Dr Yu Chen
School of East Asian Studies
Lecturer in Chinese Studies
Full contact details
School of East Asian Studies
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
- Profile
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Dr Yu Chen joined the School of East Asian Studies in November 2012. She gained her PhD in Urban Studies from the University of Glasgow. Before that, she had obtained BSc from the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, two MSc from a collaborative program between Fudan University and the University of Oslo, Norway.
Her PhD thesis examines labour market experience of migrants in China using both qualitative and quantitative data from fieldwork in Shanghai. She then worked as research fellow in externally-funded research projects on housing market and urban change at the same department (Urban Studies) in Glasgow, before arriving at Sheffield.
- Qualifications
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BSc (SHUFE, Shanghai) MSc (Fudan, Shanghai); MSc (Oslo); PhD (Glasgow)
- Research interests
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Dr Chen’s research interests are in China’s urbanisation and rural-to-urban migration. China is experiencing the largest migration wave in human history, with hundreds of millions of people moving from the countryside to cities to seek better life. She is interested in the social, economic, spatial and environmental consequences of such massive urbanisation.
She is currently involved in two ESRC-funded research projects:- ESRC/CASS Urban Transformations: Urban Development, Migration, Segregation and Inequality (09/2015 -- 08/2018). This project aims to bring together researchers from the University of Glasgow, University of Sheffield and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, to develop new ideas, innovative methods and analysis on the impacts of migration on urban development, the related social-spatial segregation and public policy challenges.
- ESRC/GCRF: Dynamics of Health & Environmental Inequalities in Hebei Province, China (01/2017 – 07/2018). The goal of the project is to work with analysts and government officers in Hebei Province to develop the data infrastructure to examine the social and health impacts of rapid urbanisation and air pollution, in order to improve decision support tools for economic and social policy.
Her previous project, funded by the Universities China Committee in London and Adam Smith Research Foundation, focused on new-generation migrants, their aspirations and socio-economic integration in urban China.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Can the establishment of National Key Ecological Functional Zones improve air quality?: An empirical study from China. PLOS ONE, 16(2), e0246257-e0246257.
- Developing a locally adaptive spatial multilevel logistic model to analyze ecological effects on health using individual census records. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. View this article in WRRO
- Settlement intention of migrants in the Yangtze River Delta, China : the importance of city‐scale contextual effects. Population, Space and Place. View this article in WRRO
- An Investigation of Migrants’ Residential Satisfaction in Beijing. Urban Studies. View this article in WRRO
- The Complex Relationship between Neighbourhood Types and Migrants’ Socio-economic Integration: The Case of Urban China. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment. View this article in WRRO
- Residential environment and subjective well-being in Beijing: A fine-grained spatial scale analysis using a bivariate response binomial multilevel model. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 46(4), 648-667. View this article in WRRO
- Parental migration and young migrants’ wages in urban China: An exploratory analysis. Urban Studies (Sage). View this article in WRRO
- Does satisfactory neighbourhood environment lead to a satisfying life? An investigation of the association between neighbourhood environment and life satisfaction in Beijing. Cities, 74, 229-239. View this article in WRRO
- Flexible Spatial Multilevel Modeling of Neighborhood Satisfaction in Beijing. The Professional Geographer, 70(1), 11-21. View this article in WRRO
- Social integration of new-generation migrants in Shanghai China. Habitat International, 49, 419-425. View this article in WRRO
- Implications of rising flood-risk for employment location: A GMM spatial model with agglomeration and endogenous house price effects. Journal of Property Research, 30(4), 298-323.
- The Impact of Population Ageing on House Prices: A Micro-simulation Approach. SCOTTISH JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, 59(5), 523-542.
- EXPLAINING MIGRANTS' ECONOMIC VULNERABILITY IN URBAN CHINA. Asian Population Studies, 7(2), 123-136.
- The impact of floods on house prices: an imperfect information approach with myopia and amnesia. Housing Studies, 26(2), 259-279.
- Rural migrants in urban China: Characteristics and challenges to public policy. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit, 26(5), 325-336.
- Flood risk and the consequences for housing of a changing climate: an international perspective. Risk Management, 13(4), 228-246.
- Occupational Attainment of Migrants and Local Workers: Findings from a Survey in Shanghai’s Manufacturing Sector. Urban Studies, 48(1), 3-21.
- Migrants in Shanghai’s manufacturing companies: Employment conditions and policy implications. Journal of Asian Public Policy, 2(3), 279-292.
- Rural migrants, urban migrants and local workers in Shanghai: Segmented or competitive labour markets?. Built Environment, 34(4), 499-516.
Chapters
- Migrants’ job search in urban China: Social networks and the open labour market In Wu F, Zhang F & Webster C (Ed.), Rural Migrants in Urban China: Enclaves and Transient Urbanism (pp. 69-83). London: Routledge.
Book reviews
- Review of 'China's Emerging Cities: The Making of New Urbanism'. Planning Theory and Practice, 10(4), 551-551.
Reports
- Scottish Model of Housing Supply and Affordability: Final Report
Dictionary/encyclopaedia entries
- Environmental risks: flooding. In International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home. Oxford: Elsevier.
- Can the establishment of National Key Ecological Functional Zones improve air quality?: An empirical study from China. PLOS ONE, 16(2), e0246257-e0246257.
- Research group
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SEAS Research Cluster
Movement(s), Economy and Development in East Asia
Associated research groups, collaborators and projects
- Migration Research Group - Member of Steering Group
- Sheffield Institute for International Development (SIID) - Network Member
- Regional Studies Association - Member
Research Supervision
Dr Chen welcomes applications from prospective PhD students in the fields of urbanisation, migration, urban development and housing.
- Teaching interests
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Dr Chen believes that teaching should be student-centred. Through various teaching methods, students gain not only knowledge about specific subjects, but transferable skills of critical thinking, logical reasoning and good communication. She is organising the following UG and TPG modules, besides dissertation supervision at all levels.
- Teaching activities
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Dr Chen teaches on the following modules:
- EAS2022 Urbanisation in China
- EAS6204 Chinese Cities in Transition
- EAS6868 East Asian Research Methods