Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Netherlands
fellow
Mingshu Wang
2023-2024
Home institution
University of Glasgow
Country of origin (home institution)
United Kingdom
Discipline(s)
Geography
Urban and architectural studies
Theme(s)
Cities & States
Inequalities, inclusion & Social Innovation
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
Mingshu is a NIAS-Lorentz Theme Group Fellow (The Spatial Segregation of Neighborhood Organizations and Entrepreneurs: Connecting Urban Inequality to the Built Environment) during 2023-2024.
Dr. Mingshu Wang is a Reader in Geospatial Data Science with a background that includes a BSc from Nanjing University (China) and an MSc and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia (USA). He is also a Visiting Scholar at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Prior to his current position, he served as a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor with Tenure) in Geospatial Data Science at the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK (2021-2024). He was also a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Geodata Science at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Netherlands (2018-2021).
His research focuses on advancing GIScience and big data analytics methods, including GeoAI, explainable artificial intelligence, and econometrics, to better understand urban systems. Dr. Wang approaches his work from a people-centric perspective through two main research areas. At the macro level, he examines the connection between urban spatial structures (such as urban polycentricity) and the economic, social, and environmental performance of city-regions. At the micro level, he studies how the built environment influences collective human behaviors like mobility and organizational vitality.
Dr. Wang has authored over 60 peer-reviewed articles in prestigious journals covering GIScience, Urban Studies/Planning, and related disciplines. Six of his papers have been recognized as Web of Science ESI Highly Cited Papers, placing them in the top 1% of all publications. He has been listed by Elsevier and Stanford University as one of the World’s Top 2% most-cited scientists since 2022.
Research Project
The Spatial Segregation of Neighborhood Organizations and Entrepreneurs: Connecting Urban Inequality to the Built Environment
Local organizations and entrepreneurs play a crucial role in urban neighborhoods, connecting and empowering residents by providing resources and access to various aspects of urban life. Integrating the built environment into our understanding of organizations/entrepreneurs in the geo-social landscape is an underexplored area, despite its potential to directly influence social connectivity.
Through an integrated interdisciplinary approach, the NIAS-Lorenz theme group aims to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between the built environment, social processes, and neighborhood organizations/entrepreneurs. Amsterdam provides the ideal setting for this research, considering its demographic context and data availability.
As a member of the group, Mingshu Wang aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the built environment’s features and establish quantitative connections between these characteristics and various aspects of organizational vitality and social networks. He will utilize diverse geospatial data at various scales, combined with spatial models and explainable machine learning techniques.
Research Interests:
Built environment and social connectivity; urban geospatial analysis; neighborhood organizations; machine learning in urban studies; advancing GIScience; big data analytics methods; GeoAI; explainable artificial intelligence; econometrics
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