Dr Kristen Zhao is an urban design researcher whose work integrates street design, urban experimentation, and spatial analytics. Her teaching is rooted in design studio culture, where she leads and develops research-informed studio briefs that emphasise conceptual clarity, spatial resolution, and critical engagement with urban conditions. Her pedagogy supports students in translating rigorous research - through precedent analysis, literature synthesis, and urban investigation - into coherent design propositions across architecture and urban design programmes.
Dr Zhao employs mixed-method approaches to examine urban mobility transitions and design-led experimentation in cities. She has published widely in leading journals, including Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, Journal of Urban Design, Journal of Urban Mobility, Environment and Planning B, and Landscape and Urban Planning. Her research on global street experimentation and tactical urbanism during the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to international scholarship on adaptive, low-cost, and temporary urban interventions. She is currently working on evaluating the safety implications of pandemic-era street interventions and active and public transport transitions in London and Manchester.
Academic background:
- PhD in Urban Planning and Design, The University of Hong Kong
- Master in Urban Spatial Analytics, University of Pennsylvania
- Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Teaching
- MArch 1 Architect in Studio
- MArch Architect as Researcher
- MArch Dissertation
- MA in Architecture and Urbanism
- BA(Hons) in Architecture Year 1