Zhan Guo studies individuals’ travel behavior and explores innovative ways to influence that decision-making process to produce better social outcomes such as reduced congestion and carbon emissions. At the micro level, he focuses how travelers perceive travel alternatives and attributes and what discrepancies exist between perception and reality. The ability to reinforce, change, or even deceive that perception to promote the "right" behavior, and the methods used to do so, also figure largely in his research. At the macro level, he is interested in the effect of regulations, such as parking and street standards, mandatory affordable housing, and speed limit, on accessibility, equity, and safety, with a special focus on the (dis)connection between these regulations, market forces, and consumer preferences.  Zhan has conducted empirical work in Boston, London, Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, etc.  His work has been covered by New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, BBC, Economist, Le Monde, ABC Evening News, XInhua News Agency, People's Daily, the Atlantic Cities, Nudges.org, etc. 

Select Publications

• Li, F & Z Guo. 2022. How Does an Expansion of Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Affect Housing Supply?, Journal of the American Planning Association, 88(1), 83-96 
• Gao, Y, Z Guo, Y Long, Z Cui, X Li. 2022. Passengers' travel behavior before and after the adjustment of regular bus collinear sections: A case study in the incipient phase of metro operation in Xiamen. Travel Behaviour and Society, 26, 221-230 
• Li, F, Z Guo. 2020. Will Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Create Mixed-Income Communities? Evidence from London, UK. Housing Policy Debate, 30(6), 972-993.
• Li, F*, Z Guo. 2018. Do maximum parking standards deter housing development? Journal of Planning Education and Research, 38 (2) 183-197 
• Guo, Z, J Zhao, C Whong*, P Mishra*, L Wyman. 2017. Redesigning subway map to mitigate bottleneck congestion: an experiment in Washington DC using Mechanic Turk. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 106, 158-169 
• Zimmerman R, Q Zhu, F De Leon, Z Guo. 2017. Conceptual Modeling Framework to Integrate Resilient and Interdependent Infrastructure in Extreme Weather. Journal of Infrastructure Systems， 23 (4)

Research Interests

• Travel Behavior and Policy
• Transportation
• Urbanization and Sustainable Development in China
• Urban Planning Practice and Methods
• Planning Communication and Digital Media

Courses