Bridging Geography, Sociology, and Planning: Multi-scalar Analysis of Urban Inequality and Governance
Name of Event/Lecture
Bridging Geography, Sociology, and Planning: Multi-scalar Analysis of Urban Inequality and Governance
Name of Speaker
Bo Li
Location
SDE3 Level 4, LT422
You are cordially invited to attend the research seminar by Bo Li:
Date: 24 September 2025
Time: 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Venue: SDE3 Level 4, LT422
Bridging Geography, Sociology, and Planning: Multi-scalar Analysis of Urban Inequality and Governance
Asian cities are confronting unprecedented challenges in providing affordable housing, maintaining spatial equity, and sustaining urban finance amid rapid urbanization. This seminar demonstrates how perspectives from geography, sociology, and planning can be integrated to analyze urban inequality and governance innovation.
Drawing on multi-city evidence from China, Dr. Li presents two research contributions. First, drawing on spatial political economy theory, a critical analysis of China’s Affordable Rental Housing policies shows how they operate as a “spatial fix” to overaccumulation crises while simultaneously becoming financialized through Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). This illustrates a fundamental transformation of social housing from welfare provision into a financial asset class. Second, the seminar introduces an innovative k-nearest neighbor methodology for measuring housing segregation based on six million real estate transactions. This approach overcomes key methodological challenges in segregation research and highlights the potential of transaction data to capture real-time urban inequality.
Dr. Li’s teaching philosophy centers on cultivating critical sensitivity and problem-solving capacity in students. Through comparative analysis of urban phenomena, Dr. Li encourages students to develop investigative awareness of their everyday urban realities and the ability to design contextually-informed solutions for complex urban challenges.
Dr. Bo Li is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow and Rubicon Fellow at the Free University of Berlin. He received his Ph.D. in Urban Studies from Delft University of Technology (2023) and has secured more than €400,000 in competitive research funding. His interdisciplinary work bridges urban geography, sociology, and planning, with research spanning housing financialization, spatial inequality, built environment and well-being, and behavioral approaches to urban decision-making.
Dr. Li has published 18 articles in leading journals and serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Urban Management and Humanities & Social Sciences Communications. His research has been recognized with the Best Paper Award from the Urban China Research Network (2025). In addition to academic publishing, he contributes popular writings to engage wider publics on urban issues, and maintains close connections with urban policymakers in several countries.
Dr. Li has also taught courses in urban sociology and planning, and is committed to connecting research with student learning in studio and classroom settings. More information is available at www.bo-li.org.