Research direction: planning evaluation, rural studies, conservation and renewal of historical space
Jin Xu is the Associate Professor of Urban Planning Department at the School of Architecture, Southeast University (SEU). She has experience of teaching, research and practice across planning, design and spatial governance. Her research centers on (1) evaluation of planning implementation and assisted policy-making research; (2) rural studies particularly rural planning, design and governance to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural areas; and (3) conservation and renewal of historical space. In addition, she is also working on a series of practical projects including urban design, urban renewal, rural planning and design. She is also broadly interested in bridging theory and practice to explore innovative perspectives and feasible strategies that deal with urban and rural spatial issues.
Prior to joining SEU, Professor Xu earned a Bachelor degree in Architecture (B.A.) from Tsinghua University, a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree from University of Cambridge, UK, and a Ph.D. in urban planning from Tsinghua University. She is also visiting scholar at MIT and University of Cambridge.
In recent years, Professor Xu has obtained a number of research grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Program, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, and other prestigious funding institutions. She has published books namely Evaluation in Plan Implementation: Theory, Principle and Method, Shaoxing Taimen, and Aqua-Urbanism. Other related work has been published in journals such as Urban Planning, Planners, International Urban Planning,and Modern Urban Research, and presented at international conferences like UIA and ISOCARP. She was also awarded the Excellent Paper Award from Urban Planning Association of China 2021.
She conducts courses including the Principles in Urban Planning, Architecture Design and Urban Planning and Design. Multiple students supervised by Professor Xu have been funded by the national level of Students Research Training Program and have also gained approximately ten awards from international or domestic design competitions.