Zheng Wang

Zheng is Associate Professor in Urban Planning at LSE. He joined the department in 2026 and previously held lectureships at the department of Geography at King’s College London and the department of Urban Studies and Planning at The University of Sheffield. He has a PhD in Urban Planning from the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, an MSc in Regeneration Studies from Cardiff University and a BSc in Urban Planning, Design and Management from UCL.

Zheng is an urban planner specialising in the politics and long-term social consequences of urban (re)development. In particular, he is interested in the lives of residents after their displacement and how urban planning and governance practices can affect the post-displacement lives of residents.

His research has been funded by the British Academy and the Economic and Social Research Council. Zheng is an associate editor of Transactions in Planning and Urban Research. Working with colleagues in the UK, South Africa, India and China, Zheng’s latest research project investigates how residents can be empowered within state-sponsored housing projects in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Gauteng and Chengdu.

Zheng’s work spans research on urban politics and governance, social justice and migration and takes urban China as a critical site to develop theoretical insights for a more global urban studies. Zheng’s research spans a diverse but connected range of topics and draws heavily on urban comparisons and collaborations with colleagues from across the globe.

His recent research focuses on the idea of ‘post-displacement’. This research strand contends that additional analytical framings are needed to study the alternative and long-term social impacts of urban re/development beyond the well-rehearsed concept of displacement. To this end, Zheng’s research explores the long-term social impacts of large-scale urban developments and the lives of residents after their resettlement. In particular, he is interested in the possibilities of transforming public housing residents from passive housing beneficiaries to proactive urban citizens by comparing the governance of large-scale state sponsored housing projects in Ahmedabad, Chengdu, Mumbai, and Gauteng.

Additionally, Zheng is interested in the role of neighbourhoods in fostering a sense of belonging and place attachment for rural migrants in Chinese cities. His research examines the positive impact of seemingly mundane neighbourly relations in breaking down existing stigmatisation towards rural migrants and improve their sense of belonging and public participation.

• GY446 Planning for Sustainable Cities
• GY448 Social and Political Aspects of Planning