I trained as an urban historian and ethnographer at the University of Sheffield. My research responds to multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals and examines sustainable outcomes of infrastructure transformation in the wider global East and South.

I joined the University of Manchester in 2019 to work with the international research project ‘A Systems Approach to Sustainable Sanitation Challenges in Urbanising China’ (SASSI) as a postdoctoral research associate. My recent study at the MSA explores everyday access to critical infrastructure through the lens of intersectionality.

Research

Book Chapters

Iossifova, D., Zavos, S., Gasparatos, A., Valencio, N., Bhide, A., Baltazar, AP., Sengupta, U., Cheung, E., da Silva Baptista, M., Dong, N., Gamal, Y., Lazo, DL., Long, Y., Ren, Y., 2022. 'Infrastructuring with Care in Cities of the Global South'. In Urban Infrastructuring, pp. 309-319, Springer Nature Singapore.

Ren, Y., Iossifova, D., Gasparatos, A., 2022. 'One Size Does Not Fit All: Sanitation Solutions in Shanghai's Older and Under-Serviced Inner-City Neighbourhoods'. In Urban Infrastructuring, pp. 185-204, Springer Nature Singapore.

Journal Articles

Ren, Y., Woudstra, J., 2022. 'Between Fengshui and Neighbors: Case Studies of Participant-Led House-Making in Rural East China', Architecture and Culture, pp. 1-22.

Yan, Y., Iossifova, D., Ren, Y., 2021. 'More than 'urban character': an introduction to the concept of fengmao and fengmao-led planning and design in China', URBAN DESIGN International, 26 (3), pp. 211-219.

Ren, Y., Woudstra, J., 2021. 'Reviving traditional burial rituals with feng shui: changing landscapes in China', Mortality, 26 (1), pp. 83-99.