Wan-Yu Shih
Department of Urban Planning and Disaster Management, Ming Chun University
Dr. Wan-Yu Shih is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Disaster Management of Ming-Chuan University, and the Director of the Taipei GI Lab. Her research interests lie in the interdisciplinary nature of ecological planning of cities for tackling socio-environmental challenges. Her current research explores inequality in heat adaptation of subtropical dense cities, looking at the complicated interplay between green spaces, ecosystem services, and socio-economic features and its implications for climate justice. Previously, she was a JSPS-UNU postdoctoral researcher in the Sustainable Urban Future programme at United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies in Japan, where she worked to address climate change and biodiversity loss through local land use planning and governance. She has established inter- to trans-disciplinary research activities in cities, such as Taipei, Glasgow (UK), Hanoi (Vietnam), and Durban (South Africa) with funding from prestigious institutions such as JSPS(Japan), MOST/NSTC(Taiwan), ESRC(UK) and Belmont Forum. Dr. Shih is motivated to inform decision makers with interdisciplinary scientific evidence for promoting nature-based solutions for cities. She has sat on government spatial planning committees such as Taipei City and Yi-lan County. She has also formed partnerships with NPOs/NGOs to facilitate green infrastructure mainstreaming in urban development processes. She is a current member of Future Earth Taipei-Urban group and coordinator of Early Career Researchers group, where she lead on establishing an ECR network for promoting Taipei ECR participation in global sustainability research.