Chin-Wei Chen

Chin-Wei is a Fulbright Scholar from Taiwan (2020) and is now pursuing his Ph.D. in Urban Design and Planning at the College of Built Environments. He serves as a committee member for the Campus Sustainability Fund, and the Urban Infrastructure Lab. Prior to UW, Chin-Wei was a research assistant at National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) in Taiwan, where he focused on national spatial planning to better prepare for potential climate change impacts. He also worked as a project manager at SGS, the world’s leading inspection and certification company, managing its environmental business branch.

Chin-Wei’s research interest lies in the relationship between urban planning, disaster management, and climate change adaptation. He believes that without long-term climate policies and cross-professional agreement to tackle climate change, environmental damage can only worsen. Only through the integration of social science and natural science can it be possible to develop feasible solutions to climate change. He is interested in a broad range of topics related to climate policy, including the urban heat island effect in highly developed areas, local governance transitions toward a net-zero carbon world, infrastructural upgrades, and promoting social justice and resilience through community-based participation and action. Chin-Wei holds a Master’s degree in Urban Design and Planning from the University of Manchester, UK, and a Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate and Built Environment from National Taipei University, Taiwan.