Professor Jiangping ZHOU
周江評
Phone39176168
OfficeRm 837, Knowles Building
Biography

Professor Zhou’s research examines the interrelationships among transport systems, land use, and human mobility, with a focus on improving their integration, performance, equity, and resilience. He draws on primary data (surveys and interviews) as well as large-scale secondary sources—smart-card transactions, mobile-phone records, and other big/open data—to refine and extend the excess-commuting framework, evaluate transit-oriented development (TOD), measure accessibility, and analyse behavioural responses to shocks (e.g., COVID-19, social movements). His work has generated new indicators, visualisation techniques, and evidence-based policy recommendations for sustainable and resilient urban transport.

As of 2025 he has published 59 refereed articles in English (as sole, first-plus-corresponding, or sole corresponding author) and 65 in Chinese, with 36 English and 11 Chinese papers appearing since tenure (2020). He ranks among the top 1 % of researchers worldwide by citations (Clarivate Analytics, 2022 & 2023) and among the top 2 % of scientists by career-year-adjusted citations (Stanford ranking since 2021). In the 2025 Stanford ranking he placed 80th worldwide for the single year (primary field Logistics & Transport; secondary Urban & Rural Planning) and 227th for career-long impact. He is ranked No. 9 in Urban Planning by citations in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). All 13 papers submitted to HKU Mock Research Assessment Exercises (2020, 2023, 2025) received 3* (internationally excellent) or 4* (world-leading) ratings. He is the most prolific author of featured graphics in Environment and Planning A (13 pieces, 2014–2022).

Professor Zhou currently serves as Associate Editor of Transactions in Urban Data, Science and Technology (SAGE) and sits on the editorial boards of several leading journals. He has held Associate Editorships of Travel Behaviour and Society (Elsevier) and Urban Rail Transit (Springer). He leads multiple competitive projects funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (GRF), Innovation and Technology Fund, National Social Science Fund of China, National Key R&D Programmes, and other bodies. These projects investigate physical infrastructure–land-use–behaviour linkages, cross-border mobility, transit resilience, and the use of multi-source data for planning and policy.

Academic Qualifications
BEng

Tianjin University

MEng

Nanjing University

MS

University of Illinois

PhD

University of Southern California 　

Chartered Member

(CMILT)

Graduate Certificates

University of Southern California

Research Interest
  • Transport policy and planning
  • Big-data applications and analytics for transport and urban studies
  • Transit-oriented development, accessibility and excess commuting
  • Comparative urban and regional studies
  • Urban resilience, equity and sustainability
2026–29, PI, “Cross-border Travel and Consumption in Cross-Border Regions: Who Is Left Behind and Why?”, General Research Fund (GRF), University Grants Committee, Hong Kong (HK$1,010,000)
2026–28, PI, “Everyday Cross-Border Life in the Context of Regionalisation: From Flows to Lifestyles in the Hong Kong–Shenzhen City-Region”, HKU Seed Fund for Collaborative Research Fund (HK$600,000)
2025–28, PI, “Cross-Border Travel and Social Wellbeing”, HKU 49th Round URC PDF/RAP Scheme (HK$1.8 million)
2024–26, PI, “Station Pairs, Non-Metro Connections and Life between Stations: How to Theorize, Measure, and Improve Them?”, GRF, UGC, Hong Kong (HK$804,320)
2023–26, PI, “Urban/Transport System Resilience”, HKU 47th Round URC PDF/RAP Scheme (HK$1.8 million)
2021–22, PI, “Discovering Mass Transit’s Capacity and Resilience in Social Movements with an Unprecedented Testbed: A Mixed-methods Study of Hong Kong’s MTR in Anti-Extradition Protests”, GRF, UGC, Hong Kong (HK$582,663)
2020–22, PI (Work Package 1), “Equalization of and Accessibility to Basic Public Services in Developed Regions in China: Theorization and Practices”, Major Research Project, National Social Science Fund of China
2019–22, PI, “Cross-Border Travel Behaviors and Smart Cross-Border Travel Planning Systems”, National Key R&D Program, Ministry of Science and Technology, China (RMB 1.2 million)
2019–21, PI, “Inter-Modal Transport Data-Sharing”, General Support Programme, Innovation and Technology Fund, Hong Kong SAR Government (HK$2.3 million)
Zhou, J. (2026). Big and Open Data for Transit Planning. Routledge.
Lei, S., Zhou, M., Deng, W., Tang, Y. & Zhou, J. (2026). Evaluating age-friendly public transportation: a novel smart-card data approach analysing travel-time differences between older and younger travellers. Transportation Research Part A, 204, 104842.
Zhou, M., Ma, H. & Zhou, J. (2025). Unravelling cross-boundary travel flow and its place-based explanatory factors in the Hong Kong metro system. Urban Studies.
Chan, H.-Y., Ma, H. & Zhou, J. (2024). Resilience of socio-technical transportation systems: a demand-driven community detection in human mobility structures. Transportation Research Part A, 190, 104244. (HKU RAE 4)
Yang, Y., Ma, H. & Zhou, J. (2025). Revisit accessibility via governance of public-private collaboration: a case study in Hong Kong. Transport Policy, 171, 157–170.
Zhou, M. & Zhou, J. (2024). Multiscalar trip resilience and metro station-area characteristics: a case study of Hong Kong amid the pandemic. Journal of Transport Geography, 116, 103851.
Chen, R. & Zhou, J. (2023). Jobs-housing relationships before and amid COVID-19: an excess-commuting approach. Journal of Transport Geography.
Zhou, M. & Zhou, J. (2023). Structural change and spatial pattern of intentional travel groups: a case study of Hong Kong. Applied Geography.
Chen, R. & Zhou, J. (2022). Fare adjustment’s impacts on travel patterns and farebox revenue: an empirical study based on longitudinal smartcard data. Transportation Research Part A, 164, 111–133. (HKU RAE 3)
Zhou, J., Yang, Y. & Webster, C. (2020). Using big and open data to analyze transit-oriented development: new outcomes and improved attributes. Journal of the American Planning Association, 86(3), 364–376. (HKU RAE 4)
Huang, J., Wang, J., Levinson, D., Zhou, J. & Wang, Z. (2018). Tracking job and housing dynamics with smartcard data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(50), 12710–12715.
Zhou, J., Zhang, M. & Zhu, P. (2019). The equity and spatial implications of transit fare. Transportation Research Part A, 121, 309–324. (HKU RAE 4)
Zhou, J. (2012). Sustainable commute in the car-dominant city: factors affecting alternative mode choices among university students. Transportation Research Part A, 46(7), 1013–1029. (360+ citations)