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, 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
Li, Z. (2026). ‘Ways of Knowing: In the City and Cinema’, in Film-Architecture Forum, AA School of Architecture, 26 July [symposium presentation]
Huang, K., Jin, J., Li, Z., & Gao, G. (2026). ‘Exploring gendered space in Frances Ha: a cinematic analysis of feminist urbanism in New York City’. Gender, Place & Culture, 1–21. [journal article]
Li, Z. (2026). ‘Beyond Socially Engaged Art: Art-Based Engagement as Relational Spatial Practice in City-Making’, in Samuel, F. & Purohit, R. (eds) Participatory Planning in the UK: Research Through Practice, Routledge [book chapter, accepted]
Li, Z. (2026). ‘From the ‘More Knowledgeable Other’ to Collective Care: Co-curation, Critical Pedagogy, and the Cambridge Room’, in Pelsmakers, S. & Castaño-Rosa, R. (eds) Radical Care in Architecture, Routledge [book chapter, upcoming]
Li, Z., Sunikka-Blank, M., Purohit, R., & Samuel, F. (2025). ‘Co-Curation as Civic Practice in Community Engagement’, Buildings and Cities, 6(1), pp. 899–916. [journal article]
Li, Z., Binmohammad, R. S. & Vasilikou, C. (2025). ‘Beyond the Studio’, Spatial Praxis in Diasporic Worlds Symposium, ASF-UK & The Bartlett School of Architecture, 20 June [symposium presentation]
Li, Z. ‘On the cinematic city / lived city / fluid city: (re)mapping contemporary Hong Kong’, Martin Centre Seminar, University of Cambridge, 05/2025 [public lecture]
Li, Z. (2025). ‘Creative Mapping in Community Engagement’, Blueprint Symposium, Northumbria University, 09 May [conference presentation]
Li, Z. (2024). ‘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]
Xiong, Y. and Li, Z. (2023). ‘Generating Social Sustainability through Placemaking: A Study of Everyday Lived Space in Basha Miao Settlement’, in Papadikis, K. et al. (eds) Towards a Carbon Neutral Future, Springer Nature Singapore, 285–296 [chapter]
Li, Z. (2022). ‘“Diamond Hill”: A Cinematic Urban Study on the Historical Transformation of Squatter Areas in Hong Kong’, The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Annual International Conference 2022, Newcastle University, 30 August - 2 September [conference paper]
Li, Z. (2022). ‘Heritage is Creative Generation: An Interview with 12 Hong Kong Based Designers’, Wallpaper* China [media writing]
Li, Z. ‘Gender/Space: In the room’, Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2022 [public lecture]
Li, Z. (2022) ‘“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 [book chapter]
Li, Z. (2020). ‘The Way We Dance: The Production of Rooftop Space in Hong Kong Urban Cinema’, 17th Annual International Conference of the Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA): AHRA 2020 Housing and the City. University of Nottingham, 19-21 November [conference paper]
Li, Z. (2019). ‘The Fluid City’, (Re)defining the Intersection: Hong Kong Textuality. Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, 25 January [conference paper]
Li, Z. ‘The Cinematic Urban Representation and Socio-Spatial Production’, Young Scholars Symposium, Xi’an, 29/03/2018 [public lecture]
Li, Z. (2017). ‘The Production of Image: from Qingming Scrolls to Situationism International’, Media-City Symposium, Guangzhou, 14 December [conference paper]
Li, Z. (2017). ‘The Representation of Urban Milieu in Chinese Paintings in the Early 18th Century’, LAHP Conference: Cross-disciplinary approaches to the study of knowledge-making in the early modern world (1450-1800). London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) & the Dr Williams Library, London, 14 October [conference paper]
‘2047: Fictional Speculations of Civic Space in Consumerism Hong Kong’, MA Thesis, Sheffield, 04/2015-09/2015
Li, Z. (2017). ‘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 (大遗址文化产业集群优化与管理机制), China Science Press, 180-189 [in Chinese] [book chapter]
Li, Z. (2015). ‘The Commercial Development and Informal Settlements in Urban Heritage Areas’, in Zhu, H. and Quan, D. (eds) Regional Development and Heritage Conservation: The Case of Daming Palace (大遗址保护与区域经济发展：以大明宫为例), China Science Press, 144-171 [in Chinese] [book chapter]
Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architects of a New City (Chinese Edition: 直到我们建起了耶路撒冷)’, Beijing United Publishing co., LTD; 1st edition (December 1, 2017), with Guo Boya, Jiang Shan, Li Leyuan, Shang Yingnan and Tang Keyang [in Chinese] [book translation]
Curating / Making
Water, Land & The City: Towards a Sponge Cambridge, The Cambridge Room, 05/2026-07/2026 [exhibition]
The Living Atlas of Community Activism, The Cambridge Room, 03/2025-present [exhibition]
‘siteseeing’ film forum, Cambridge Department of Architecture, 10/2024-present [forum]
Traces under the Surface, Red River Cultural Art Museum, Beijing, 01/2023-04/2023 [exhibition]
Entre las Flores, Granada, Spain, 04/2022 [exhibition]
A Shifting Model of Publicness, Metal UK, Liverpool, 10/2021-02/2022 [residency]
Knowledge is Power, Tate Liverpool, 01/2020 [residency & installation]
Satellite, LOOK Photo Biennial 2019, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, 15/10-25/11, 2019 [group exhibition]
Output Open 2, Output Gallery, Liverpool, 05/2019 [group exhibition]
Ed’s Place, PLACED, Liverpool, 08/2018-09/2018 [residency]
Wandering through Newspaper, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA), 12/2017 [exhibition]
Teaching / Others
Course Co-convenor (Y2 & Y3 Housing and Community), Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, 2025-2026
Guest Critic, AA School, Inter 7, 11/2025
Design Fellow (MArch studio), Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, 2024-2025
Guest Critic, AA School, Dip 19, 05/2025
Guest Critic, University for the Creative Arts, Y2 studio in Architecture & Film, 11/2024
Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow, Canterbury School of Architecture and Design, University for the Creative Arts (UCA), 2022-2023
Workshops and seminars, Coop Workshop: The City Represented, Bauhaus (Dessau), 10/2017, 11/2018 & 11/2023
Design Studio Tutor, Urban Planning Department, University of Liverpool, 2018-2020
Graphic Design, Scalarama Film Festival, 2017-2019
Research Assistant, NWU, 03/2013-06/2014
Urban 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
© 2022, All rights reserved..