Department of Geography and Resource Management (GRM), The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Prof. XU Jiang

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Faculty Member

Prof. XU Jiang

Professor

BSc, MSc (Zhongshan)
PhD (Hong Kong)

(852) 3943-6475

jiangxu@cuhk.edu.hk Download CV >

RESEARCH PROJECTS

(SELECTED)

Principal Investigator, ‘Taming the dragons: A structure–technology nexus analysis of China’s New Spatial Planning System’ (CUHK 14602522), General Research Fund, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, 01/01/2023 – 31/12/2025, HK$ 781,384.

Principal Investigator, ‘Big data for big land grab? A discursive–material nexus analysis of big data-themed land development in China’s inland Data Valley’ (CUHK 14616421), General Research Fund, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, 01/01/2022 – 31/12/2024, HK$ 916,896

Principle Investigator. How Can the Dragon Soar? An Interdisciplinary Approach to China’s Post-Reform Dialectics of State, Market and Space. China Studies Area Seed Grant, CUHK, HK$680,000, June 2019 – May 2022.

Principal Investigator, ‘Environmental discourses in planning: towards a scaled discourse analysis for China’s inland cities’ (CUHK 14637516), General Research Fund, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, 01/01/2017 – 31/12/2019, HK$ 505,100

Principal Investigator, ‘Planning post-earthquake Wenchuan: towards a resilience-based approach?’ (CUHK 14413014), General Research Fund, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, 01/01/2015 – 31/12/2018, HK$ 608,540

Principal Investigator, Contentious Space and Politics of Scale: Planning for Inter-City Railways in China’s Mega-City Regions (CUHK455712), General Research Fund, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (01/01/2013 – 31/12/2015) (HK$870,116).

Principal Investigator, ‘Bargaining for Nature: The Treatment of Environment in China’s Urban Planning System’ (CUHK457711), General Research Fund, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, 01/01/2012 – 31/12/2013, HK$ 597,258.

Principal Investigator, ‘Planning for the mega-city region in the Pearl River Delta: State Reconstruction and Regional Strategic Planning’ (CUHK453609), General Research Fund, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, 01/01/2010 – 31/12/2011, HK$672,000.

Principal Investigator, ‘Inter-jurisdictional Cooperation in the Pearl River Delta: Towards an Analytical Model’ (CUHK752407), Competitive Earmarked Research Grants, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, 01/09/2007 – 01/08/2010, HK$873,292

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Wang, K., Chung, C.K.L., Xu, J.*, Cheung, Alan C.K. (forthcoming). Can the Locked-In Be Unlocked? University Stratification in China under State-led Quest for World-class Universities. Higher Education Policy.

Xu, J. and Chung, C.K.L.* (2022). New Sectors, New Spaces, and China’s Evolving State-Firm Relations. The China Review. 22(3).

Wang, J.J. and Xu, J.* (2022). Strategic state-firm relations for the Belt and Road Initiative: A geoeconomics reading. The China Review. 22(3).

Xu, J., Guannan Zou*, Calvin King Lam Chung (2022). (Re)shaping Urban Governance through State-business Interaction in Inland China’s Emerging Industries. The China Review. 22(3).

Chung, C.K.L. & Xu, J. (2021). Scalar politics of urban sustainability: Governing the Chinese city in the era of ecological civilization. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 46: 689–703. Doi.org/10.1111/tran.12436.

Zhang, M.M, Xu, J. & Chung, C.K.L. (2020). Scalar Politics and Uneven Accessibility to Intercity Railway in the Pearl River Delta, China. Annals of the American Association of Geographers.110:4, 1260-1277

Xu, J., & Shao, Y. (2020). The role of the state in China’s post-disaster reconstruction planning: Implications for resilience. Urban Studies, 57(3): 525-545.

Shao, Z., Xu, J., Chung, C. K. L., Spit, T., & Wu, Q. (2020). State as both the regulator and the player: The politics of transfer of development rights in China. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.

