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Yi Samuel CHEN

Associate Professor of Practice (Urban Heritage and Sustainability)

Additional Role

My research deals with urbanisms and their history. It starts from early West Asia which gave rise to the earliest and most prominent, enduring, and influential urban civilisations in history. Earlier, I researched on the origins and evolution of ancient West Asian traditions concerning the rise, collapse, and restoration of early urban civilisations and the constructions of time and history and their social and cultural functions in urban societies from different parts of the ancient world. My recent research, which also covers regions and periods beyond ancient West Asia, devotes more attention to spatial aspects of urban development. In particular, I focus on planning as a decision-making and governance system and process in the social production and construction of space, for its comparative value and its relevance to the contemporary world. I aspire to contribute to our understanding of urban resilience and sustainability, pivotal for the UNSDGs, from the perspectives of the longue durée and medium- and short-term planning and development. In teaching, I cover urban and planning history broadly, with a selection of urbanisms, including ancient and historical West Asia/Middle East, imperial China, ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, early modern Europe, the industrialised and capitalist West, and contemporary megacities and megaregions.


I received my BA in Philosophy and Religion from Hillsdale College, Michigan, USA and my Master of Arts from Harvard University and my Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford in West Asian Languages and Civilisations. Prior to joining the University of Hong Kong, I researched and taught at different branches of the University of Oxford, including the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, Worcester College, and Wolfson College.


Apart from my academic career, I have served as a consultant in urban and rural heritage conservation and sustainable (urban) development for research universities, business and industry organisations, and government institutions in Hong Kong SAR, Mainland China, and the United Kingdom.


Research Overview


My involvement in multidisciplinary modern urban studies projects at the University of Oxford and Peking University during 2016 and 2021 has led to an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to historical urbanism. I seek to investigate pertinent data from a variety of sources (e.g., archaeological, survey, philological, visual) and apply relevant methodologies, theories, and insights from diverse fields for the study of historical urban establishments, to test our previous understanding of urban evolution and unravel different aspects of historical urban development and their interlocking systems and complex whole.


Whilst interested in the cultural, (geo-)political, socio-economic, technological, and spatial factors, processes, and dynamics involved in the emergence, growth, decline, transformation, and sustainability of historical urban establishments in general, I am drawn to planning theory, practice, studies, history, and historiography. I am particularly interested in planning history and historiography in West Asia and China, whose planning practice and representations have the longest attested history with empirical evidence from archaeological and textual remains and thus present invaluable sources for our critical assessment of and grounded imageries for sustainability and adaptation. For my main historical research project, I currently focus on urban and regional planning and development in the Neo-Assyrian state in the first millennium BC, arguably the most ambitious city-building and city-empowered empire of its time.


Focusing on early West Asian urban civilisations which started with the rise of urban settlements and clusters in Southern and Northern Iraq since the fifth millennium BC, I also engage with scholars working on paralleled urban developments in other cultures for comparative studies. This covers the broader region that links West Asia/Middle East, Northeast Africa, and Southern Europe, around the Mediterranean World (e.g., Egypt, the Levant, Anatolia, Greece, and Rome). The comparative scope is also extended to urban developments in other regions, such as South Asia (e.g., India) and East Asia (e.g., China). A combination of synchronic, diachronic, and comparative studies will help examine similar and distinct features of historical cities, explore diverse forms of urbanism with different historical trajectories, and assess the resilience and fragility of various urban establishments.

Room 9.08, 9/F, Faculty of Arts, Run Run Shaw Tower, the Centennial Campus
The University of Hong Kong

EDUCATION

BA, Hillsdale College
AM/MA, Harvard University
DPhil/PhD, University of Oxford

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Planning Studies and History
Urban Studies and History
Urban Heritage and Historical Urban Landscapes
Urban and Rural Sustainability

Books

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The Primeval Flood Catastrophe: Origins and Early Development in Mesopotamian Traditions

Oxford University Press

2012

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The Routledge Handbook of Urban Evolution in Ancient Western Asia and North Africa: The Lives of Cities

