Profile

Jie Guo is an Associate Professor at the School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of human geography, critical urban studies, digital platform studies. Her recent work examines how artificial intelligence and digital technologies reshape urban governance, socio-technical transitionsand spatial restructuring, with particular attention to questions of socio-spatial equity and justice.

Research Interests: Critical urban studies; urban and regional planning; artificial intelligence and digital platform governance; socio-technical transitions.

Prospective Master’s and PhD students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, are welcome to get in touch. Applicants with backgrounds in human geography, urban planning, public administration, sociology, GIS, and related fields are especially encouraged to apply.

Email: guoj275@mail.sysu.edu.cn

Education

2012–2016

PhD in Human Geography, Heidelberg University, Germany

2009–2012

MSc in Urban and Regional Planning, Lanzhou University, China

2005–2009

BSc in Resources, Environment and Urban-Rural Planning, Hunan University of Science and Technology, China

Research Experience

2025–present

Associate Professor, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University

2019–2025

Assistant Research Fellow and Associate Research Fellow, Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangdong Academy of Sciences

2023

Visiting Scholar, Center for Chinese Studies, University of Würzburg

2017–2018

Visiting Scholar, University of California, Los Angeles

2016–2019

Research Assistant, Department of Geography, Heidelberg University

Selected Publications

  • Guo, J. (2026). Living with invisible power in Guangzhou. Nature Cities. doi.org/10.1038/s44284-026-00429-9 
  • Du, T., Chen, H., & Guo, J.* (2026). Linkages between changes in communal space and evolving social capital: The mediating role of neighboring interaction frequency. Cities. 174 (2026), 106951
  • Yan, Y., Dong, C.*, MacDonald, G., Guo, J., et al. (2026). Divergent urban vegetation inequality in Northern and Sunbelt United States cities under climate extreme events. npj Environmental Social Sciences. doi.org/10.1038/s44432-025-0000101 
  • Guo, J., & Zhang, H. (2025). Decoding policy mobility through a rhizomatic lens: Spatiotemporal folding and power topology in translocal governance. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12, 1246. 
  • Guo, J., Zhang, H.*, & Yang, Y. (2024). Local state leadership: State leading groups in governing urban China. Urban Studies, 62(2), 255–272. 
  • Dong, C., Yan, Y., Guo, J.*, Lin, K., MacDonald, G., et al. (2023). More vulnerable vegetation of disadvantaged groups increases their exposure to heatwave under global warming: A case study of Metropolitan Los Angeles. Sustainable Cities and Society, 93, 104488. 
  • Guo, J., & Liu, M.* (2022). Experimental state rescaling, goal-oriented governance and urban transformation in China. Geoforum, 137, 72–82. 
  • Guo, J. (2022). Localized bargaining: The political economy of China’s high-speed railway program. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 66(1), 140–142. 
  • Guo, J., Jin, L., & Yang, Y.* (2022). China’s urban transformation in the shadow of regulatory centralism: The revitalization of old industrial cities as a case. Land, 11(11), 1945. 
  • Guo, J. (2020). Promotion-driven local states and governing cities in action: Re-reading China’s urban entrepreneurialism from a local perspective. Urban Geography, 41(2), 225–246 (https://www.urbangeographyjournal.org/journal/early-career-researcher-prize/2020-prize-winners).
  • Guo, J., Lin, S., & Huang, G. (2026). Smart city research in the Global South: Theoretical innovation and Chinese practices. Scientia Geographica Sinica, 45(2), 263–274. [In Chinese] 
  • Guo, J., Wang, K., Xu, J., & Zhang, H. (2024). Smart city transformation from the perspective of socio-technical synergy and its implications for China. Geographical Research, 43(10), 2511–2527. [In Chinese] 
  • Guo, J., Du, Z., Zhang, H., & Wang, K. (2024). Research progress and prospects of policy mobility from a geographical perspective. Human Geography, 39(1), 1–7. [In Chinese] 
  • Wang, K., Tong, X., Guo, J.*, & Zhang, H. (2023). Research progress in e-waste geography and its implications for China. Progress in Geography, 42(7), 1420–1430. [In Chinese] 
  • Guo, J., Wang, J., Jiang, L., Zhang, H., et al. (2022). From technocentrism to humanism: Progress and prospects of smart city research. Progress in Geography, 41(3), 488–498. [In Chinese] 
  • Huang, P., Guo, J.*, & Zhou, Q. (2021). Housing forms and residents’ political orientations in urban renewal in South Korea: A case study of Gangnam District. World Regional Studies, 31(6), 1251–1260. [In Chinese] 
  • Lin, G., Ye, C., Huang, G., Guo, J., et al. (2026). Artificial intelligence and the future of geography. Tropical Geography, 46(1), 1–16. [In Chinese] 
  • Zhao, Y., Xi, G., Guo, J., et al. (2026). Urban spatial capital restructuring and planning responses in the context of digital transformation. Urban Planning International. [In Chinese] 
  • Xu, J., Ye, Y., Guo, J., et al. (2024). Research progress and prospects of digital infrastructure from a geographical perspective. Scientia Geographica Sinica, 44(4), 586–597. [In Chinese] 
  • Jin, L., Xiao, Z., Guo, J., et al. (2023). Coordination mechanisms for village-level industrial park redevelopment from a stakeholder perspective: A case study of Heshan, Guangdong. Tropical Geography, 43(2), 213–225. [In Chinese] 
  • Du, T., Guo, J., & Chen, H. (2023). Beyond physical planning: Exploring the social impacts of urban renewal and renewal strategies. Urban Development Studies, 30(10), 112–120. [In Chinese] 
  • Jiang, L., Huang, G., Guo, J., et al. (2021). Research progress and prospects of household energy consumption from a spatial-scale perspective. Progress in Geography, 40(10), 1788–1798. [In Chinese] 

