Xiaofan Liang’s research interests are to support social life in cities and participatory/collaborative processes in planning through urban analytics. Her approaches are largely inspired by the field of network science, complex system, and critical & participatory approaches in GIS and planning, and therefore ground my research in the pursuit of authentic human connections and social inclusion in cities.
Her past work studied social infrastructure in cities, such as restaurants, and the social and economic impacts of spatial social networks. Her current work focuses on two themes: “Critical Connectivity,” which examines how urban infrastructure supports or hinders spatial social networks in cities, and “Participatory AI,” which explores how AI (i.e., anything driven by data and technology) can support, transform, or challenge participatory practices in planning.