XIN Shengxi

2020-2024  PhD in Planning Studies, University College London

2018-2019  MPhil in Planning, Growth and Regeneration, University of Cambridge

2014-2018  University of Liverpool – BA in Urban Planning and Design, University of Liverpool

2026-present  Associate Professor, School of Social Development, East China Normal University

2024-2026     Post-doctoral Research Fellow and Tutor, College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP), Tongji University

2024-2026     Senior Planning Consultant and Research Fellow, Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning & Design Institute (TJUPDI)

I am an Associate Professor at East China Normal University, a Distinguished Research Fellow and Senior Planning Consultant at Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning & Design Institute, and an Honorary Research Fellow at UCL. As a Chartered Town Planner (MRTPI) and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), I bring together academic research and professional planning practice to examine rural transformation, integrated territorial development, and state–society relations in China and the wider Global South, with particular focus on urban–rural integration and the development of left-behind regions.

I serve on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Rural Studies and am the lead author of Advancing Rural Development in China (Routledge, 2026). My research was recognised with the 2026 RTPI Tony Crook Award for Early Career Research.

Academic Membership and Service

2025.02 - present | Contributor | Rural Planning Thematic Group, AESOP

2024.11 - present | Committee Member | Young Planners Committee, China Association of City Planners (CACP)

2024.07 - present | Fellow | Royal Geographic Society (RGS-IBG)

2024.06 - present | Fellow | Royal Society of Art (RSA)

2022.12 - present | International Liaison | Committee of Rural Planning and Construction, UPSC

2026.09 - present | Editorial Board Member | Journal of Rural Studies

2026.05- present | Book Prize Reviewer | ECR First Book Prize, Oxford University Press

Reviewer | J. Rural Stud., Habitat Int., Antipode, Polit. Geogr., Land Use Policy., World Dev.,Geoforum, J. Urban Aff., Sustain. Dev., HSSC, China Quarterly. etc.

1. Left-behind Places, Urban-Rural De-marginalisation, and Integrated Territorial Development

2. Rural-Urban Linkages and Transformation

3. Social Transformation and Governance in an AI Era

4. International Development Studies and Planning

Selected Research Grants

Principal Investigator | Metropolitan Countryside in an AI Society | Shanghai Magnolia Fellowship | 2026-2029

Co-Investigator | Research on Effective Pathways for Advancing Comprehensive Rural Revitalization in Shanghai | Shanghai Municipal Government Major Policy Advisory Research Project |  2025

Principal Investigator | Towards Urban-Rural Integration: Study on the Implementation Mechanisms of Rural Revitalization in Megacity Shanghai | Shanghai Pujiang Fellowship | 2024-2026

Principal Investigator | Rural Revitalization in Megacities: Concepts and Planning Strategies | Shanghai Postdoctoral Excellence Fellowship | 2024-2026

Principal Investigator | Identification and Simulation Techniques for Rural Landscape Character Through MLLM and VR | Shanghai Yangpu Postdoctoral Innovative Practice Base Research Project | 2024-2025

Principal Investigator | Implementation Mechanisms of Rural Revitalization in Megacity Shanghai | TJUPDI Research Grant | 2024-2026

Participant | Evolution and Underlying Mechanisms of Metropolitan Spatial Structure: A Dual Perspective on Functional Connectivity and Industrial Linkages | NSFC (General Program) | 2027–2030

Participant | Evolution and Underlying Mechanisms of Metropolitan Spatial Structure: A Dual Perspective on Functional Connectivity and Industrial Linkages | TJUPDI Research Grant | 2025-2026

Participant | Study on the Evolution of Chinese Urban Planning Theory and Practice | Tongji University | 2024-2026

Monograph and book chapters:

Xin, S., Gallent, N. & Zhang, L. (2026) Advancing Rural Development in China: Between State Power and Community Action. London: Routledge.

Verdini, G. & Xin, S. (2024) Culture-led Rural Revitalisation in Chinese Intermediary Cities. Challenges and Opportunities under the Pandemic. In Pernice, R. & Chen, B. (eds.) Australian and Chinese Perspectives on Urban Regeneration and Rural Revitalisation. London: Routledge, 160-179.

Zhong, S. & Xin, S. (2020) Urban-rural Relations in The Context of New Urbanization. In Tang, B. & Cheung, P. (eds.) Suzhou in Transition. London: Routledge, 138-165.

Zhang, L., Xin, S. & Li, W. (Forthcoming) Rural Planning in a Socialist State: China. In Scott, M., Gallent, N. & Gkartzios, M. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning. London: Routledge.

