Carolyn Cartier

Carolyn Cartier is a Professor of Human Geography and China Studies at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), School of International Studies. She teaches courses such as 'Contemporary China' and 'Planetary Decarbonization' and convened the Asia Pacific Research Group. Her trans-Pacific career includes tenured positions at the University of Southern California and affiliations with the Australian National University’s Centre for China in the World.

• Education: AB, MA, and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley; Mandarin studies at National Taiwan University.

Research Interests focus on territorial urbanization in China, analyzing how administrative divisions reshape cities and state power. She explores the political economy of rank in China’s administrative hierarchy, the role of cultural infrastructure in socialist urbanism, and grid governance as a spatialized administrative strategy. Her work also examines Hong Kong’s soft power and the interplay between state capitalism and transnational capital.

Scientific Awards include the Association of American Geographer’s China Geography Specialty Group Outstanding Service Award (2022) and the Best Reviewer Award (2022). She is a Fulbright Scholar.

Teaching & Supervision includes mentoring doctoral students on topics like Pearl River Delta territoriality and British concession public spaces. She emphasizes research design grounded in local fieldwork and theoretical rigor.