LI Shengxiao Alex (Dr)

Dr. Shengxiao (Alex) Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture, College of Design and Engineering. As an international urban planning scholar, Alex’s research focuses on the transportation policy and planning from the perspectives of inclusiveness and social equity, and mitigating climate change. His research contributes to the impact of population aging on transportation planning and urban planning in general in the United States, equity and travel implications of transit-oriented development in Chinese and American large cities, and travel difficulties of the low-income commuters.

Alex holds a PhD. degree (2022) and a master’s degree (2021) in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s degree of Urban and Regional Planning (2018), and bachelor’s degrees in urban management and economics (2015) from Peking University. Prior to joining the National University of Singapore, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon (2023-24), and a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of California, Riverside (2022-23). His research was supported by the Department of Transportation of the United States, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and University of Pennsylvania’s Provost Office.

As a practice-based scholar, he has worked closely with local and regional governments, transit agencies, and non-profit organizations. He also actively engaged in community-based learning, especially through the University of Oregon’s Sustainable City Year Program. He works closely with scholars in various disciplines, including but not limited to transportation engineering, geography, public policy, gerontology, and demography. He has published 26 peer-reviewed journals in leading urban planning, transportation, and social policy journals, such as Journal of American Planning Association, Journal of Planning Literature, Transportation Research Part A and D, Transport Policy, and Journal of Aging and Social Policy.

His current research focuses on racial justice and transportation, and local politics of urban sustainability initiatives, such as climate action plan development and transit-oriented development. His future research will combine urban analytics, econometrics, and qualitative methods to understand two main topics: (1) policy design, process, and collaboration in sustainable and inclusive transportation, such as vehicle electrification and transportation for older people in Asia and North America; (2) daily activities and migration of older people and community/regional planning implications.