     Selected peer-reviewed journal papers:

Xin, S. & Deng, H.* (Accepted)State Territorialization Without Urbanization: Governing Rural China Under 'Rural Revitalization, Geographical Journal. (JCR Q1)

Zhang, S., Xin, S.*, Qian, J. (2026) Beyond Tourism in Rural Areas: Towards a Geographical Re-conceptualisation of Rural Tourism as Socio-spatial Mediation. Geography Compass, 20(10), e70100.(JCR Q1)

Deng, H. & Xin, S.* (2026) From growth machine to integration machine: A historical-institutional perspective of Chinese statecraft under rural revitalization. Geoforum, 178, 104891.(JCR Q1)

Wu, M., & Xin, S.* (2026). Mutual reinforcement of economic and social exchanges between new farmers and rural communities in China: Implications for alternative agriculture development. Journal of Rural Studies, 124, 104176.(JCR Q1)

Wei, R., Wu, D., Mulati, W., Hou, Q., & Xin, S.* (2026). Smart Urban Agriculture in Transition: A Systematic Review of ICT Integration, Applications, and Challenges. Agriculture, 16(15), 1668. (JCR Q1)

Xin, S.* (2026)State-driven Social Innovation: Can Neo-exogenous Development Address Rural Marginalization? A Tale of Two Villages in China, Journal of Rural Studies, 121, 103922.  (JCR Q1)

Xin, S. & Deng, H.* (2025). Beyond entrepreneurism: China’s emerging party-statecraft of Rural Revitalization, Habitat International, 156, 103277. (JCR Q1)

Xin, S. & Qian, H.* (2025) From Urban Planning to Territorial Spatial Planning: The Evolution of China’s Planning System and the Persistent Barriers to Urban–Rural Integration, Land, 14(8), 1520. (JCR Q2)

Xin, S.* & Gallent, N. (2024) Conceptualising ‘neo-exogenous development’: The active party-state and activated communities in Chinese rural governance and development, Journal of Rural Studies, 109, 103306.(JCR Q1)

Verdini, G. & Xin, S.* (2024) Heritage-led regeneration in Chinese intermediary cities. Understanding incremental changes under a ‘business-as-usual’ urban governance regime, Town Planning Review,95(3), 307-331.(JCR Q2)

Conference presentations and proceedings:

Xin, S. (2025) Beyond Growth: Neo-exogenous Development and the Party-statecraft of Rural Revitalization in China, Royal Geographic Society (RGS-IBG) Annual International Conference, 26-29 August, 2025, Birmingham, UK. [Session Co-convener of Creative Rurality in the Global South: New Perspectives on Governance and Development]

Xin, S. (2025) Neo-Exogenous Development: China’s Integrated Territorial Development Approach against Rural Marginalization, Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Annual Conference, 7-11 July, 2025, Istanbul, Turkey.

Xin, S. (2025) Conceptualizing China’s Rural Revitalization: Neo-exogenous Development and State Entrepreneurism, International Conference on China Urban Development, 7-8 July, 2025, London, UK.

Xin, S. (2024) What is China’s Rural Revitalisation?, RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, 27-30 August, 2024, London, UK.

Xin, S. (2024) Conceptualising the Transitioning Chinese Rural Governance Model under Rural Revitalisation, Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, 16-20 April, 2024, Hawaii, US.

Xin, S. (2023) Chinese rural development in transition: neo-exogenous development and its practical dynamics, UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference, 4-6 September 2023, Glasgow, UK.

Zhong, S. & Xin, S. (2018) Rural regeneration: Changing urban-rural relations in China’s Lower Yangtze Delta Region, Regional Studies Association Annual Conference, 3-6 June 2018, Lugano, Switzerland.

Policy papers:

Zhang, S., Xin, S. & Pan, X. et al. (2025) Research on Effective Pathways for Advancing Comprehensive Rural Revitalization in Shanghai. Shanghai: Development Research Centre of Shanghai Municipal Government. (In Chinese)

Zhang, S., Pan, X. & Xin, S. et al. (2024) Shanghai’s Approach to Building a Warm and Livable City. Shanghai: Shanghai Municipal Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science & Tongji University. (In Chinese)

Xu, Y., Xin, S. & Zhang, Q. et al. (2022) From Farm to City: The Review of Urban Agriculture Development in Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP). Suzhou, Jiangsu: SIP Economic Development Committee. (In Chinese)

Beijing Municipal Committee of CPPCC (2022) Summarizing and Promoting Beijing's International Experience in Cultural Heritage Conservation during the 50^th Anniversary of the WHC. Beijing: CPPCC. (Listed as a high-priority proposal by Beijing Municipal Government) [lead author]

Verdini, G., Xin, S. & Paola, A. (2021) Creative Neijiang: Connecting Culture and Innovation. Neijiang, Sichuan: UNESCO & Neijiang Municipal Government.

  Tony Crook Award for Early Career Research | Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) | 2026

Second Prize | Shanghai Outstanding Territorial Spatial Planning Achievements | Shanghai Urban Planning Association | 2025

The First Prize | The Policy Proposal Campaign for the 14^th Five-year Plan of Suzhou Municipality | Suzhou Development and Reform Commission | 2020

The First Prize & The Best Research Award | National University Rural Planning Competition | Urban Planning Society China (UPSC) & Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development | 2018