Biography
Kang Cao is a Professor in the Department of Landscape Planning and Design, School of Art, Design and Media, East China University of Science and Technology. To date, he has published over 80 papers in domestic and international journals, authored 3 monographs, translated 4 books, and compiled 2 textbooks. He has led 3 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 2 projects by the Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Fund, 2 projects by the Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Program, and 1 provincial-level teaching reform research project. He has ranked first in winning 3 provincial/ministerial-level scientific research achievement awards, 2 outstanding teaching paper awards, and 2 provincial first-class courses. He was selected into the first batch of Zhejiang Province Zhi Jiang Young Social Science Scholars and the third level of Zhejiang Province 151 Talent Project. He serves as an Editorial Board Member for Planning Theory (SSCI Q1 journal) and Planning Theory & Practice (SSCI Q2 journal), and as a peer reviewer for multiple SCI, SSCI, and CSSCI journals. He is a Committee Member and Deputy Secretary-General of the Urban Planning History and Theory Branch, Urban Planning Society of China. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and several other overseas universities.
Research Areas
Planning theory; Global urban planning history; Planning knowledge mobility
Academic Appointments
Editorial Board Member, Planning Theory (SSCI JCR Q1) (2010–present)
Editorial Board Member, Planning Theory & Practice (SSCI JCR Q2) (2023–present)
Committee Member and Deputy Secretary-General, Urban Planning History and Theory Branch, Urban Planning Society of China (2020–present)
Youth Committee Member, Foreign Urban Planning Branch, Urban Planning Society of China (2020–2025)
Council Member (11th, 12th, and 13th Sessions) and Deputy Director of the Human Geography Branch, Zhejiang Provincial Geographical Society (2010–2026)
Committee Member, Talent and Youth Working Committee, Zhejiang Provincial Society of Territorial Spatial Planning (2024–2026)
Principal Navigator Research Projects
NSFC General Program: Knowledge Mobility of Chinese Overseas Planning Projects: History, Mechanism, and Effects
NSFC General Program: Research on the Mechanism of Transnational Dissemination of Planning Ideas and Experience (completed)
NSFC Young Scientists Fund: Research on the Disciplinary Nature of Urban and Rural Planning History: Developmental Mechanism and Research Framework
Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Fund for Young Scholars: Historiography of Urban Planning History under New History and New Cultural History
Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Program: Historiography of Urban Planning History and Research Framework
Australia-China Council Grant: Strategically Navigating towards Sustainable Urban Planning in China
Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education Research Project: Research on Collaborative Mechanisms of European Strategic Spatial Planning
Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Program: Developmental Framework and Evolutionary Mechanism of Contemporary Planning Theory
Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Fund for Young Scholars: Research on Western Urban Planning Practice since the 1980s
Monographs, Translations, and Textbooks
Cao, K. The String of Theory: A Ramble through Modern Western Urban Planning Theory. Nanjing: Southeast University Press, 2025.
Wu, D., Song, J., Zhu, H., Qiao, J., Cao, K., Li, L. Regional Analysis and Planning Tutorial (3rd ed.) (National Planning Textbook for Undergraduate Education under the 12th Five-Year Plan). Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 2025.
Li, Z., Xu, J., Cao, K., trans. City, Region, Planet: Critical Urban Theory. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2019.
Hua, C., Cao, K. Introduction to Urban Spatial Development (13th Five-Year Plan Textbook for Civil Engineering and Related Disciplines, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development). Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press, 2017.
Cao, K., Liu, Z., Sun, F., Pan, J., trans. International Readings of Planning Theory Traditions. Nanjing: Southeast University Press, 2017.
Cao, K., Zhang, Y., Zhu, J., Chen, Y., trans. Future Cities. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press, 2016.
Cao, K. A Brief History of Modern Western Urban Planning. Nanjing: Southeast University Press, 2010.
