Xuanyi Nie joined the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in 2023 as an assistant professor. His research revolves around the interplay and struggles between institutional and social actors in urban governance. A core facet of his scholarly pursuit explores creative and destructive interventions of the healthcare industry as a planning instrument. His work on “medical cities" adopts an interdisciplinary perspective to entail the roles of public and private institutions, particularly universities and hospitals, in growth-driven spatial production and city-branding processes. Building on his postdoctoral research at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health which critically examines global innovative eldercare models, he also seeks to understand the roles of the state, business, and society in providing institutional, community, and home-based elderly care, and to conceptualize “meaningful aging” in addition to “healthy aging.” This further extends into his exploration of planning interventions that cultivate social relations, shape civic behaviors, develop place attachments, and foster well-being which all culminate in inclusive and healthy communities. China has been a crucial site for his scholarly work.

Before joining the University at Buffalo Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Xuanyi taught at the National University of Singapore, Roger Williams University, and Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Prior to his doctoral study, Xuanyi was trained as an architect with KPF, Kengo Kuma, and nbbj where he practiced multi-scalar architecture and urban design projects. In addition, he also worked at UN-Habitat on planning consultancy in developing countries. With his interdisciplinary background, Xuanyi strives to integrate and unify planning and design methods in his research and teaching.

• DDes, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
  
• MArch, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
• BAS, Wellington School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington

• Cultural Geography Specialty Group Grant, The American Association of Geographers
• Best Paper Award Runner-Up in Geography & Entrepreneurship, The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
• Economic Approach in Urban Sustainability Studies Award, The International Association for China Planning
• International Real Estate Award, The FIABCI Scholarship Foundation 
• Yilong Futuristic City International Urban Design Competition, 3rd Prize (Team Work)