Prof. Yi Samuel Chen

Samuel Chen’s research and teaching deal with urban and planning history. It starts from early Western Asia which gave rise to the earliest and most prominent, enduring, and influential urban civilisations in history. Earlier, he researched on the origins and evolution of ancient Western Asian traditions concerning the rise, collapse, and restoration of early urban civilisations and the constructions of time and history and their social and cultural functions in urban societies from different parts of the ancient world. His recent research, which also covers regions and periods beyond ancient Western Asia, devotes more attention to spatial aspects of urban development. In particular, he focuses on planning as a decision-making and governance system and process in the social production and construction of space, for its comparative value and its relevance to the contemporary world.  He aspires to contribute to our understanding of urban resilience and sustainability, pivotal for the UNSDGs, from the perspectives of the longue durée and medium- and short-term planning and development. In teaching, he covers urban and planning history broadly, with a selection of urbanisms, including ancient Western Asia, imperial China, ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, early modern Europe, the industrialised and capitalist West, and contemporary megacities and megaregions.

Samuel received his BA in Philosophy and Religion (Hillsdale College, Michigan) and his AM (Harvard) and DPhil (Oxford) in Near Eastern/Western Asian Languages and Civilisations. Prior to joining the University of Hong Kong, he researched and taught at different branches of the University of Oxford, including the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, Worcester College, and Wolfson College.

At HKU, Samuel serves as the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Flourishing Cities: Past, Present, and Future (FC-PPF) Project and the Co-Founder and Co-Lead of the Christianity in China Research Lab (CiCRL). He is also a Research Fellow at the Urban Systems Institute.

He is a Research Affiliate of the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography (UK Research and Innovation funded PEAK-Urban Programme) and the Oxford Network for the Future of Cities at the University of Oxford. He is also an Affiliate of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners. He has served as a consultant in urban and rural heritage conservation and sustainable (urban) development for research institutions, business and industry organisations, and local governments in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and the UK.

For his research profile, please visit his departmental webpage.