Yan Zhang

Yan Zhang is an urban economist at the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank. She holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, where she wrote her dissertation entitled “Wills and Ways: Policy Dynamics of HOPE VI from 1992 to 2002”, explicating the stability and change of public housing reforms in the United States.

Dr. Zhang’s current research and practice at the World Bank are on the subjects of housing and land reforms in transition economies, fiscal decentralization, and the role of the public sector in enhancing competitiveness of cities and regions in Asian and European countries.

As one of the major contributors to the IACP bylaw, Yan has been actively involved in key decisions and various initiatives of IACP. She was also one of the funding members of the ChinaPlanningNetwork (CPN) and co-organized the first two CPN conferences in 2004 and 2005.

Dr. Zhang received her undergraduate education in Tsinghua University and obtained a masters degree while practicing planning at the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design of the Ministry of Construction. She also served as columnist for Urban Planning Overseas and part-time editor of City Planning Review, two journals of the Urban Planning Society of China.

Selected publication:

Zhang Y, Weismann G, 2006, “Public Housing’s Cinderella: Policy Dynamics of HOPE VI in the mid-1990s”, in Where Are Poor People to Live? Transforming Public Housing Communities Eds L Bennett, J Smith, P Wright (M.E. Sharpe Inc.)

Zhang Y, Fang K, 2003, “History repeating itself? from urban renewal in the United States to inner-city redevelopment in China” The Journal of Planning Education and Research, 23 286 - 298  (http://jpe.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/23/3/286)

Zhang Y, Fang K, 2003, “Politics of housing redevelopment in China: the rise and fall of the Ju’er Hutong project in inner-city Beijing” The Journal of Housing and Built Environment, 18 75 - 87 (http://www.kluweronline.com/issn/1566-4910/contents)

Fang K, Zhang Y, 2003 “Plan and Market Mismatch: Urban Redevelopment in Beijing during a Period of Transition” Asia Pacific Viewpoint 44 149  - 162 (http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/1467-8373.00190/abs/)