Hi, I am Christine Wen, an assistant professor of urban planning at Toronto Metropolitan University specializing in economic development and municipal finance.
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My research examines how local governments fund growth initiatives and public services, and what affects their capacity to do so effectively, efficiently, and equitably.
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LinkedIn | Web of Science​ | Google Scholar
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[highlights]
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UPDATE: this project has since received the Emilio Deo Memorial Award for Studio Excellence at our School - see also this blog I wrote for TMU Center for Urban Research: Last semester (fall 2025), my undergrad studio concluded with students presenting their development concept with massing, market, and feasibility studies to CreateTO for a vacant Port Lands site.
I concluded 2026 winter semester teaching GIS and the quantitative half of a methods course to planning students - integrating arcPy/Notebook and R/Markdown, respectively.
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research + teaching
municipal finance: tax policy, local revenue and spending, public services, value capture​
economic development: business incentives, including tax-increment financing​
water infrastructure: scale and cost of municipal water, wastewater, and stormwater services​​​
education and work: school funding, social equity, labor/work, migration​
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current courses: municipal finance, statistics, GIS, studios​​​​
other teaching interests: urban economics, urban geography, planning theory
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publications
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C. Wen, E. Marcello, & M. Warner (2026) "The fiscal impact of tax abatements on New York's school districts" Journal of Urban Affairs, 48(4), 1393-1404. [link]
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C. Wen (2024) "Do economic development tax abatements affect school finances?" Economic Development Quarterly, 38 (1), 3-14. [link]​
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​C. Wen & G. LeRoy (2023) "Making the students pay? The gross fiscal cost of tax incentives for U.S. school districts." Community Development, 54 (4), 479-495. [link]
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C. Wen (2020) "Educating rural migrant children in interior China: The promise and pitfall of low-fee private schools." International Journal of Educational Development 79. [link]
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C. Wen, Y. Xu, Y. Kim, & M. Warner (2020) "Starving counties, squeezing cities: Tax and expenditure limits in the U.S." Journal of Economic Policy Reform 23 (2), 101-119. [link]
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C. Wen & J. Wallace (2019) "Toward human-centered urbanization? Housing ownership and access to social insurance among migrant households in China." Sustainability 11(13), 3567-3581. [link]​
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media
publications I wrote for Good Jobs First [link]
+ where I was quoted, interviewed, or my study/report featured
Consumer Reports
Bloomberg Tax
The Conversation
Bloomberg Law
Washington Post
Philadelphia Inquirer
Post and Courier
Chalkbeat Philadelphia
MinnPost
The State
Bloomberg CityLab
American Economic Liberties Project
Substack
about
I am an assistant professor of urban planning at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) specializing in municipal finance, urban economics, and quantitative methods. After receiving my Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University in 2019, I worked as researcher/coordinator for a D.C.-based nonprofit (Good Jobs First) and assistant professor at Texas A&M University. I then taught at the University of Calgary in geography, urban planning, and its new Bachelor of Design in City Innovation program.
Going further back, I worked for the Earth Institute at Columbia University while doing my master's in urban planning after graduating from Princeton University. And before that, at age 15, I received First-Class Honors with Distinctions in professional piano performance for the Associate Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada, where I lived in my teens. Nowadays, besides my work, I love hanging with my dog Arthur and cats Salem and Billy (clip below from 2025, Toronto), writing stories, playing/making video games, learning languages, and practicing piano for hopefully performing again in the future.
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