School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University

Zhilin LIU is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University, China. Her research interests include urban planning and governance, affordable housing policy, and sustainable development. She is particularly interested in policy and governance issues that promote equity and sustainability of China’s rapid urbanization and development, and has published extensively in English and Chinese peer review journals. Her recent research projects concerns the following issues:

Understanding housing access and social integration of Chinese rural-to-urban migrants from a social capital perspective;
Assessing the impacts of government-funded housing programs on quality of life of low-income urban households
Assessing the implementation of affordable housing policy and identifying key institutional barriers that have prevented more effective implementation.
Understanding planning and governance for sustainable urbanization in China, particularly related to the role of urban form on travel behavior and travel-related CO2 emissions, as well as multi-level governance structure for low-carbon cities and sustainable cities in China.

Zhilin Liu received her Ph.D in city and regional planning from Cornell University, USA, in August 2007. Since joining the faculty in public policy and management at Tsinghua, she has taught courses in research design, analytic methods, and urban development and planning for Ph.D, MPA, and MID students. She is also a nonresident fellow of the Brookings Institute based in the Brookings-Tsinghua Center, and a joint research fellow of the Lincoln Institute-Peking University Center for Urban Development and Land Policy.

Selected Publications in English:

Liu, Z., Ma, J., & Chai, Y. (forthcoming). A Micro-Analysis Of Neighborhood-Scale Urban Form, Travel Behavior, and CO2 Emissions In Beijing: Implications For Low-Carbon Urban Planning. Urban Geography. (SSCI)
Dang, Y., Liu, Z.(corresponding author), & Zhang, W. 2014. Land-Based Interests and the Spatial Distribution of Affordable Housing Development: The Case of Beijing, China. Habitat International 44, 137–145. DOI: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2014.05.012. (SSCI)
Mei, C, & Liu, Z. 2014. Experiment-based policy making or conscious policy design? The case of urban housing reform in China. Policy Sciences 47, 321–337. (SSCI)
Liu, Z., Wang, Y. & Tao, R. 2013. Social capital and migrant housing experiences in urban China: A structural equation model analysis. Housing Studies, 2013, 28 (8): 1155-1174. (SSCI)
Liu, Z., & Wang, Y. 2014. Housing access, sense of attachment, and settlement intention of rural migrants in Chinese cities: Findings from a twelve-city migrant survey. Chapter 6 in Y. Huang & S-M. Li (eds) Housing Inequality in Chinese Cities (Routledge Contemporary China Series). Routledge. March 3, 2014 (ISBN-13: 978-0415834285).
Liu, Z., & Chai, Y. 2013. Family Ties, and Residential Mobility of Urban Elderly in Transitional China: The Case of Beijing. Pp.196-222, Chapter 11 in Besharov D.J. & Baehler, K. (eds). Chinese Social Policy in a Time of Transition, Oxford University Press, June 2013 (ISBN: 9780199990313).
Liu, Z., & Warner, M.E. 2009. Understanding geographical differences in child care multipliers: IMPLAN modeling methodology, economic structure, or policy impacts? Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy 39 (1), 1-85.
Warner, M., & Liu, Z. 2006. The importance of child care in economic development: A comparative analysis of regional economic linkage. Economic Development Quarterly 20 (1), 97-103. (SSCI)
Warner, Mildred, & Zhilin LIU. 2005. Regional economic development and local services: The case of child care. International Journal of Economic Development 7(1), 25-64.

