Students from the LOUD Win the NYU Shanghai Scholar Travel Fund

Zhou Yichun and Cheng Tong, doctoral students from the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Urban Design and Urban Science (LOUD), have been awarded the 2024-2025 NYU Shanghai Scholar Travel Fund.

The scholarship is open to full-time faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and doctoral students at NYU Shanghai. It aims to support academic travel activities, including conference presentations and scholarly collaboration. The funding covers registration fees and travel-related expenses.

With the support of this scholarship, Zhou Yichun and Cheng Tong participated in the Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) held in Seattle in early November 2024. As one of the most influential academic conferences in the fields of urban planning and related disciplines globally, the ACSP conference gathers leading scholars and researchers from around the world each year to share the latest research findings and discuss cutting-edge trends in the field.

The conference features a variety of formats, including academic presentations, panel discussions, and workshops, covering diverse topics such as environmental planning, urban design, and transportation. It serves as a vital international exchange platform for the planning community and researchers.

The theme of this year's conference was "Advancing Anti-Racism in Planning: Building Just, Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive Cities." Over three days, the event included a range of parallel and keynote forums, offering a rich array of perspectives and content.

Zhou Yichun presented a paper titled "Classifying Urban Parks Based on Visitor Behavior Using Mobile Phone Data" in the parallel session on "Social Equity, Urban-Rural Disparities, and Digital Adaptation" at the conference. Cheng Tong delivered a presentation titled "How Landscape Patterns Shape Surface Runoff Dynamics: A Case Study of Land Use Planning in the Yangtze River Delta" during the parallel session on "Coastal Landscapes and Waterfront Planning." Both engaged in in-depth discussions with session moderators, other presenters, and attending scholars.

Zhou Yichun and Cheng Tong expressed their gratitude for the support provided by the NYU Shanghai Scholar Travel Fund. This funding not only alleviated the financial burden of academic travel but also offered them a valuable opportunity to deeply engage in high-level international academic exchanges.

The conference allowed them to interact extensively with scholars in related research areas, inspiring new ideas and broadening their academic horizons, thereby contributing to the advancement of their research. They plan to continue leveraging this scholarship to attend the 2025 ACSP Annual Conference, to be held in Minneapolis.