Zhang, M.M, Xu, J. & Chung, C.K.L. (2020). Politics of scale, bargaining power and its spatial impacts: Planning for intercity railway in the Pearl River Delta, China. The China Quarterly. 242: 676-700

Xu, J. (2018), ‘Land and housing markets’, in Weiping Wu and Mark W. Frazier (eds.) The Sage Handbook of Contemporary China, pp. 898 – 919, LA and London: Sage Publishing.

Shao, Yiwen and Xu, J. (2017), ‘Regulating Post-disaster Reconstruction Planning in China: Towards a Resilience-based Approach?’, Asian Geographer, 34(1): 71-89. [more]

Xu, J. (2017), ‘Contentious Space and Politics of Scale: Planning for Inter-City Railway in China’s Mega-City Regions’, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 58(1): 57-73 doi: 10.1111/apv.12142.

Xu, J. (2016), ‘Bargaining for Nature: Treating the Environment in China’s Urban Planning Practice’, Urban Geography. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2016.1139414

Xu, J. (2016), ‘Environmental discourses in China’s urban planning system: a scaled discourse analytical-perspective’, Urban Studies, Vol. 53(5) 978–999, DOI: 10.1177/0042098015571054

Chung, K.L. and Xu, J. (2016), ‘Scale as both material and discursive: A view through China’s rescaling of urban planning system for environmental governance’, Environment and Planning C. DOI: 10.1177/0263774X15619630.

Xu, J. and Chung, K.L. (2014), ‘Environment’ as an Evolving Concept in China’s Urban Planning System’, International Development Planning Review, 36(4): 391-412.

Wang, J.J., Xu, J. and He, J.F. (2013), ‘Spatial impacts of high-speed railways in China: a total-travel-time approach’, Environment and Planning A, 45: 2261-2280.

Xu, J and Yeh, A.G O (2013), ‘Interjurisdictional Cooperation through Bargaining: The Case of Guangzhou-Zhuhai Railway in the Pearl River Delta, China’, The China Quarterly, 213, pp. 130 – 151. [more]

Xu, J. and Wang, J.J. (2012), Reassembling the state in urban China, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 53(1): 7-19. [more]

Xu, J. and Yeh, A G O (eds) (2010), Mega-City Region Governance and Planning: An International Comparative Perspective. London and New York: Routledge. [more]

Xu, J. and Yeh, A.G.O. (2010), ‘Governing mega-city region in China: rationales and policies’, Progress in Planning, 73: 12-22.

Xu, J., Wu, F. and Yeh, A G O (2009), Land Commodification: New land development and politics in China since the late 1990s’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 33(4).

Xu, J and Yeh, A G O (2009), ‘Decoding urban land governance: state reconstruction in contemporary Chinese cities’, Urban Studies, 46(3): 559-581.

Xu, J (2008), ‘Governing city regions in China: theoretical discourses and perspectives for regional strategic planning’, Town Planning Review, 79(2-3): 157-185.

Wu, F, Xu, J and Yeh, A G O (2007) Market, State and Space: Urban Development in Post-Reform China. London and New York: Routledge. [more]

Xu, J and Yeh, A.G O (2005), ‘City repositioning and competitiveness building in regional development: new development strategies of Guangzhou, China’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 29(2): 283-308.

Teaching Fields

  • Cultural Geography
  • Urban Planning
  • Economic Geography
  • Transport Geography
  • Research Design and Methodology

Research interests

  • State spatiality and its relevance to urban and regional development
  • Urban planning, urban land use and spatial transformation, and their relevance to environmental issues, resilience, and healthy city development
  • Regional governance and spatial transformation in the Greater Bay Area and Pan-PRD
  • State-business dynamic interaction in emerging industries

