Wenzheng Li

Wenzheng Li is a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. He earned his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from Cornell in August 2024, following a Master’s in Regional Planning from the same institution and a Bachelor’s in Remote Sensing from China University of Geosciences.

His research centers on regional-scale land use planning, sustainable urban forms, polycentric development, and environmental sustainability, with applications in Germany, China, and Sub-Saharan Africa. He employs GIS, remote sensing, spatial econometrics, and urban data analytics to investigate urban dynamics and planning policy impacts.

His recent publications and conference presentations focus on topics such as the urban heat island effect, polycentric development, and regional equity. These works reveal consistent trends in analyzing spatial configurations for sustainability and equity, particularly through quantitative modeling and cross-national comparisons.

• C.V. Starr Fellowship, the Einaudi Center of Cornell University, 2023

Li teaches courses in GIS, urban data science, and quantitative methods, emphasizing the integration of machine learning and GeoAI with planning theory. His professional experience includes work on equitable transportation solutions in Tompkins County. He has not advised any students yet, and no grant details beyond the fellowship are mentioned.

He is actively involved in research projects on sustainable urban forms in Sub-Saharan Africa, regional governance in China and the U.S., and environmental amenity valuation, reflecting a strong interdisciplinary and global approach to urban and regional planning challenges.