Routledge

2027

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Historical Consciousness and the Use of the Past in the Ancient World

Equinox Publishing

2019

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BOOK AWARDS
COURSES TAUGHT

Courses Designed and/or Taught

  • 2024 (Faculty of Arts, HKU): “Urban Heritage and Sustainability in line with the UNESCO Framework” (Cultural Heritage Masters Programme)
  • 2023–2024 (HKU Institute for China Business Summer School): “Urban Evolution and Human Flourishing” (“Evolution of Modern Society” Module)
  • 2023– (Common Core, HKU): CCGL9070 Global Issues: “The Birth of the City and the Shaping of Societies”
  • 2023 (Department of History, HKU): “Between the Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia: The Rise of the First Civilisations”
  • 2022 (Common Core, HKU): CCHU9065 Arts and Humanities: “A Life Worth Living”
  • 2019 (Sichuan University, China): Doctoral Research Seminar (Visiting Professor)
  • 2013 (University of Oxford): “Global History / History of Civilisation” (Summer Course, Examination Schools)
  • 2013–2017 (Wolfson College, University of Oxford): Historical and Historiographical Research Tutorials
  • 2011 (Balliol College, University of Oxford): Mesopotamian (Sumerian and Babylonian) and Biblical Literature Undergraduate Tutorial
  • 2010 (Oriental Studies Faculty, University of Oxford): MPhil Sumerian Literature Reading Class
  • 2005–2012 (Worcester College & Wolfson College, University of Oxford): Classical Hebrew and Literature Tutorials

Research & Development Project-based Courses (Founder & Director)

Oxford Network for the Future of Cities (2016–2021)

  • 2021: “Global Challenges for the Future of Humanity” & “Cultural Leadership: Tradition & Innovation”
  • 2019: “Global Leadership for the Future of Cities: Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and Drones” (Christ Church College & Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford)
  • 2018: “Global Leadership for the Future of Cities: Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ)” (Christ Church College & Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford)
  • 2017: “Future of Cities: Cultural Leadership” (Christ Church College, University of Oxford)
  • 2016: “Future of Cities: Best Sustainable Practice” (Christ Church College, University of Oxford)
FELLOWSHIPS & GRANTS
  • 2026 PI of the Teaching Development Grant in support of a pedagogical innovation project “Students as Researchers vis Authentic Assessment and AI-Enhanced Knowledge Creation Databases” in collaboration with Dr Jack Tsao (Senior Lecturer & Deputy Director, Common Core Office), Professor Zhichun Lukas Liu (Assistant Professor, Academic Unit of Mathematics, Science, and Technology, Faculty of Education), and Dr Michelle Reyes Raquel (Senior Lecturer, Centre for Applied English Studies; Project Leader, Communication-Intensive Courses Initiative), HKU (294,576 HKD)
  • 2023 Co-recipient (with Ji Li) of the Louis Cha Fund for Chinese Studies (for running the ‘Cities in Crisis’ International Symposium in September 2024), School of Modern Languages and Cultures, HKU (120,000 HKD)
  • 2022 Recipient of a Common Core Teaching Development Grant, HKU (78,729 HKD)
  • 2017–2022 Co-recipient of a major research grant from the Global Challenge Research Fund, UK Research and Innovation for running the University of Oxford-led research & development programme PEAK-Urban related to sustainable urban development in the UK, China, India, South Africa and Columbia (8,000,000 GBP)
  • 2017–2018 Co-recipient of a grant from the Open Fund provided by Tsinghua University's Institute for China Sustainable Urbanisation for running the University of Oxford-led international research and consultancy project on comparative urban and regional development in China and UK (Initiator and Project Manager) (300,000 RMB)
  • 2012 & 2016 Recipient of a research grant from the Lorne Thyssen Fund, Ancient World Research Cluster, Wolfson College
  • 2014 Recipient of grants from the following sources for running the research project on 'Historical Consciousness and the Use of the Past in the Ancient World': the Faculty of Classics; the Craven Fund; The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities; the John Fell Fund; the Jowet Copyright Trust; the Lancelyn Green Fund, Merton College; the Lorne Thyssen Research Fund Scholarship for Ancient World Topics, Wolfson College, the Corpus Christi College Centre for the Study of Greek and Roman Antiquity, University Oxford; the Maison Française d'Oxford & the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS); the Hellenic Society; and the Classical Association (Principal Investigator)
  • 2014 Recipient of the runner-up award for the best first published article after the PhD dissertation, for the International Association for Assyriology's 2014 competition
  • 2005–2009 Recipient of a Langham Research Scholarship, UK
  • 2004 & 2010 Recipient of a research scholarship from the Pusey and Ellerton Fund, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies), University of Oxford
  • 2004–2007 Recipient of a Harvey Fellowship Grant, Mustard Seed Foundation
EXTERNAL AFFILIATIONS
  • Co-Founder and Co-Director, Flourishing Cities: Past, Present, and Future Project
  • Senior Resident Tutor, College Two, Jockey Club Students Village IV
  • Research Fellow, Urban Systems Institute, The University of Hong Kong
  • Research Affiliate, Oxford Network for the Future of Cities, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, The University of Oxford
  • Affiliate Member, The Hong Kong Institute of Planners
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Premodern Studies

