URA sets up a mutually beneficial learning partnership linking German and Chinese consortium partners in the field of sustainable urban and regional transformation.
Team
List of Principal Investigators (PI)
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Dr. Sigrun Abels
Principal InvestigatorDirector of CCST, Technische Universität (TU) Berlin research team and a Principal Investigator in URA. She is also the managing director of the CDHK Berlin office (Tongji University Chinese-German University College, Shanghai) at the Faculty of Business & Management of TUB. As a sinologist (RUB & Nanjing University), she studied China's media in the Chinese transformation process. Further, she has worked as a radio journalist and lecturer at Deutsche Welle in Germany and abroad. Her teaching assignments and international conference papers cover the content of media development in China and Sino-German (higher) education cooperation.
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Prof. Anke Hagemann (project lead)
Principal InvestigatorInterim lead PI of URA and co-chair of Habitat Unit at Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. Since September 2021, she co-heads Habitat Unit as a guest professor with Elke Beyer during Prof. Philipp Misselwitz's 2-year sabbatical. She graduated in Architecture and was a research associate in the exhibition project 'Shrinking Cities', Berlin. She taught at the ETH Zurich and HafenCity University Hamburg before joining Habitat Unit in 2013 as a lecturer and researcher. In 2020-21 she was the interim professor for Urban Planning at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. Her research topics include global commodity circulation and urban spaces, holiday architectures, urban mega-events, and the spatial regulation of access and mobility.
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Prof. Dr. Sigrun Langner
Principal InvestigatorPrincipal Investigator in URA, as part of the Bauhaus-University Weimar research team. Since 2012, she has served as the head of landscape architecture/landscape planning at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Since 2015, she has been co-director of the Institute of European Urban Studies at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (IfEU). In 2012 she received her PhD from the Leibniz University of Hanover. Her dissertation reflected the potential of design-oriented cartography for understanding and designing large-scale urban landscapes. Her current research focuses on "(r)urban landscapes“ as a result of the urbanisation of rural space and the ruralisation of urban space.
T+49 – 36 – 435 – 83259 -
Prof. Dr. Yong Liu
Principal InvestigatorChair Professor at the Department of Architecture, Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University. He holds a PhD from Tongji University and is a member of the Eco-City Research Committee at the Chinese Society of Urban Studies and an Associate Director at the National Research Center for Rural Planning of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD). His design and academic interests lie in housing and community development, urban regeneration, urban design and theory, and practice in public arts. He has published more than 20 papers in core journals and 2 monographs.
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Prof. Dr. Philipp Misselwitz (on sabbatical)
Principal InvestigatorLead PI of URA and Chair of the Habitat Unit at Technische Universität (TU), Berlin, since 2013, and is currently on a 2-year sabbatical leave. He is an architect and urban planner educated at Cambridge University and the Architectural Association London and received his PhD from Universität Stuttgart in 2009. His current research focuses on user-driven urban development processes, co-productive urban governance, trans-local urbanisation dynamics, and tools for the localisation of global sustainability agendas in urbanised regions. He is a member of the DFG-funded Special Research Area (Sonderforschungsbereich) 1265 'Re-figuration of Space' at TU Berlin and partner at the Berlin-based planning consultancy Urban Catalyst where he regularly advises development cooperation partners such as German Ministries, GIZ or UN agencies on sustainable urbanisation challenges.
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Prof. Dr. Vera Susanne Rotter
Principal InvestigatorFull professor and head of the group ‘circular economy and recycling technologies’ at Technische Universität (TU), Berlin. Her main research areas include innovative separation technologies and circular economy concepts, product-oriented recycling strategies and producer responsibility, and the integration of secondary raw materials in value chains. Alongside her team, she works in international project consortia addressing technologies and information management to support the recovery of critical raw materials, focusing on the sustainable management of residual biomass in the NEXUS energy–agriculture-environment. Between 2016-2020, she was appointed as a council member of the German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU).
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Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wende
Principal InvestigatorLandscape planner who studied at Technische Universität (TU), Berlin. Following this, he graduated with a Diploma in Planning Engineering, and later a doctorate fellowship of the State of Berlin for young scientists analysing the effectiveness of the German Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system. In 2008-2009, he changed his position to the Federal Environment Agency in Germany. Since 2010 he has been a professor of urban development at the Technical University of Dresden and head of the Landscape Research Area at the Leibniz Institute, Dresden. He also has broad international experience; for example, since 2009 as visiting professor at the National University of Singapore.
