Research Expertise
• Socio-geographic Computing & Spatial Governance
• Big Data Analytics & Policy Evaluation
• Data-driven Urban & Regional Studies
• Theoretical Frontiers in Human Geography
Academic Appointments
• 2023–Present
Research Fellow/Assistant Professor/Doctoral Supervisor, School of Urban Planning & Design, Peking University
• 2022–2023
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Geography & Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• 2015–2016
Senior Research Associate, World Bank Group
Education
• Ph.D. in Urban Studies & Planning, The University of Hong Kong (2017–2021)
• M.Sc. in Human Geography (Urban Planning), Peking University (2014–2017)
• B.Eng. in Urban Planning, Sun Yat-sen University (2009–2014)
Teaching Portfolio
• Advanced Seminar in Human Geography
• Urban Governance & Management
Major Research Grants
Principal Investigator (PI):
MOE Humanities & Social Sciences Youth Project (2023–2025):
Socio-spatial Impacts of Relocation Policies via Spatiotemporal Big Data
NSFC Young Scientists Fund (2024–2026):
Equitable Education Resource Allocation from Mobility Perspectives
Guangdong NSF General Program (2024–2026):
Multi-scale Innovation Advantages in Greater Bay Area
Key Participant:
4. NSFC Key Program (2022–2026):Land-Ocean Resource Flow Mechanisms via Big Data
5. Shenzhen Peacock Team Project (2022–2027):Transport Carbon Footprint Monitoring & Simulation
Editorial Leadership
• Editor-in-Chief: Heliyon Urban Development (SCI, 2024–Present)
• Associate Editor: Heliyon Politics & Society (SCI, 2022–2024)
• Guest Editor:
Professional Service
• Executive Council Member, Guangdong Geographical Society (2024–Present)
• Youth Committee Member, Small Town Planning Division, Urban Planning Society of China (2023–Present)
• Best Paper Reviewer, AAG China Specialty Group (2022)
Selected Publications
1. Zhang, M*. (2023). The hypermobile and the rest: capital conversion and inclusion/exclusion in an emerging student migration in China. Mobilities, 1-23.
2.Zhang, M*, Luo, Z., Qiao, S., & Yeh, A. G. O. (2023). Financialization, platform economy and urban rental housing: Evidence from Chengdu, China. Applied Geography, 156, 102993.
3.Zhang, M.,& Liu, Y.* (2023). Global Financial Networks, Municipal Offshore Financing and State-sponsored City-regional development: A Case of China. Regional Studies. 1-17.
4. Qiao, S., Zhang, M.,* & Yeh, AGO. (2023). Mind the Gender Gap in Ride-hailing from the Demand Side. Journal of Transport Geography, 107(103531)
5. Zhang, M., & Wen T*. (2022). The Rise of Chengdu between Geopolitics and Geoeconomics: City-regional development under the Belt and Road Initiative and Beyond. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 47(4), 971-989.
6.Zhang, M., Qiao, S.,* Yeh, AGO. (2022). Disamenity Effects of Displaced Villagers’ Resettlement Community on Housing Price in China and Implication for Sociospatial Segregation. Applied Geography, 142(102681).
7.Zhang, M.* (2022). School Regime Restructuring in Urban China: From Archetypal to Multi-scale and Variegated Political–Economic Embeddedness. Environment and Planning A.
8. Zhang, M.* (2022). New Urban Politics as Post-politics of Schooling Marketisation and Distribution in Entrepreneurial Chinese Cities. Urban Geography.
9.Zhang, M., & Yan, X.* (2022). Does Informal Homeownership Reshape Skilled Migrants’ Settlement Intention? Evidence from Beijing and Shenzhen. Habitat International. 119 (102495).
10.Zhang, M.* (2021). Social Capital and Perceived Tenure Security of Informal Housing: Evidence from Beijing, China. Urban Studies, 59(12).
11. Zhang, M., Qiao, S.,* Yeh, AGO. (2021). Blemish of Place: Territorial Stigmatization and the Depreciation of Displaced Villagers’ Resettlement Houses in Chengdu, China. Cities, 117(103330).
12.Zhang, M., & Zhao, P.* (2021). Literature Review on Urban Transport Equity in Transitional China: From Empirical Studies to Universal Knowledge. Journal of Transport Geography. 96(103177)
13. Zhang, M., Zhao, P.,* & Tong, X. (2021). Constructing Women's Immobility: Fear of Violence and Women’s Constricted Nocturnal Travel Behaviour. Travel Behaviour and Society, 26: 178-192.
14. Zhang, M., Qiao, S., & Yan, X.* (2021). The Secondary Circuit of Capital and the Making of the Suburban Property Boom in Postcrisis Chinese Cities. Environment and Planning A, 53(6): 1331-1355.
15. Zhang, M., & He S.* (2020). From Dissensus to Consensus: State Rescaling and Modalities of Power under the Belt and Road Initiative in Western China. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 111(5), 1519-1538.
16. Zhang, M., & He, S.* (2020). Informal Property Rights as Relational and Functional: Unraveling Relational Contract in China’s Informal Housing Market. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 44(6),167-188.
17. He, S.,* Zhang, M., & Wei, Z. (2020). The State Project of Crisis Management: China’s Shantytown Redevelopment Schemes under State-led Financialization. Environment and Planning A, 5(3), 23-32.
18. Qiao, S., Yeh, AGO., & Zhang, M.* (2020). Capitalization of Accessibility to Dockless Bike Sharing in Housing Rentals: Evidence from Beijing. Transportation Research Part D, 90(102640).
19. Qiao, S., Yeh, A. G. O., & Zhang, M.* (2020). Effects of State-led Suburbanization on Traffic Crash Density in China: Evidence from the City Proper of Chengdu. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 148(105775).
20.Zhang, M., & He, S.* (2020). Who Feel Secured on Customary Tenure and Why: A Triangular Framework for China’s Small Property Rights Housing. Cities, 107(102900).
21.Zhang, M., Zhao, P., & Qiao, S.* (2020). Smartness-induced Transport Inequality: Privacy Concern, Lacking Knowledge of Smartphone Use and Unequal Access to Transport Information. Transport Policy, 99, 175-185.
22. Zhang, M., & Zhao, P.* (2018). The Determinants of Informal Housing Price in Beijing: Village Power, Informal Institutions, and Property Security. Cities, 77, 117-129.
23.Zhang, M., He, S., & Zhao, P.* (2018). Revisiting Inequalities in the Commuting Burden: Institutional Constraints and Job-housing Relationships in Beijing. Journal of Transport Geography, 71, 58-71.
24. Zhang, M., & Zhao, P.* (2017). The Impact of Land-use Mix on Residents’Travel Energy Consumption: New Evidence from Beijing. Transportation Research Part D, 57, 224-236.
