Prior to Cambridge, he taught and guest lectured at several places, including Canterbury School of Architecture, Liverpool School of Architecture, Hong Kong Academy of Film, Sheffield School of Architecture, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Beijing Institute of Technology and Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.
Alongside teaching, his recent research-led curatorial and/or artistic practice includes ‘What’s Your Mill Road (University of Cambridge, 2025-2026)’, ‘Location, Imagination and Transformation (Design Trust Hong Kong, 2024-2025)’, ‘Planting and Placemaking (UCA & Metal Culture UK, 2024)’, ‘Traces Under the Surface (Beijing, 2023)’, ‘Entre las Flores (Granada, 2022)’, and ‘Knowledge is Power (Tate Liverpool, 2020)’.
zl367@cam.ac.uk
Ph.D in Architecture and Urban Studies, CAVA Research, UK, 10/2016-06/2021 [thesis]
MA in Urban Design (Distinction), Sheffield School of Architecture (SSoA), UK, 09/2014-01/2016
BEng in Urban Planning (Hons), Northwest University (NWU), China, 09/2009-07/2014
Writings / Talks
‘Co-Curation as Civic Practice in Community Engagement’, (Li, Z., Sunikka-Blank, M., Purohit, R., & Samuel, F.,) in Buildings & Cities [journal article]
From the ‘More Knowledgeable Other’ to Collective Care: Co-curating the Cambridge Room’, ( Li, Z., Sunikka-Blank, M., Purohit, R., & Samuel, F.,) in Radical Care for Resilience in the Built Environment, ATUT Symposium, Finland, 27/10 - 28/10, 2025 [symposium presentation]
‘Beyond the Studio’, Spatial Praxis in Diasporic Worlds Symposium, (Li, Z., Binmohammad, R. S. & Vasilikou, C.,) ASF-UK & The Bartlett School of Architecture, 06/2025 [symposium presentation]
On the cinematic city / lived city / fluid city: (re)mapping contemporary Hong Kong, Martin Centre Seminar, University of Cambridge, 05/2025 [public lecture]
‘Creative Mapping in Community Engagement’, Blueprint Symposium, Northumbria University, 05/2025 [talk]
‘Lo imaginado y lo vivido: un análisis comparativo de La ciudad amurallada de Kowloon en la ciencia ficción ciberpunk y el cine urbano de Hong Kong ( The Imagined and the Lived: A Comparative Study of Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong Urban Cinema and Cyberpunk Science Fictions)’, in Calatrava, J., Garrido, D. and Iturriaga, M. (eds) Comunicar LA Arquitectura, Granada, 2024, 361-370 [book chapter]
‘Generating Social Sustainability through Placemaking: A Study of Everyday Lived Space in Basha Miao Settlement’, (Xiong, Y. and Li, Z.,) in Papadikis, K. et al. (eds) Towards a Carbon Neutral Future, Springer Nature Singapore, 2023, 285–296 [book chapter]
‘Heritage is Creative Generation: An Interview with 12 Hong Kong Based Designers’, Wallpaper* China, 2022 [media writing]
‘Gender/Space: In the room’, Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2022 [public lecture]
‘“Made in Hong Kong”: The (Re)production of Publicness in Cinematic Urban Topography of Contemporary Hong Kong’, in Penz, F. and Schupp, J. (eds) The Everyday in Visual Culture: Slices of Lives, Routledge, 158-171, 2022 [book chapter]
‘“The Way We Dance”: The (Re)production of Rooftop Space in Hong Kong Urban Cinema’, AHRA 2020 Housing and the City, 17th Annual International Conference of the Architectural Humanities Research Association, 19/11 - 21/11, 2020 [conference paper]
‘The Fluid City’, (Re)defining the Intersection: Hong Kong Textuality, Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, 25/01/2019 [conference paper]
‘The Cinematic Urban Representation and Socio-Spatial Production’, Young Scholars Symposium, Xi’an, 29/03/2018 [public lecture]
‘The Production of Image: from Qingming Scrolls to Situationism International’, Media-City Symposium, Guangzhou, 13/12/2017 [public lecture]
‘The Representation of Urban Milieu in Chinese Paintings in the Early 18th Century’, Cross-disciplinary approaches to the study of knowledge-making in the early modern world (1450-1800), London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) PhD Conference, London, 14/10/2017 [conference paper]
‘2047: Fictional Speculations of Civic Space in Consumerism Hong Kong’, MA Thesis, Sheffield, 04/2015-09/2015
‘Designing Urban Heritage Park from a Landscape Urbanism Perspective: The Case of Weiyang Palace in Xi’an’, in Zhu, H. and Quan, D. (eds) The Reinvigoration and Management of Cultural Industry in Urban Heritage Areas, China Science Press, 180-189 [in Chinese] [book chapter]
‘The Commercial Development and Informal Settlements at Urban Heritage Areas’, in Zhu, H. and Quan, D. (eds) Regional Development and Heritage Conservation: The Case of Daming Palace, China Science Press, 144-171 [in Chinese] [book chapter]
Exhibitions / Teaching / Others
Affiliated Lecturer and Design Fellow (MArch studio), Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, 2024-2025
Guest Critic, AA School, Dip 19, 05/2025
‘siteseeing’ film forum, Cambridge Department of Architecture, 10/2024 - present
Guest Critic, University for the Creative Arts, Y2 studio in Architecture & Film, 11/2024
Workshops and seminars, Coop Workshop: The City Represented, Bauhaus (Dessau), 10/2017, 11/2018 & 11/2023
Traces under the Surface, Red River Cultural Art Museum, Beijing, 01/2023 - 04/2023
Entre las Flores, Granada, Spain, 04/2022
Researcher/Artist-in-residence, A Shifting Model of Publicness, Metal UK, Liverpool, 10/2021 - 02/2022
Residency researcher, Knowledge is Power, Tate Liverpool, 01/2020
Group Exhibition, Satellite, LOOK Photo Biennial 2019, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, 15/10 - 25/11, 2019
Group Exhibition, Output Open 2, Output Gallery, Liverpool, 05/2019
Researcher-in-residence, Ed’s Place, PLACED, Liverpool, 08/2018-09/2018
Design Studio Tutor, Urban Planning Department, University of Liverpool, 2018-2020
Graphic Design, Scalarama Film Festival, 06/2017-current
Translator, Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architects of a New City (Chinese Edition)’, Beijing United Publishing co., LTD; 1st edition (December 1, 2017), with Guo Boya, Jiang Shan, Li Leyuan, Shang Yingnan and Tang Keyang
Exhibition Curator, Wandering through Newspaper, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA), 12/2017
Curator Assistant, Tang Keyang Studio, 2014-2016
CLUSTER-SSoA Mapping Workshop, Cairo, 02/2015
Research Assistant, NWU, 03/2013-06/2014
Assistant Designer, Zhongsheng Planning & Design Institute, Xi'an, 02/2016-present
Awards / Fellowships
Public Engagement Starter Fund, University of Cambridge, 2025
Seed Grant, Design Trust Hong Kong, 2024
Fellowship, Royal Geographical Society, since 2023
Fellowship, Advanced HE, since 2023
Research Grants, UCARO, 2023-2024
Honorary Research Fellow, CAVA, University of Liverpool, 2022
Research Support Funds, School of the Arts, UoL, 2018-2020
LAHP Student Bursary, London Arts and Humanities Partnership, 2018
50th Anniversary Alumni Prize, SSoA, 2016
Outstanding Graduate Award, NWU, 2014
First-class Scholarship, NWU, 2013
The NWU Journalist Award, NWU, 2010
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