Selected Publications in Chinese

LIU, Zhilin, & QIN, Bo. 2013. Urban Form and Low-carbon Cities: Research Progress and Planning Strategies. Urban Planning International, 28 (2): 4-11.
MA, Jing, LIU, Zhilin, & CHAI, Yanwei. 2013. Urban Form and Carbon Emissions from Urban Transport: Based on the Analysis of Individual Behavior. Urban Planning International, 28 (2): 19-24.
MEI, Ciqi, & LIU, Zhilin. Administrative Accountability and Bandwagoning in Policy Implementation: Regional Variations in Energy Saving Policy Implementation, 2006-2009. China Population, Resources and Environment, 2012, 22 (12): 127-134.
LIU, Zhilin & Maojun WANG. 2011. Job accessibility and impacts on low-income commuters in Beijing: Is there spatial mismatch in transitional urban China? Acta Geographica Sinica [Dili Xubao]. 66 (4): 457-467.
CHAI, Yanwei, XIAO, Zuopeng, & LIU, Zhilin. 2011. Comparative Analysis on CO2 Emission Per Household in Daily Travel Based on Spatial Behavior Constraints. Scientia Geographica Sinica [Dili Kexue]. 2011, 31 (7): 843-8409.
CHAI, Yanwei, Yan ZHANG, & Zhilin LIU. 2011. Spatial Differences of Home-Work Separation and the Impacts of Housing Policy and Urban Sprawl: Evidence from Household Survey Data in Beijing. Acta Geographica Sinica [Dili Xubao]. 66 (2): 157-166.
MA, Jing, Yanwei CHAI, & Zhilin LIU. The Mechanism of CO2 Emissions from Urban Transport Based on Individuals’ Travel Behavior in Beijing. Acta Geographica Sinica [Dili Xubao]. 66 (8): 1023-1032.
LIU, Zhilin, & Jie LI. 2010. Public Rental Housing Policy: Comparative International Experience and Implications for China. Forthcoming in Modern Urban Research, 2010 (10): 21-26.
LIU Zhilin, & Yafei HAN. 2010. Expanding Affordable Housing Through Planning: What Can We Learn from America and England? Urban Planning International [Guoji Chengshi Guihua]. 25 (3): 90-96.
JING Juan, Zhilin LIU, & Joyce Yanyun MAN. 2010. International Experiences of Low-income Housing Policy and its Implications to China: Demand-side Subsidy Policies. Urban Studies [Chengshi Fazhan Yanjiu]. 17 (6): 56-63.
WU Wenjie, Zhilin LIU, & Wenzhong ZHANG. 2010. Determinants of Residential Land Price: Structure Equation Model Analysis Using Land-leasing Parcel Data in Beijing. Acta Geographica Sinica. 65 (6): 676-684.
DAI, Yixin, Wenwen WANG, Zhilin LIU, & Ye QI. 2010. A Study on Leadership Model in Low-Carbon City Governance. Modern Urban Research, 2010 (8): 7-14.
WU Wenjjie, Wenzhong ZHANG, Zhilin LIU, Xingwen HUANG. 2010. Tempo-spatial analysis of the residential land’s spatial pattern in Beijing. Geographical Research. 29 (4): 683-692.
LIU Zhilin, Maojun WANG, & Yanwei CHAI. 2010. Spatial Mismatch Theory: A Review of Empirical Research and Methodology. Human Geography. 25 (1): 1-6.
LIU Zhilin , Yixin DAI , Changgui DONG, Ye QI. 2010. Low-Carbon City: Concepts , International Practice and Implications for China. Urban Studies [Chengshi Fazhan Yanjiu]. 16 (9): 1-7.
LIU Zhilin, Yan ZHANG, & Yanwei CHAI. 2009. Home-Work Separation in the Context of Institutional and Spatial Transformation in Urban China:Evidence from Beijing Household Survey Data. Urban Studies. 16 (6): 110-117.
CAI Qin, Zhilin LIU, Ye QI. 2010. Challenges and Responses in Urban Governance Under Scientific Development. Urban Studies [Chengshi Fazhan Yanjiu]. 15 (3): 144-155.

Selected Research Projects as PI or key member

“Urban Governance in China”, Sub-Project of “Roadmap for Urbanization with Chinese Characteristics”, Key Consultation Project of China Academy of Engineering (Key Member)
“Kelamayi City Housing Demand Assessment and Affordable Housing Policy Design,” Consulting Project for the Kelamayi City Housing Bureau, Xinjiang Autonomous Region (Deputy Project Leader, Sub-Project Leader for “Affordable Housing Policy Design”)
“Assessing Local Implementation Process of Affordable Housing Policy in China: The Case of Cheap Rental Housing Program,” Sponsored by Urban China Initiative.
“Key Technologies in Urban Residents’ Space-Time Behavioral Analysis and Smart Travel Service Demonstration,” Sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology (Twelfth Five-Year S&T Research Grant, No. 2012BAJ05B04; Sub-Project Leader)
“Transformation of the Work-Unit (Danwei) System and its Spatial and Social Implications,” Research Grant Sponsored by National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11AZD085; Key Member and Sub-Project Leader).
“Spatial and Social Transformation and Social Hybridization of Work Units (Danwei) in Transitional Urban China: Process, Mechanisms and Optimization, ” Research Grant Sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No: 41071102; Key Member).
“Governance and Institutional Mechanisms of Low-Carbon Cities in China”, Independent Research Grant Sponsored by Tsinghua University (PI).
“Assessing China’s Low Income Housing Policy”, Peking University-Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy (PI).
“Research on Climate Change Risk Management”, sub-project of “Key Strategies and Technological Issues for Promoting Green Development in China”, National Basic Research and Development Project (973 Project), Sponsored by Ministry of Science and Technology (Key Member, responsible for “regional risk management and regional development policies for Climate Change)
“Research on Promoting Affordable Housing Construction”, Key Project Sponsored by National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 09 &ZD042; Member)
“Low-Income Housing Dilemma in Transitional Urban China: Spatial Outcomes, Spatial Process, and Institutional Interpretation,” Youth Scholar Research Grant, Sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China (PI).
“Methodology and Methods in Geography”, Special Research Grant funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, P.R. China; Participant in the sub-project “Methodology and Methods in Urban Geography Research” (PI: Professor CHAI Yanwei, Peking University).
“Low Income Housing Policy Research”, Peking University-Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy.
Low-Carbon City Development Plan for Baoding City, Hebei Province (Key Member).
Urbanization Governance in China: Challenges and Policy Analysis (Key Member), Research Project for “2007 China Sustainable Cities Initiative,” sponsored by the Energy Foundation.