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Prof. Dr. Weixiang Wu
Principal InvestigatorProf. Dr Weixiang Wu is the director of the Institute of Environment Pollution Control & Treatment, at Zhejiang University. He is also the head of the Centre of Solid Waste Research & Management, College of Environmental and Resources Sciences, Zhejiang University. He is an environmental microbiologist and receiving his PhD from Zhejiang University in 2003. His current research focuses on the biological treatment of organic waste, solid waste management, and carbon sequestration and GHG emission control in rice paddy ecosystems. He was awarded second prize in Science and Technology Development from the Chinese State Council in 2009, first prize in Science and Technology Development in 2008, and first prize in Natural Science Research in 2018 from the Zhejiang Provincial government.
T+ 86 – 571 – 8898 – 2020 -
Dr. Yuting Xie
Principal InvestigatorSince 2018, Dr Yuting Xie has been a lecturer at the Institute of Landscape Architecture, Zhejiang University. She received her doctoral degree in landscape architecture from the Technische Universität München (TUM) in 2017. Dr Xie is currently the director of the China Urban Landscape Lab at TUM, managing landscape changes and developing historical landscape structures as a qualitative framework for China’s rapidly transforming urban environment. In 2019, she co-founded a collaborative research platform, 'Jiangnan Lab', using regional design as a tool for introducing cross-sector spatial planning, landscape architecture and urban design, and multi-level governance together in the Yangtze River Delta megacity region in China.
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Prof. Dr. Wentao Yan
Principal InvestigatorProfessor in the Center for Ecological Wisdom and Practice Research (CEWPR) within the College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) at Tongji University and Principal Investigator at URA. His research interests include eco-city and low-carbon settlements, environmental policy and land use planning, adaptive planning, and environmental disaster management. His current research projects address the ecological effects of urbanisation, urban growth, and disaster mitigation planning. He has hosted and participated in 5 National Natural Science Foundation projects and 7 other government research projects. He has also published over 50 papers in academic journals and one monograph in China and abroad.
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Prof. Dr. Guiqing Yang
Principal InvestigatorHead of the Department of Urban Planning and the Principal Investigator of the 'Urban and Rural Development and Rural Planning' research team at Tongji University; vice chairman of the Academic Committee of Mountainous Urban and Rural Planning at UPSC. His current research concentrates on Chinese rural vitalisation, with an interdisciplinary focus on sociology and urban planning. He established the 'Tongji-Huangyan Rural Vitalization College' in 2018 after an 8-year planning practice in Huangyan District, Taizhou, and worked as the executive president. Prof. Yang received his PhD at Tongji University.
T+ 86 –139 – 0175 – 55385
List of Research Team
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Hui Chen
Research TeamPhD candidate at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) of Tongji University since 2018 and a member of the Center for Ecological Wisdom and Practice Research (CEWPR). Her research focuses on ecological planning, environmental policy and land use planning, adaptive planning, environmental disaster management and the environmental effects of urbanisation and urban growth. Her master's thesis at Tongji University was titled, 'Research on the Ecological Strategy of Community-oriented Regeneration of Old Industrial District'. Furthermore, she studied urban planning at Chongqing University for B.S.
T+86 – 159 – 006 – 35705 -
Dr. Li Fan
Research TeamSenior researcher with Habitat Unit at Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. She studied Urban Planning at Tongji University and received a PhD from Habitat Unit, TU Berlin summa cum laude. Dr Fan has worked both as a practitioner and a researcher in China and in Germany. She served as a heritage consultant for conservation and regeneration projects funded by national and international institutions, including UNDP and ADB. She is a German Chancellor Fellow, a DAAD fellow and a board member of the International Association of World Heritage Professionals. Her ongoing research interests are urban regeneration in China and Germany.
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Liyuan Fei
Research TeamPostgraduate student from the Architecture Department of Shanghai University. She is currently engaged in the Working Package 6 team, focusing on migration and mobility. She has participated in several practical projects in WP6 since 2021, concentrating on industrial sustainability at the urban-rural interface of Taizhou. Her research interest relates to new data-assisted analyses of urban-rural interactions. Prior to this, she received her bachelor’s degree from the Department of Urban and Rural Planning at Shanghai University.
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Dr. Maria Frölich-Kulik
Research TeamAn architect who studied at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the Esquela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid and the Tongji-University Shanghai. During and after her studies she worked in architectural offices in Amsterdam, Weimar, and Leipzig. Since 2015, she has worked as a research assistant chair of landscape architecture and planning at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, focusing on the interweaving of urban and rural lifestyles and social and geographical relationships between buildings and landscapes. In 2020, she finished her PhD-thesis on vacant rural railway stations as resources for regional development. She is a co-founder of the Haus Bräutigam Association.