Books and Book Chapters

  • Guo, J. (2020). Reshaping Chinese Cities: Neoliberal Transition, Contestations and Urban Renewal of Lanzhou. Berlin: LIT Verlag. ISBN: 978-3-643-90949-7. Winner of the Kurt-Hiehle Foundation Publication Award. 
  • Guo, J. (2019). Industrial restructuring and urban space transformation in Lanzhou city, with a focus on the transition periods. In H. Gebhardt (Ed.), Urban Governance, Spatial Planning and Economic Development in 21st-Century China. Berlin: LIT Verlag. ISBN: 978-3-643-90418-8. 
  • Guo, J. (2024). Chapter 2, “International and domestic advanced experiences in the coordinated development of urban agglomerations.” In Y. Ye, C. Wang, et al., Theory and Mechanisms of Coordinated Development of Large Urban Agglomerations. Beijing: Science Press, pp. 48–88. [In Chinese] 
  • Guo, J. (2021). Chapter 1, “Challenges and opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.” In Institute for Strategic Studies of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Development Report of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area: Adjustments and Opportunities in Bay Area Development. Beijing: Science Press, pp. 20–32. [In Chinese] 

Research Projects sand Grants

  • Research Start-up Fund for Introduced Talents, Sun Yat-sen University, AI-Driven Urban Governance and Spatial Restructuring, 2025–2028, PI. 
  • General Program, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Cross-Boundary Governance and Spatial Effects of Data Mobility, 2025–2028, PI. 
  • Young Scientists Fund, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Contingency, Experimentation, and Local Embeddedness in Smart City Transformation, 2022–2024, PI. 
  • General Program, Guangdong Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Fund, Transformation Mechanisms and Optimization Pathways of Smart City Development in Guangzhou: A Socio-Technical Systems Perspective, 2025–2026, PI. 
  • Research Start-up Fund for Introduced Talents, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Paths, Models, and Mechanisms of Coordinated Smart City-Region Development in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, 2020–2022, PI.
  • Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany, “Worldmaking from a Global Perspective: A Dialogue with China,” 2021–2025, Participant. 
  • Major Program, National Social Science Fund of China, “Research on New Infrastructure and the Integrated Economic Development and Institutional Mechanisms of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area,” 2022–2026, Participant. 
  • General Program, National Natural Science Foundation of China, “Diversity and Mechanisms of Population Shrinkage in Small and Medium-sized Towns from the Perspective of Comparative Urbanism,” 2024–2027, Participant. 
  • General Program, National Natural Science Foundation of China, “Livelihood Resilience of Rural Tourism Residents in Response to Major Public Health Crises,” 2022–2025, Participant. 
  • CPAL Collaborative Project, City University of Hong Kong, “The International Political Economy of Digital Platforms,” 2021–2022, Participant. 
  • Sub-project of the National Key R&D Program of China, “Theory and Coordinating Mechanisms of Urban Agglomeration Development,” 2020–2024, Participant. 

Awards and Honors

  • Short-term Research Visit Scholarship, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany, 2022. 
  • Urban Geography Early Career Researcher Prize, 2021. 
  • EPA Economic Geography Summer School Scholarship, 2020. 
  • Kurt-Hiehle Foundation Publication Award, 2017. 
  • Urban Studies Summer School Scholarship, 2016.

Academic Service

  • Member, Young Planners Committee, Urban Planning Society of China, 2024– 
  • Member, Committee on Resource Revitalization and Urban Renewal, China Society of Natural Resources, 2024– 
  • Member, Committee on Population and Resources, China Society of Natural Resources, 2025– 
  • Member, Committee on Human Resources, China Society of Natural Resources, 2025– 
  • Editorial Board Member, Urban Geography, 2026– 
  • Editorial Board Member, Areal Research and Development, 2025– 
  • Editorial Board Member, Tropical Geography, 2022–