Le-Yin Zhang

Le-Yin Zhang obtained her first degree (BSc in Geography) from Beijing Normal University in 1983. Funded by a Sino-British Friendship Scholarship, she undertook her doctoral studies at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU), University College London (UCL), and received her PhD (in Planning Studies) in 1991. She is specialised in economic development and management of cities and has over 20 years professional experiences in teaching, research and consultancy in a number of countries (e.g. UK, China, Germany, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda, Ethiopia). She is a senior lecturer (from 2008) and director of MSc Urban Economic Development (from 1998) at the DPU.
Her main research interests are three-fold: 1) the roles of state and market in urban economic development; 2) linkages between climate change and sustainable economic development in developing countries (esp. cities); 3) factors and forces that drive low-carbon transitions and the green economy. She has published numerous articles in leading academic journals such as: The China Quarterly, World Development, Urban Studies, Regional Studies, Climate Policy, and Technology Analysis & Strategic Management. Her first single-authored book, entitled ‘Managing the City Economy: Challenges and Strategies in Developing Countries’, was published by Routledge in 2015. She has co-edited the UN-Habitat (2016) handbook “Finance for City Leaders”.
Le-Yin has a significant amount of consultancy experience. Her clients have included (but not limited to): the World Bank, the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Changes (UNFCCC) secretariat, the UNDP, UN-Habitat, the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and China International Centre of Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE).
She is a co-leader of Habitat III Policy Unit 7 (Urban Economic Development Strategies).