T+49 – 36 – 435 – 83255 -
Bo Fu
Research TeamHe is a joint-trained PhD student of the Chair of Circular Economy and Recycling Technologies, Technische Universität (TU) Berlin and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on urban-rural integration and spatial analysis.
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Xiao Gaoli
Research TeamResearcher with Habitat Unit at Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. She coordinates the Working Package 2 team focusing on socio-spatial practice. She received her double MSc degree in International Cooperation in Urban Development from Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany and Université Grenoble Alpes in France. Her research focuses on socio-spatial inequalities, actor networks, and power dynamics across rapidly urbanising rural landscapes in China. Before joining URA, she worked on urban development projects such as carbon emission control, urban resilience, and disaster risk reduction.
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Dr. Jinwei Hao
Research TeamAn urban planner with a BUP and MUP in urban planning from Northwest University, Xi’an, and a PhD in urban planning from Tongji University, Shanghai. He is an assistant professor in urban planning and design at Shanghai University and has taught since 2018. His research interests are primarily migration, urbanisation, and urban planning theory. He focuses especially on migration and social networks in peri-urban zones in metropolitan areas. As a professional planner, he has been a key Planning Advisor for Bengbu, Luoyang and Laiwu municipalities.
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Jiangxia He
Research TeamPhD candidate in Urban and Rural Planning at Tongji University. Her dissertation focuses on 'Organic Renewal Mechanism of Traditional Community in Urban Area: On Central Prescriptive Nucleus Perspective', selecting the centre of Huangyan as a case study. She has participated in research projects in community planning, urban renewal, and urban design practice, and has published papers on the gentrification process of urban renewal in Suzhou. She graduated from Suzhou University of Science and Technology in 2017 and received her master's degree in Engineering in Urban and Rural Planning.
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Dr. Huang Huang
Research TeamSenior researcher in URA from Tongji University. Prior to this, she assembled her PhD dissertation, 'Post-Rural Urbanization in China: Learning from University Engagements in Village Transformation Processes' at Habitat Unit, Technische Universität (TU) Berlin, (2014-2019, Supervisor Prof. Dr Philipp Misselwitz). She was immersed in a study of rural development within the current urbanisation processes in China that analysed exploratory rural practices with a critical perspective, realised through an in-depth case study. She studied landscape architecture for her bachelor's degree and urban planning for her master's degree at Tongji University in China.
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Dr. Jun Jiang
Research TeamArt historian, artist, critic, curator and columnist. He received a doctoral degree in visual culture studies from the China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou in 2019 and his Akademiebrief and Meisterschüler from Kunstakademie Münster in 2014. He has worked as a researcher since 2017 for the Public Art Coordination Center at SAFA at Shanghai University. He is a member of the Institute for Public Art, China Information & Interaction design committee and the academic committee of the Shanghai Hongqiao art museum. He teaches Art History and Theory at Kunstakademie Münster once a year.
T+ 86 – 186 – 985 – 59031 -
Atidh Jonas Langbein
Research TeamResearcher in the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar research team. He is trained in architecture at the Technical Universities in Munich and Delft and Thammasat University, Bangkok. Since 2020 works as a research associate at the professorship of landscape architecture and planning of Prof. Dr Sigrun Langner at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. In teaching, research and independent works he experiments with (artistic) mapping techniques as tools for understanding, communication, and projection.
T+49 - 3643 - 583269 -
Hongqing Li
Research TeamPhD candidate of the Chair of Circular Economy and Recycling Technology (CERT) at Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. Her research interests include resource metabolisms and material recycling in rural areas, mainly focusing on the region of Huangyan-Taizhou. She intends to develop a hybrid biomass potential assessment approach and explore the coupling nexus among resource flows and metabolisms. Moreover, she seeks to develop a more precise circular economy model that achieves multi-objective trade-offs and synergies in rural China.
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Dr. Fengqing Li
Research TeamAssistant professor of urban planning and design at the Department of Architecture, Shanghai University. Educated as an urban planner, he holds a PhD in urban and rural planning from Tongji University. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Free University Berlin, Germany and previously a visiting graduate student at Cardiff University, Wales, UK. As a professional, he has been a Planning Advisor for Xiamen, Hangzhou, Dalian and Yichang municipalities. His research interests include urban planning theory and new technology, urbanisation and regional development, and big data and urban social networks.