Services/ Posts

External service

  • Council Member, Asian Geographical Association (2018-12-07 to present)
  • Editor-in-Chief, Asian Geographer, an ESCI journal published by Taylor & Francis (2017 to present)
  • Editorial Board, Urban Planning International, Chinese Studies
  • Consulting Editor, International Journal of Urban & Regional Research published by Wiley
  • Editorial Advisory Board, 2021 Sage Handout Series Modern China: Transformations and Transitions
  • Selection Panel, University of Macao PhD Scholarship (2018-05-25 to Present)
  • Assessment Panel for Competitive Research Funding Schemes for the Local Self-financing Degree Sector (APSF), Research Grants Council, Hong Kong
  • Panel, Monitoring and Assessment (M&A) Panel for Competitive Research Funding Schemes for the Local Self-financing Degree Sector, Research Grants Council, Hong Kong.
  • Specialist Member, Curriculum Development Council (CDC) & Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) on Geography (2017-09-01 to present), Appointed by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong SAR Government
  • Committee Member, Nansha New District Urban Planning Committee (A new development district at national level) 南沙新區城市規劃委員會專家委員 (2013 to Present), Appointed by Nansha New Area government.
  • Chair, China Geography Specialty Group, American Association of Geographers (2021-04-05 to 2022-03-31)
  • Council Member, International Geographical Union (2013 to 2022-01-02)

College and University

  1. Convener, Social Science Panel, Research Committee, CUHK (2020-08-01 to present)
  2. Chair, Survey and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee (2020-08-01 to present)
  3. Member, University Research Committee (2020-08-01 to present)
  4. Member, University Knowledge Transfer Committee (2020-08-01 to present)
  5. Member, University research integrity committee (2020-01-20 to present)
  6. Member, Selection Committee for the Faculty and Postgraduate Student Mobility Schemes (2020-08-01 to present)
  7. Member, Senate Committee on University Press (2020-01-20 to present)
  8. Associate Director, Panel Committee for China Studies program (2019-06-20 to present)
  9. Member, S.H. Ho College Student Discipline Committee (2018-06-30 to present)
  10. Associate Dean (Academic), Graduate School (2020-05-01 to 2021-07-31)
  11. Member, Graduate Council Executive Committee (2017-01-13 to 2021-07-31)
  12. Member, Graduate Council (2014-08 to 2021-07-31)

Faculty

  1. Associate Dean (Research) (2020-08-01 to present)
  2. Associate Dean (Education) (2017-01-13 to 2020-07-31)
  3. Chair, Faculty Committee on Teaching and Learning (2017-01-13 to 2020-07-31)
  4. Head, Graduate Division of Social Science (2017-01-13 to 2020-07-31)
  5. Chair, Survey and Behavioral Research Ethics Faculty Sub-Committee (2020-08-01 to present)
  6. Member, Faculty Board (2017-01-13 to present)
  7. Member, Faculty Executive Committee (2017-01-13 to present)

Department

  1. Member, Supporting Staff Committee (2011-08-01 to Present)
  2. Member, Board of the Department (2008-08-01 to Present)
  3. College Coordinator (2010-06-01 to Present)
  4. Graduate Division Head (2014-08-01 – 2017-03-15)
  5. Executive Committee member (2011-08-01 – 2017-03-15)
  6. Board Secretary, Executive Committee, Department of Geography & Resource Management (2011-08-01 to 2013-07-31)
  7. Member, Admissions and School Partnership Committee (2009-08-01 to 2019-09-07)
  8. Member, Staff-Student Consultative Committee (2010-06-01 to 2019-09-07)

 

SUGGESTED RESEARCH TOPICS FOR POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS

Data and cities

Data-centred programs are mushrooming in China and bring about a myriad of new practices which take the digital, as both material technologies and abstract ideas, as the pivotal focus in developing, governing and envisioning Chinese cities. Such changes have momentous implications. Our research team plans to recruit students to study the unfolding relationship between data and cities.

State-firm relations in developing the emerging industries

Our research team aims to advance an interdisciplinary approach for post-reform China, whose rapid development of the emerging industries under a unique coupling of intense state intervention, aggressive marketisation and precipitous urbanisation since 1978.

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