Dr. Pengyu Zhu is an Associate Professor in the Division of Public Policy at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He is the Co-Director of the Master of Public Policy Program at HKUST. Prior to joining HKUST, Dr. Zhu has been a faculty member in the Department of Community and Regional Planning at Boise State University, USA (2011-2016) and in the Department of Geography at University of Hong Kong (2017-2019). Dr. Zhu received his Ph.D. in Policy, Planning and Development from the Sol Price School of Public Policy at University of Southern California in 2011. He has taught courses on transportation and land use, transportation economics, economics applications to planning and policy, urban economics, urban geography, quantitative research methods, and urban design and site planning studios.
Dr. Zhu’s research focuses on the Transportation--Land Use--Economic Development Policy nexus, including: 1) Travel Behavior (including automobile, transit, non-motorized transportation modes, and telecommuting), Location Choice, and Associated Implications for Economic and Environmental Issues; 2) Links between Transportation Infrastructure, Housing Market, and Economic Development (e.g. residential segregation, mobility, accessibility and labor market success; transportation finance; and the economic impact of transportation infrastructure); 3) Using Spatio-temporal Big Data Analytics to Inform Urban Planning and Policy Decisions.
To date, his work has been published in major academic journals such as Landscape and Urban Planning, Urban Studies, Annals of Regional Sciences, Transportation, Transportation Research Part D, Urban Geography, Cities, Regional Science and Urban Economics, and International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology. Moreover, his instrumental work has been highlighted in an array of major scientific media such as Wall Street Journal, Slate Magazine, CityLab, Per Square Mile, and Reason Foundation. In January and February 2017, Dr. Zhu was ranked the top 5% and 3% of researchers on Academia.edu by 30-day views of his research articles. In the past few years, Dr. Zhu have received over USD $200,000 (equivalent) in research grants. Due to his exceptional work in the field of Regional Science, Dr. Zhu was awarded the 25th Charles M. Tiebout Prize in Regional Science in 2011 and the Regional Science Springer Prize in 2014.
