Weiping Wu appointed Director of the Urban Planning Program at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). In the press release, the role of Weiping Wu will be effective as of July 1, 2016, announced by current dean of the program Amale Andraos. 

Professor Wu is an internationally acclaimed planning scholar working on global urbanization with a specific expertise in issues of migration, housing, and infrastructure of Chinese cities. Her groundbreaking research has been widely published in books and journals, her influential scholarship is shaping policy on an international scale, and she has distinguished herself as an educator while maintaining an active public presence. This combination of leadership experience and academic expertise makes Professor Wu uniquely qualified to direct and develop Columbia GSAPP’s Urban Planning program.

''I am very excited to welcome Professor Wu, whose commitment to advancing planning is evidenced not only through pure academic scholarship, but also through an engaged mode of practice that involves building research networks and collaborations, establishing relationships with other universities, and advocating planning ideas before governments and international organisations,'' said Columbia GSAPP’s Dean Amale Andraos. ''She is that rare scholar who has the ability to bridge theory and practice and is committed to advancing the field towards the bettering of our built environment.

The appointment galvanizes Columbia GSAPP’s global engagement across the disciplines, and opens new possibilities for collaborative research and academic exchanges on an international level. As one of the top scholarly experts on Chinese urbanization, a field Professor Wu has helped pioneer, her contribution extends well beyond research and publications and into the development of international networks and consultancies including collaborations with the World Bank and the Ford Foundation. She is a distinguished professor and comes to Columbia from Tufts University, where she served as Chair of the Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning Department. Her active involvement in the academic planning community is further reflected in her former editorship of the Journal of Planning Education and Research and her current role as Vice President and President-Elect of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP). She has received numerous honors and awards and has been the recipient of important research grants from such organizations as the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

Professor Wu’s publications include seven (co)authored and co-edited books, as well as many articles in top international journals. Her published work has gained an increasing public presence, particularly her recent book The Chinese City (2012). It offers a critical understanding of China’s urbanization, exploring how the complexity of Chinese cities both conforms to and defies conventional urban theories and experience of cities elsewhere around the world. She also serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Urban Affairs, Open Urban Studies Journal, Journal of Urban and Regional Planning (Chinese), and World Regional Studies (Chinese).

Professor Weiping Wu succeeds Professor Lance Freeman, who led the program over the past 6 years. In his time as director, Columbia GSAPP’s Urban Planning program continued to attract an increasing number of international students from all over the world. Building on a strong legacy of commitment to social justice in the built environment, new areas of research and focus for faculty and students expanded to become more global, engage environmental issues, and strong visualization classes were added to the core curriculum. In 2015 Professor Freeman launched an Urban Analytics concentration to wide success. He will remain a professor in the program, continuing to contribute thoughtful and insightful scholarship and mentorship.

Top image: Weiping Wu, image (via sites.tufts.edu)

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