Dr. Yi-Ling Chen

Academic Areas of Expertise:

Comparative Housing Policies; Urban Planning and Policies; East Asia and the Netherlands; Taiwan Studies; Urban Movements; Women in the cities; Social Housing

 

Curriculum Vitae and Publications

 

Biography:

Yi-Ling Chen is a Professor in the School of Politics, Public Affairs, and International Studies and Geography at the University of Wyoming, USA. Prior to joining the University of Wyoming, she taught for eight years at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan. She has been actively involved in Taiwan’s housing movement since the Snail Without Shell movement of 1989. Her research focuses on neoliberalism, urban social movements, gender, housing, and urban development in Taiwan, with her publications examining housing and urban transformation primarily from political-economic and feminist perspectives.

 

Her research draws on theories of neoliberal urbanism, financialization, and policy mobility to compare housing systems and urban development in East Asia, the United States, and Europe. Taiwan has remained a central focus of her scholarship, through which she examines how global political-economic processes take shape within specific local institutional, social, and historical contexts. In doing so, her work connects Taiwan’s housing experience with broader theoretical debates in geography, urban studies, and housing research.

 

Chen has collaborated extensively with researchers around the world who study housing and East Asian cities. Her research has also involved extensive fieldwork with low-income residents and housing organizations in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vancouver, and Amsterdam. The struggles of low-income residents continually motivate her research and writing, encouraging her to expose shortcomings in existing housing policies while advocating for stronger welfare systems and broader social safety nets. Comparative fieldwork across these diverse contexts has also deepened her understanding of the common global political-economic forces underlying what may initially appear to be distinct local housing problems.

 

At the University of Wyoming, one of Chen’s greatest sources of accomplishment has been teaching and mentoring students. She has been particularly gratified to see students develop cross-cultural communication skills, strengthen their abilities in policy analysis and critical thinking, and successfully pursue careers in international affairs, public policy, and urban planning. She has served as thesis advisor for ten master’s students and five undergraduate students. Two of her graduate advisees were recognized as the outstanding SPPAIS graduate students of their respective years. Their research topics have been diverse, including Asia, immigration, international development assistance, environmental planning in developing countries, gentrification, and social housing. Her former students have gone on to professional careers and doctoral programs. These accomplishments have given her a strong sense of pride as a teacher and mentor.

 

In 2019, Chen edited Neoliberal Urbanism, Contested Cities, and Housing in Asia, published by Palgrave Macmillan as part of The Contemporary City series. Her more recent research examines housing policy, policy mobility and diffusion, financialization, and comparative housing development in East Asia, the United States, and the Netherlands.

 

Chen was the Taiwan Chair at Ghent University in Belgium in 2020. She has also held visiting academic appointments at the University of British Columbia, the University of Amsterdam, the National University of Singapore, Hong Kong Baptist University, the Seoul Institute, Seoul National University, Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and the University of Tübingen in Germany. These international appointments have contributed to the comparative and transnational orientation of her research.

 

She received her Ph.D. in Urban Planning from Rutgers University and her M.S. in Building and Planning and B.S. in Civil Engineering from National Taiwan University.

 

Courses Taught:

• Sustainable Planning and Urban Policies
• Economic Geography
• Geography and Development
• Global Cities
• Gender, Place, and Space
• Economic Development and Society in Asia
• China and Globalization
• Introduction to Asian Studies
• Study Abroad in Taiwan: Democratization and Development in Taiwan
• Capstone

 

Current Research Projects:

1. “Islands of Housing Speculation” — a book project examining the political economy and historical development of housing in Taiwan, with particular attention to housing speculation, financialization, state policy, and housing movements.
2. Comparative Housing Policies in Taiwan and South Korea — a project examining the similarities and differences between the two countries’ housing systems, housing policies, social housing development, and political-economic transformations.
3. Comparative Housing Research on Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore — research comparing Taiwan’s housing system with those of Hong Kong and Singapore, particularly in relation to state intervention, land policy, homeownership, housing affordability, and social housing.
4. Housing Crises and Social Reproduction in East Asia — a collaborative research project involving scholars from Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. The project examines how neoliberal transformations in housing and labor markets have reshaped the life course of younger generations, including their ability to leave the parental home, form households, marry, have children, and secure stable housing. These changes are particularly significant because Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan now face some of the world’s lowest fertility rates. The project explores the connections among housing crises, demographic change, generational inequality, and the broader crisis of social reproduction in East Asia.
5. Public Scholarship on Housing — Chinese-language articles written for a general audience to increase public awareness of housing problems and to connect academic housing research with contemporary policy debates and social movements.

 

Fun Facts:

I love all kinds of music and dancing. When I travel, I especially enjoy visiting traditional markets, trying local food, particularly Taiwanese food and tea—and taking long walks through different parts of a city. I also have a strong sense of hospitality and especially enjoy welcoming people who visit Taiwan. I often open my home in Taiwan to students and encourage them to explore the country, experience local life, and learn more about Taiwanese culture. Welcome to Taiwan.