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Prof. Dr. Yongfu Li
Research TeamAssociate professor in the Department of Architecture at Shanghai University. He received his PhD in geography from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005 and subsequently worked as a Postdoc at the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University. Since 2007, he has been a teacher in urban-rural planning. His research interests include urban-rural land use, rural development planning, and traditional village protection. His work combines spatial analysis methods of GIS with urban-rural spatial expansion studies. Moreover, he is participating in China's national key urban research and development projects.
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Shiqi Liu
Research TeamJoint PhD candidate of Tongji University and Technische Universität (TU) Berlin（Supervisor Prof. Anke Hagemann and Prof. Zhenwei Peng. Her dissertation title is 'Rural Adaptation Mechanisms in Agricultural Heritage Sites from the Perspective of Urban-rural Relationships'. She has published papers on comprehensive land consolidation and villages in Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). She graduated from Tongji University in 2020 and received her master's degree in Urban and Rural Planning.
T+86 15316178786 -
Prof. Dr. Lingli Lu
Research TeamProf. Dr Lu Lingli received her PhD from Zhejiang University and the University of California in 2009. Her current research focuses on the function, uptake, and translocation of heavy metals and nutrients in crops and hyperaccumulator plants, as well as rhizosphere processes responsible for metal and nutrient uptake. Her research group has published more than 60 papers on the topic of metal accumulation and detoxification in plants.
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Ava Lynam
Research TeamResearcher at the China Center (CCST) and PhD candidate at Habitat Unit, Technische Universität (TU), Berlin. She coordinates the Working Package 6 team focusing on migration, mobility, and social inclusion. Her research focuses on urban sociology, socio-spatial inequality, and land dynamics in the context of Chinese rural-urban transformation. Ava also has specific experience in a Southeast Asian context, having both worked and grown up in the region. Before joining URA, she worked between London and Dublin as an urban designer in urban strategy, affordable housing, and community engagement projects. She previously completed the international MSc. Urban Management program at TU Berlin and also holds degrees in Architecture from the University of Nottingham, and Urban Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL, London.
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Lukas Pappert
Research TeamResearcher at Habitat Unit, Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. He studied Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Kassel, and Urban Design at TU Berlin. Before joining Habitat Unit and URA in August 2022, he was employed as a project leader at Urban Catalyst GmbH in Berlin, where he mainly worked in the fields of urban development strategies, participation processes, and urban research.
As part of the URA-Raumbild team, his research focuses on the interfaces between disciplinary investigations. Furthermore, he applies and critically revises the 'Raumbild method' as a cooperative strategic planning tool. His research aims to further develop transdisciplinary methods and tools as a means of transferring them to international planning and stakeholder contexts.
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Dr. Daijun Song
Research TeamGuest teacher at Tongji University and senior urban planner in Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning & Design Institute Co., Ltd. He is now leading a research project in 'Guiding Mechanisms of Rural Employment Post Distribution and Its Spatial Impact: A Case Study of Zhejiang and Shandong Areas', funded by NSFC. He has published 7 journal articles and has taken charge of over 10 practical projects, winning the Excellent Urban Design Award in Shanghai in 2017. He received his PhD at Tongji University in 2016, supervised by Prof. Guiqing Yang.
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Prof. Dr. Xiulin Sun
Research TeamProfessor and deputy head of the Department of Sociology at Shanghai University. He holds a PhD from the Department of Social Sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science; after working there as a Postdoc, he has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, USA, and the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Peking University, China. His research interests lie in the fields of grassroots governance, urban sociology and spatial analysis. He is also the Executive Director of the Centre for Data and Urban Sciences and Vice Director of the Survey Centre for Social Sciences at Shanghai University.
T+ 86 – 021 – 661 – 36201 -
Sijia Tang
Research TeamStudent assistant at the Chair of Circular Economy and Recycling Technology (CERT), Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. She is currently completing her master’s degree in Environmental Science and Technology at TU Berlin. She joined the URA WP3 team in April 2022 and is working on the establishment of a database in Nordhausen. Her current research focus is nutrient recycling and composting technology of human excreta. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from the East China University of Science and Technology with 3 exchange semesters at TU Berlin.
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Prof. Dr. Shengke Tian
Research TeamProf. Dr Tian Shengke received his PhD from Zhejiang University and the University of California in 2010. His current research focuses on fertilisers and nutrition management of crops and fruit plants, and the remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils. His research group has published more than 50 papers on these topics. Dr. Tian’s work has been awarded by the Taizhou 500 Elite Programme (category A), and the programme of the 'Ten Thousand People Plan' in Zhejiang Province.
