10th Urban China Forum

The Urban China Network hosts the 10th Urban China Forum: Transformations & Opportunities of Urban Planning in China in Recent Decades on October 13 and 14, 2023.

Register for Day 1, October 13, 2023

Register for Day 2, October 14, 2023

Download the Schedule

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Speakers

Shan Jiang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. Her research interests lie in the fields of Big Data Analytics, Spatial Data Science, Geographic Information Science, Computational Social Science, and the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Land Use, Transportation, and Urban Planning. Her work investigates the interactions of human activities and the built environment in global urbanization processes to design responsive policies for smart, sustainable, resilient, and healthy cities. Prior to joining Tufts University in 2018, Professor Jiang was a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. She holds a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning, a Master in City Planning, a Master of Science in Transportation from MIT, a B.E. in Urban Planning, and a B.A. in Economics from Peking University.

Jian Zhuo is a full-time professor and the chair of the Department of Urban Planning (DUP-CAUP) at Tongji University, as well as an active registered architect and urban planner in China. His research spans the areas of ‘Network, Territory and City,’ ‘Urban Mobility and Smart City,’ and ‘Urban Design and Urban Regeneration’. Professor Zhuo has multiple publications, including books entitled Urban Regeneration and Urban Design (2023), Transportation and Sustainable Development (2013), and Urban Street Analysis, Planning, and Design (2010). Besides his extinguished academic reputation, Professor Zhuo is also actively participating in urban initiatives, including the research team Urban Mobility and Transport (UMT), the Urban Regeneration Planning Research Center of TJUPDI, and many editorial boards such as Urban Planning International. Professor Zhuo holds a Bachelor in Urban Planning and a Master of Architecture from Tongji University, a Master of Architecture DPLG from ENSAVT, and a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from Paris Tech-ENPC.

Zai Liang is the distinguished professor and chair of sociology at the University at Albany, SUNY, and served as co-director of the Urban China Research Network during 2004-2022. He is also an elected member of the Sociological Research Association and Chair-elect of International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association. Professor Liang’s research interests lie in the fields of internal and international migration, social demography, urban sociology, as well as race and ethnic relations. His publication, The Emergence of a New Urban China: Insiders’ Perspectives, provides a theoretically informed and empirically rich discussion of the new social landscape of urban China in the 21st century. His current research projects include the International Migration in China in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Economic and Social Impacts of COVID-19 on Manhattan’s Chinatown. Professor Liang received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago.

Lan Deng is a professor of urban and regional planning at the Taubman College at the University of Michigan. Her research and teaching interests fall broadly in the areas of housing, real estate, and local public finance. Professor Deng’s work in China has focused on examining the role of the state in shaping the country’s housing system, including the study of China’s housing supply system to see how it has changed in response to the development of private markets versus persistent state interventions. Professor Deng currently serves as the North American Editor for Housing Studies and was the Associate Director for the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies. Professor Deng holds a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley, and her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Peking University.

Harry den Hartog is an urban designer and researcher based in Shanghai and the Netherlands. Since 2012 he has worked as a faculty member at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning within Tongji University in Shanghai. Previously, in 2004, he founded his own research & design studio - Urban Language, focusing on Chinese newtown developments, waterfront transformations, and urban-rural relations. In 2010, he published the book Shanghai New Towns – Searching for Community and Identity in a Sprawling Metropolis. He has frequently participated in conversations and exhibits by various academic organizations in Europe and Asia. Since 2023 he primarily works for the Abe Bonnema chair at TU Delft (the Netherlands) to do research on spatial redevelopment and revitalization of rural and urban regions, focusing on China’s Yangtze Delta Region around Shanghai. “Walking” is central to this as a research method for revaluing the natural and cultural landscapes and settlements.

This forum is organized by Urban China Network of Columbia GSAPP and sponsored by the M.S. Urban Planning program within Columbia GSAPP.