Biography
Supervisors: Michael Keith and Anna Lora-Wainwright
College affiliation: Keble College
Kevin is a DPhil candidate in Migration Studies (Anthropology) based at COMPAS. He holds an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from the University of Oxford (Distinction), for which he was awarded the Ko Prize for the highest dissertation mark of the year. He also holds a BA Hons in Geography from King’s College London (First Class). He has previously studied/worked at multiple institutions in China, including Fudan University (Shanghai), Beijing Forestry University, Tsinghua University, and Beijing Normal University.
His research interests are wide-ranging and include urban anthropology, new urban narratives, interpretations through infrastructure, economic transformations and urban/rural development.
Currently, Kevin’s research focuses specifically on urbanisation in Asia and how its narratives of urban life continuously transform our understandings of cities and society at the global level. Specifically, Kevin looks at China’s urban transformation and how it has, so far, been dominated by rural-to-urban migration, and more recently by a process of centralisation and urban agglomeration – creating an increasingly divided society in terms of urban living. Under the title of “Urban Futures – toward a new model of urbanisation and urban living in China?”, his research looks at the new plans for the high-profile new district of Xiong’an, which proposes new modes of development, urbanisation and societal life under President Xi’s supposedly new urbanisation strategy for the future – namely ‘Chinese style new urbanism’. Situated just south of Beijing, Xiong’an has been designated as the third national-level development zone (after Shenzhen and Shanghai/Pudong). The theoretical conception and imagination of this place are ever evolving, and, for better or for worse, conceptualised ideas from Xiong’an could potentially reorientate Chinese urban futures onto a new trajectory. In this sense, his personal aim is to understand new Chinese cities from a new perspective that moves beyond mainstream/common planning and urban narratives. In addition to the supervision of Prof. Michael Keith, Kevin is also supervised by Prof. Anna Lora-Wainwright (School of Geography and the Environment/Oxford School of Global and Area Studies).
Publications
The Chinese City: A Messy Reality
Blog | 24/11/2021
Deng, Y., Qi, W., Fu, B. & Wang, K. (2019) “Geographical transformations of urban sprawl: Exploring the spatial heterogeneity across cities in China 1992–2015”, Cities; DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102415