PhD Success

Congratulations to Yunqing (Lynn) Xu and Leyon Nanayakkara who have both successfully completed and defended their PhD theses. And have passed, subject to minor corrections. Those who know about these things will not be surprised by this. A PhD thesis that is passed without any corrections at all is a rare thing. A very rare thing. I will not open this can of worms, instead I will tell you what Lynn's research is about (if you want to know about Leyon's research take a look at the report on Not Just Hard Hats):

Lynn's research examined the impacts of current property-led urban development on China's urban sustainability and identified practices and new models of urban growth with efficiency, equity and sustainability.

Shanghai in 2004 from Space and Culture

Based on an international expert survey, Lynn has developed a property-related urban sustainability indicator system. This indicator system adopts a system and holistic perspective and focuses the dynamic interactions between key components of sustainable development. It also considers the characteristics and conditions of urban development in China. Thus it could provide pertinent and in-depth analysis of the urban performance in China and other developing countries with similar development model and rapid transformation in urban areas.

Lynn also conducted over 70 interviews with government officials, property developers, investors, agents, financiers, professionals and academic scholars in China. These cover four case cities: Suzhou, Tianjin, Xi'an and Dongguan and three regional centres: Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing. Through the extensive and in-depth fieldwork, she has obtained rich primary data and developed an international expert network with key interests in property market, urban development and sustainable development.

Lynn was supervised by Albert Cao and Ramin Keivani.

If you're interested in the research that is being carried out in the Department, take a look at our website.