Research Themes

Urban Health and Post-Industrial Transition

Investigating the spatial determinants of health and ageing in deindustrialising cities.

Urban Migration and Citizenship

Examining how rural-urban migrants negotiate belonging and institutional barriers in rapidly urbanising societies.

Campus–City Relations

Exploring how universities reshape urban economies and spatial development.

Zhao, H. (2026). "Still never a local without a local hukou": Hukou Stickiness and Rural–urban Migrants' Lived Experiences of Reform in China's Pearl River Delta. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 1–22.

Wang, H., Chen, X., Liu, Y., Zhao, H. & Nijkamp, P. (2026). Housing Choice Determinants of Rural-Urban Migrants: Modelling Impacts of Gender and Rural Properties in China. Journal of Urban Management.

Zhao, H., Spada, M. & Bortone, I. (2025). Urban Environments' Impacts on Ageing in Post-Industrial Cities: Reviewing the Pathways to Healthy Ageing. Frontiers in Medicine (Special Issue on Urban Ageing).

Zhao, H. & Bao, W. (2024). Aggravated Uncertainties, Researcher Resilience, and Ambiguous Positionality Doing Fieldwork in China Amid COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23.

Zhao, H. (2023). Understanding Shiminhua in Chinese Greater Bay Area: Internalizing Urban Identity and Negotiating Place Attachment. Regional Science Policy & Practice, 15(9), 1956–1978.

Chen, L., Zhao, H., Song, G. & Liu, Y. (2022). Optimization of Cultivated Land Pattern for Achieving Cultivated Land System Security: A Case Study in Heilongjiang Province. Land Use Policy, 108, 105589.

Huang, B., Xiao, T., Grekousis, G., Zhao, H., He, J., Dong, G. & Liu, Y. (2021). Greenness-Air Pollution-Physical Activity-Hypertension Association Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Evidence from Urban and Rural China. Environmental Research, 195, 110836.

Huang, B., Huang, C., Feng, Z., Pearce, J. R., Zhao, H., Pan, Z. & Liu, Y. (2021). Association Between Residential Greenness and General Health Among Older Adults in Rural and Urban Areas in China. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 59, 126907.