Welcome to my website.
< introduction >
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My name is Christine Wen. I'm a scholar and educator of urban planning, specializing in economic development, municipal finance, education/schooling, and data science + technology.
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My mission is to advance knowledge on structural reforms that strengthen communication + collaboration and reduce power/resource disparities among diverse communities.
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Connect with me on LinkedIn, BlueSky, or use the contact form at the bottom. Check out my companion blog The Inquisitive Ranger (live in August 2025) where I log my reflections.
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latest updates: 2025.06
> I will be joining Toronto Metropolitan University this fall as assistant professor.​​​​
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> I'm developing mathematical models for optimizing state and local business incentives using project data from Louisiana and New York, and have just presented the first results at the 2025 International Conference on Urban Affairs (ICUA/UAA) in Vancouver, Canada--where I'm from!
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< featured works >
under construction... please check back later
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in-depth investigation with The Conversation (2024) < click to read >
see more down in the media section.
The Conversation
research
< topic areas >
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municipal finance and tax policy: this research promotes fair taxation and transparency. One project resulted in an original database of disaggregated index measuring the severity of U.S. state restrictions with regard to local revenue and spending. Others have examined the impact of business tax incentives on public services like education.
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modeling economic development incentives: This research develops frameworks and tools to guide state + local government interventions in maximizing the net benefits of economic development incentives. The models would predict how much can be cut down with minimum negative effects, thereby making them more cost-efficient.
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children in our economy: This research informs development planning around children and childcare, early childhood development, schooling and educational equity, and youth workforce training/socialization/well-being, focusing on the increasingly pervasive role of urban technology and evolving human-machine relationships in labor production.
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++ various collaborative projects led by colleagues
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inactive/archived:
> human-centered urbanization and rural migrant integration in Chinese cities @Cornell U.
> groundwater management and impact of climate w/ Earth Institute @Columbia U.
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< publications >
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C. Wen, E. Marcello, & M. Warner (2025) "The fiscal impact of tax abatements on New York's school districts" Journal of Urban Affairs. < click to read >
C. Wen (2024) "Do economic development tax abatements affect school finances?" Economic Development Quarterly, 38 (1), 3-14. < click to read >
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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. < click to read >
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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. < click to read >
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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. < click to read >
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. < click to read >​
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media
< press coverage >
where I was quoted, interviewed, or my study/report featured < click on images to see>
Consumer Reports
Bloomberg Law
Washington Post
Bloomberg Tax
Post and Courier
Chalkbeat Philadelphia
Philadelphia Inquirer
MinnPost
Bloomberg CityLab
American Economic Liberties Project
The State
Substack
< op-eds and blogs >
under construction.. please check back later
about
name: Christine
age: 35 years
nationality: Canada
origin: Beijing, China
current city: Toronto, Canada
ORCID: 0000-0002-4038-7153
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< biography >
I research urban planning/economic development and most recently taught at the University of Calgary. After receiving my Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University in 2019, I worked three years for the D.C.-based nonprofit Good Jobs First before accepting an assistant professor position at Texas A&M University, where I taught in the bachelor's and master's urban planning programs, including a studio with Texas Target Communities.
In my former life, I worked for the Earth Institute at Columbia University while doing my master's in urban planning and the cosmic microwave background radiation group at Princeton University while doing my bachelor's in physics. 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 as a teenager.
Besides my work, I love literature, science, philosophy, music, theater, and spend my spare time hanging with my dog Arthur and cats Salem and Billy, writing stories, kayaking, boxing, swimming, studying foreign languages, coding, learning the violin, and finally picking up piano again after 18 years. In difficult times, I remind myself the wonders of humanity, impermanence and fluidity of physical realities, and interconnectedness of forces/energies.
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< chronology >
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​[2024-2025] sessional instructor @ University of Calgary, Calgary (AB) Canada
[2022-2024] assistant professor @ Texas A&M University, College Station TX
[2019-2022] researcher/coordinator @ Good Jobs First, Washington DC
[2014-2019] Ph.D. city and regional planning @ Cornell University, Ithaca NY
[2012-2014] M.S. urban planning @Columbia University, New York City NY
[2008-2012] B.A. physics @ Princeton University, Princeton NJ
[2001-2008] attended various grade schools in Vancouver (BC) Canada
[1990-2001] was born + attended various grade schools in Beijing, China
< links + resources >
under construction.. please check back later
(setting up my own GitHub)
publications I wrote for Good Jobs First < click to read >
my web of science profile < click to view >
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// useful tools
Void Linux (my new OS) installation guide < click to view >
ArcGIS Deep Learning Libraries < download link >
ArcGIS Maps for Creative Cloud < download link >
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