Cao, K. An Outline of Planning History (14th Five-Year Plan Textbook for Civil Engineering and Related Disciplines, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development). Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press. (Contract signed)
Selected Journal Articles
Ng, M. K., Cao, K., Liu, W., Zhang, B., Chen, M., Lin, X., ... Li, Z. (2026). Latest reforms of territorial spatial planning in China: Edited by Mee Kam Ng and Kang Cao. Planning Theory & Practice, 1–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2026.2686050
Qi, W., Zhu, Y., & Cao, K. (2025). The evolution of TOD communities from the perspective of urban knowledge transfer: From Singapore to China. Journal of Human Settlements in West China, 37(3), 133–138. https://doi.org/10.13791/j.cnki.hsfwest.20240326002
Cao, K., Yang, R., & Li, S. (2025). From everyday life space design to master planning: International case studies on women-friendly urban planning. Urban Planning International, 40(2), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.19830/j.upi.2024.691
Wu, B., Qi, W., Gao, X., & Cao, K. (2025). How do national innovation factors affect the planning knowledge flow? IEEE Access, 13, 47776–47793. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3549497
Zhai, K., & Cao, K. (2025). Determinants of Chinese students' increasing pursuit of UK's taught master degree under the third wave of international education mobility. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 45(1), 113–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2022.2081129
Cao, K., Zheng, W., & Wang, J. (2024). A pioneering exploration of the theory of periodic market location: A review of C. K. Yang's market town theory. Journal of Urban and Regional Planning, 16(2), 1–18.
Cao, K., & Lin, H. (2024). Ancient capital planning in East Asia under the influence of Chinese civilization: A case study of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. City Planning Review, 48(5), 110–124. https://doi.org/10.11819/cpr20231624a
Cao, K., & Xie, W. (2024). A study on the history of Chinese overseas urban and rural planning since the 1990s from the perspective of planning knowledge mobility. Urban Development Studies, 31(4), 27–36. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1006-3862.2024.04.004
Cao, K., Gao, X., & Zheng, W. (2024). Towards a better psychological satisfaction: Developing a mixed multi-criteria evaluation system to urban Not in my back yard facilities siting. BMC Psychology, 12, Article 206. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01710-z
Chen, H., Zhang, Y., & Cao, K. (2024). Housing debt and depressive symptoms: Evidence from the China family panel studies. BMC Psychology, 12, Article 186. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01667-z
Cao, K., Yang, R., Zhu, P., et al. (2024). Understanding the sustainable mechanisms of poverty alleviation resettlement in China's developed regions under the background of land relocation: Drivers, paths and outcomes. Land, 13, Article 380. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13030380
Cao, K., Xie, W., Zhu, J., et al. (2023). Commercial culture as a key impetus in shaping and transforming urban structure: Case study of Hangzhou, China. Sustainability, 15, Article 10620. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310620
Hillier, J., & Cao, K. (2023). Towards a new old theory for planning in China: The potential of Huang-Lao thought. Planning Theory, 22, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/14730952231163246
Cao, K., & Lin, X. (2023). Ancient capital planning in Southeast Asia under cross-regional civilization interaction. Journal of Urban and Regional Planning, 15(1), 208–227.
Cao, K., Li, Q., & Zhang, Y. (2023). Planning knowledge dissemination: Progress, types, and foci. City Planning Review, 47(2), 10–19.
Cao, K., & Li, Y. (2022). The Laws of the Indies and the planning of viceroyalty capitals in the Americas during the Spanish colonial period. Urban and Regional Planning, 13(2), 46–69.
Cao, K., Lin, H., Wang, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2021). Future communities: Localized innovation in urban housing policy through multiple pathways. Modern Urban Research, (10), 9–14.
Cao, K., Zhu, J., & Zheng, L. (2021). The collaborative planning turn in China: Exploring three decades of diffusion, interpretation and reception in Chinese planning. Cities, 117, Article 103210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2021.103210
Yuan, Y., Chen, Y. J., & Cao, K. (2021). The third sector in collaborative planning: Case study of Tongdejie community in Guangzhou, China. Habitat International, 109, Article 102327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2021.102327
Cao, K., & Zhang, Y. (2020). Spatial strategic planning and China's planning institution: Institutional change and critical junctures. Urban Planning International, 35(4), 44–49. https://doi.org/10.19830/j.upi.2020.199
Cao, K., & Zhang, T. (2019). Planning theory and the development of Chinese planning theory since 1978. City Planning Review, 43(11), 61–80.
Visiting Scholar
July 2026, King's College London, UK
July 2025, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Turkey
July 2024, École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-La Villette, France
October 2018, University of Manchester, UK
August 2018, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
November 2017, Tamkang University, Taiwan, China
October 2015–November 2016, University of Pennsylvania, USA
May 2014, Technical University of Dortmund, Germany
August 2012, RMIT University, Australia