Monographs & Edited Volumes

  • Chen, Y.S. 2012. The Primeval Flood Catastrophe: Origins and Early Development in Mesopotamian Traditions. Oxford Oriental Monographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Paperback Edition 2019).
  • Thompson, Shane (North Carolina Wesleyan University), Yi Samuel Chen, and Laura Battini (CNRS-Paris Sciences et Lettres University), eds. 2027 (under contract). The Routledge Handbook of Urban Evolution in Ancient Western Asia and North Africa: The Lives of Cities. Routledge.
  • Baines, John (Oxford), Henriette van der Blom (Birmingham), Yi Samuel Chen, and Tim Rood (Oxford), eds. 2019. Historical Consciousness and the Use of the Past in the Ancient World. Sheffield: Equinox.

Journal Articles, Book Chapters & Reviews

  • Chen, Yi Samuel. 2027 (under contract). “Planning in the Neo-Assyrian State: A Philological and Historiographical Approach.” In The Lives of Cities: A Handbook of Urban Evolution in Ancient Western Asia and North Africa, ed. Shane Thompson, Yi Samuel Chen, and Laura Battini. Routledge.
  • Chen, Yi Samuel. 2026. “Societal Conditions and Conditioning Associated with State Building Projects in Ancient Mesopotamia.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 69: 284–372. DOI:10.1163/15685209-12341673.
  • Chen, Yi Samuel, and Shane Thompson. 2025. “Mobility and Sedentism in the Patriarchal Narratives.” Biblica 106 (3): 321–343. DOI: 10.2143/BIB.106.3.3295076.
  • Chen, Yi Samuel. 2024. “Planning Historiography in the Neo-Assyrian Empire: A Preliminary Study.” In Ian Morley and Hendrik Tieben, eds., International Planning History Society Proceedings, 20th IPHS Conference, “The (High Density) Metropolis and Region in Planning History,” Hong Kong, 2–5 July 2024. TU Delft Open.
  • Chen, Yi Samuel. 2023. “Neo-Assyrian Urban and Regional Development and Governance on the Frontiers of the Empire.” Orientalia 92: 71–129.
  • Chen, Yi Samuel. 2013. “Major Literary Traditions Involved in the Making of Mesopotamian Flood Traditions.” In Opening Heaven’s Floodgates: The Genesis Flood Narrative, Its Contexts, and Reception, ed. Jason M. Silverman, 159–208. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias.
  • Chen, Yi Samuel. 2012. “The Flood Motif as a Stylistic and Temporal Device in Sumerian Literary Traditions.” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 12: 158–89. (The article won the runner-up award for the International Association for Assyriology’s 2014 publication competition).
  • Chen, Yi Samuel. In preparation (invited review). Review of World Cities in History: Urban Networks from Ancient Mesopotamia to the Dutch Empire, by Joshua K. Jeon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025). Journal of Urban Affairs.
  • Chen, Yi Samuel. 2025. Review of First Cities: Planning Lessons for the 21st Century, by Saitta Dean (Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 2020). Urban History. DOI:10.1017/S0963926826100777.

