outcomes. Long-term adaptive management contexts often include political influences – attempts to shift or preserve power structures and authority, and efforts to represent the political and economic interests of stakeholders – in the computer models that are used to shape policy making and implementation. In this research, we examine a period that included a major transition in the watershed model used for management of the Chesapeake Bay in the United States. The Chesapeake Bay watershed model has been in development since the 1980s, and is considered by many to be an exemplary case of participatory modeling. We use documentary analysis and interviews with participants involved in the model application and development transition to reveal a variety of ways in which participatory modeling may be subject to different kinds of political influences, some of which resulted in unintended outcomes, including: perceptions of difficulty updating the model in substantive ways, “gaming” of the model/participatory process by stakeholders, and increasing resistance against considering uncertainty in the system not captured by the model. This research suggests unintended or negative outcomes may be associated with both participatory decision-making and stakeholder learning even though they are so often touted as the benefits of participatory modeling. We end with a hypothesis that further development of a theory of computer model governance to bridge model impact and broader theories of environmental governance at the science-policy interface may result in improved SES modeling outcomes.
Community-engaged heat resilience planning: Lessons from a youth smart city STEM program

Lim, Theodore C., Wilson, Bev, Grohs, Jacob R., and J., Pingel Thomas

Landscape and Urban Planning 2022

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While recognition of the dangers of extreme heat in cities continues to grow, heat resilience remains a relatively new area of urban planning. One barrier to the creation and successful implementation of neighborhood-scale heat resilience plans has been a lack of reliable strategies for resident engagement. In this research, the authors designed a two-week summer STEM module for youth ages 12 to 14 in Roanoke, Virginia in the Southeastern United States. Participants collected and analyzed temperature and thermal comfort data of varying types, including from infrared thermal cameras and point sensors, handheld weather sensors, drones, and satellites, vehicle traverses, and student peer interviews. Based on primary data gathered during the program, we offer insights that may assist planners seeking to engage residents in neighborhood-scale heat resilience planning efforts. These lessons include recognizing: (1) the problem of heat in neighborhoods and the social justice aspects of heat distribution may not be immediately apparent to residents; (2) a need to shift perceived responsibility of heat exposure from the personal and home-based to include the social and landscape-based; (3) the inextricability of solutions for thermal comfort from general issues of safety and comfort in neighborhoods; and (4) that smart city technologies and high resolution data are helpful “hooks” to engagement, but may be insufficient for shifting perception of heat as something that can be mitigated through decisions about the built environment.