Dr Ying-Chun Hou

(she/her)

Research

With an interdisciplinary background in Human Geography, Spatial Planning, and Political Science, my research bridges geography and planning studies with political theory, feminist thought, and critical theories to engage with key debates in urban studies. My research interests primarily focus on Urban and Environmental Governance, Planning Theories, Gender and Politics, and Everyday Urbanism. 

Teaching

For the 2025/2026 academic year, I will be responsible for teaching the following modules: 

Autum

Planning for City Futures 

Making Knowledge: Evidence and Practice

Developing Research Methods

Spring

Geography of Race and Power 

Cities 

Biography

After completing my PhD in 2024 from the Bartlett School of planning at UCL, I joined a British Academy-funded research team at Northumbria University (Newcastle), where we explored various models of greenspace governance in Newcastle, London and BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole) within the context of urban austerity. After a short stay in Newcastle, I moved to Cardiff to commnce my one-year ESRC funded postdoctoral fellowship at the School of Geography and Planning. 

The postdoctoral project on post-growth planning and urban futures was designed to reflect on the politics of financialised neoliberal urban practices and to explore more inclusive approaches to planning delivery and knowledge production. Taking a comparative perspective, it interrogates debates shaped by developmental-state legacies in East Asia.