Modern Studies

Edited Special Issues

  • Chen, Yi Samuel, Ji Li (The University of Hong Kong), and Christian Hess (Sophia University, Japan), eds. In preparation. “Cities in Crisis: Perspectives and Discourses.” Special Issue, Journal of Urban History.
  • Chen, Yi Samuel, and Orlando Woods (Singapore Management University), eds. Under review. “Cities in Crisis: Between Continuity and Change.” Special Issue, City.
  • Note: The above special issues are based on a selection of papers (on historical and contemporary urban issues from historical perspectives) presented at the “Cities in Crisis: Planning and Design, Governance, and Daily Operations” International Symposium held at the Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong organised by Yi Samuel Chen and Ji Li on 14 September 2024.

Journal Articles, Policy Reports & Reviews

  • Kung, Alison Ching Yan (The University of Hong Kong), Yi Samuel Chen, Zishun Zhuo (The University of Hong Kong), and Haotian Man (The University of Hong Kong). 2026. “Urban Resilience and Cultural Conservation in Hong Kong: Integrating Heritage into Urban Planning as a Means to Enhance Resilience and Sustainability.” Planning and Development: Journal of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners.
  • Note: The article(s) listed immediately above are revised research papers generated for CCGL9070 “The Making of Cities and Societies” designed and taught by Yi Samuel Chen at the University of Hong Kong during the 2024–2026 academic year.
  • Connolly, Creighton (The University of Hong Kong), Meher Bhagia (The University of Hong Kong), Shizheng Liang (The University of Hong Kong), and Yi Samuel Chen. Under review. “Smart, Green and Resilient? Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis at the Nexus of Continuity and Change.” In “Cities in Crisis: Between Continuity and Change,” ed., Yi Samuel Chen and Orlando Woods. Special Issue, City.
  • Deng, Handuo (NYU, Shanghai & UCL), Hu Qi (NYU, Shanghai & UIBE, Beijing), Chenghe Guan (NYU, Shanghai), Yi Samuel Chen, and Monica Menendez (NYU, Abu Dhabi). 2024. “Building a Government-owned Open Data Platform for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles.” Cities 149: 1–16.
  • Liu Huazhen (NYU, Shanghai & UNC, Chapel Hill), Miao Yang (NYU, Shanghai & Tongji), Chenghe Guan (NYU, Shanghai), Yi Samuel Chen, Michael Keith (Oxford), and Monica Menendez. 2023. “Urban Infrastructure Design Principles for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: A Case Study of Oxford, UK.” Computational Urban Science 3:34 1–21.
  • Note: The two articles listed immediately above are revised policy reports generated for Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council from the research & development project-based courses Yi Samuel Chen designed and directed at the University of Oxford Network for the Future of Cities in summer 2019.
  • Chen, Yi Samuel, and Xiaoling Zhang (The University of Hong Kong). 2023. “Three-Dimensional Ambition: The Domestic, Regional and National Challenges for Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Area Integration Strategy.” AsiaGlobal Online. Asia Global Institute, The University of Hong Kong.
  • Chen, Yi Samuel. 2025. Review of Building Colonial Hong Kong: Speculative Development and Segregation in the City, by Cecilia L. Chu (London and New York: Routledge, 2022), Pacific Historical Review 94, no. 2: 227–228.
AWARDS
  • 2026. "Best Student Work Award", The Common Core Curriculum Student Learning Festival (2025 -2026), won by a student group project entitled "The Impact of E-Commerce on Street-Level Retail and Its Implications for Sustaining Economic Vitality in Retail-Dense Districts: A Comparative Study of Mong Kok, Hong Kong and Dongmen, Shenzhen" generated for the Common Core Course "The Making of Cities and Societies" (CCGL9070) designed and taught at the University of Hong Kong
  • 2012. Runner-up, International Association for Assyriology 2014 publication competition — for best published articles first published after Ph.D. programmes (see above)
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