T+ 86 – 157 – 0012 – 3781 -
Yizheng Wang
Research TeamAssistant urban planner at Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning & Design Institute Co., Ltd. Her dissertation focuses on the study of planning implementation pathways for rural development from the perspective of factor flows, taking Huangyan Orangery in Zhejiang Province as an example. She has participated in 9 practical projects, including the protection and regeneration of the historical village and the masterplan of Yutou Village, all of which are located in Taizhou, Zhejiang. She was educated at Hunan University and Tongji University and received her master's degree in 2019, supervised by Prof. Guiqing Yang.
T+ 86 – 153 – 916 – 11488 -
Liyao Wang
Research TeamPhD candidate in Urban and Rural Planning at Tongji University. Her current research focuses on the influencing factors of Chinese urbanisation, their interaction, and the measurement of employment distribution and its spatial impact at the county level in the Chinese context. She has participated in several practical projects in Taizhou since 2018, concentrating on rural vitalisation and the protection and regeneration of historical villages. She graduated from the Harbin Institute of Technology and received her master's degree at University College London in 2017.
T+ 86 – 186 – 868 – 01898 -
Dr. Ying Wang
Research TeamHer work focuses on the topic of sustainable development. She received her PhD in Public Health from Oregon State University. Prior to joining ICLEI, she worked at Tsinghua University, China.
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Dr. Suili Xiao
Research TeamSenior researcher in URA. She studied in the urban forestry program at the Beijing Forestry University, producing 'Urban Greening System Functions and Layout for Livability of Beijing'. After graduating with a PhD, she worked as a program manager and policy researcher in the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, PRC. In 2017-2018 she was awarded German Chancellor Fellow by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. She has researched the 'Green Cities' concept at the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER, Dresden). She has international experience in ecological conservation and environmental protection in Asia and Europe, primarily focusing on ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and green infrastructure.
T+ 49 – 35 – 146 – 79292 -
Ji Xu
Research TeamProgramme officer for ICLEI East Asia Secretariat, Beijing office. His work focuses on the topic of urban development and biodiversity. He received his master's degree in Public Policy from the University of Maryland. Prior to joining ICLEI, he worked for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in China.
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Dr. Bing Xue
Research TeamSenior researcher in the ‘Circular Economy and Recycling Technology’ chair of Prof. Rotter. His main research areas include the circular economy, industrial ecology, and regional sustainability, focusing on interaction analysis of human-environmental systems. In 2009, he received his PhD in Human Geography from the Lanzhou University of China, with the dissertation “Research on the Developmental Mechanism of Regional Circular Economy”.
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Zheng Yang
Research TeamPhD candidate at CERT since October 2019. Prior to this, he studied Agricultural Engineering at Yangzhou University in China. His master's thesis 'Study on the multi-field reaction mechanism of aerobic composting and design of ribbon-screw compost bioreactor', focused on the management of agricultural biomass waste. In addition, he participated in several research projects related to the treatment of agricultural waste during his bachelor's and master's programmes. He has developed tools to treat agricultural waste which won the First Prize in the National Challenge Cup Competition of China, in 2015.
T+ 49 – 30 – 314 – 25804 -
Yulin Zhang
Research TeamResearcher in the Chair of Landscape Architecture and Planning at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar since 2020. In 2018, she graduated with a master's degree in 'MediaArchitecture' from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Her master thesis, 'Wild Grass: Inspiration Hostels in the Wildness: Rebuilding Culture with Architecture' (2018, Supervisor Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dipl.-Des. Bernd Rudolf) focuses on cultural heritage preservation and issues relevant to the Chinese rural landscape under rapid urbanisation. Prior to this, she received her bachelor’s degree in Environment Art Design from the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts of Fudan University. Her work 'Rebirth' won the 'Special Prize of the International Jury' in the Competition of Public Environmental Art Design of the Shanghai Zhenru Sub-Center.
T+ 49 – 15 – 752 – 438917 -
Yuqi Zhang
Research TeamStudent assistant at CCST, pursuing her master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning at Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. Her current research focuses on urbanisation and regional integration in China. Yuqi joined the URA project in June 2022, working on WP6, concerning Urban-Rural Mobility & Migration. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Urban and Rural Planning from the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture.
T+49 30 314-22680 -
Yanzi Zhou
Research TeamStudent Assistant at the chair of Circular Economy and Recycling Technologies at Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. Her current research focuses on the circular economy, sustainability, and carbon sequestration. Yanzi joined the URA project in April 2022, working for WP3 Urban-Rural Material Cycles. Prior to this, she received her bachelor’s degree in water supply and drainage science and engineering.