Ongoing Projects
Mapping Opportunities in Post-Industrial Cities
The Post-Industrial Cities Project investigates how cities undergoing deindustrialization can transition toward healthier and more sustainable futures. Supported by the Urban Studies Foundation, the study employs comparative case studies in the UK, India and China to map opportunities in spatial inequality, environmental change, and aging populations in former industrial areas. Combining urban geography and planning perspectives, it explores how local governance and community engagement shape regeneration processes. Working with international collaborators, the project bridges academic research and urban policy to promote equitable and evidence-based approaches to post-industrial transformation.
The Educational City
The Educational City Project explores how universities shape the urban and cultural identity of cities through processes of knowledge production, spatial development, and internationalisation. Funded by the Glasgow Urban Studies Research Incentivisation Fund, the project examines the evolving relationships between campuses, local communities, and global networks, focusing on the governance and planning of university-led urban change. Using case studies from the UK and China, it analyses how transnational education and student mobility transform neighbourhoods, housing markets, and civic life. The research contributes to theoretical and policy debates on learning cities, highlighting how education functions as a catalyst for inclusive and sustainable urban futures.
Shiminhua in Chinese Greater Bay Area
The Shiminhua in the Chinese Greater Bay Area Project investigates the evolving processes of urban citizenship and migrant integration within one of China’s most dynamic metropolitan regions. Drawing on in-depth fieldwork and interviews across Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Zhongshan, the project examines how rural-to-urban migrants negotiate identity, belonging, and access to public services amid hukou reform and regional integration. It critically engages with the concept of shiminhua (市民化) - or citizenization - to reveal how social inclusion is unevenly realised through policy, housing, and labour practices. The project also reflects on doing fieldwork in China amid COVID-19 pandemic. Supported by the Cambridge Hughes Hall Edwin Leong Research Grant, the study contributes to debates on migration, spatial justice, and new forms of urban belonging in post-reform China.
Urban Pedagogy: Field Learning Experience in Worked-Based Learning Programme
The Urban Pedagogy Project: Field Learning Experience in the Work-Based Learning Programme integrates experiential education into urban planning by engaging students directly through field visits, applied research, and reflective practice, students bridge theoretical learning with professional competence, developing critical spatial awareness and civic responsibility. The project is under development based on the successful teaching and learning experience in building the newest Urban and Regional Planning Programme in the UK at West of Scotland.
Media Coverage
Impact Leadership Programme, Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge
Mature College Admission, University of Cambridge.
Interview by Greta Lai, Young China Watcher.
Interview by Alumni Affairs Office, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Media Coverage by Morningside College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
