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CHRISTINE WEN

Urban planning scholar + educator

economic development, municipal finance, education and schooling, geo-analytics + AI

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Updates 2024.10

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> I will be presenting my paper "how to incentivize economic development" at the Urban Affairs Association 2025 conference in Vancouver, Canada.

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> You can now order this new edited volume on Community Development and Schools here. Use promo code EFLY03 for 20% until 2024.12.31.

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> Check out my companion blog The Inquisitive Ranger - latest entry on tax increment financing (also called community reinvestment levy) in Canada.

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Featured works

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> The Conversation long-form investigation: "Students lose out as cities and states give billions in property tax breaks to businesses..." Click here to read.

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> ArcGIS StoryMap: "Mapping Amazon 2.0: Where the Online Giant Locates and Why." with Good Jobs First. Click here to see it.

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> Liberty County, TX, 2022-2026 Strategic Plan by my planning studio students at Texas A&M. Click here to download the posters we presented to the community.

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home: Welcome

ABOUT

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Dr. Christine Wen writes on urban planning and currently teaches at the University of Calgary in the Department of Geography and School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape. After receiving her Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University in 2019, Christine worked three years for the D.C.-based nonprofit Good Jobs First before accepting an assistant professor position at Texas A&M University, where she taught in the bachelor's and master's urban planning programs.

In her former life, she worked a year-long hydrology research project for the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Prior to that, she helped out with the cosmic microwave background radiation group at Princeton University while completing a bachelor's degree in physics there. And before that, at age 15, she received
First-Class Honors with Distinctions in professional piano performance for the Associate Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada, where she also lived as a teenager.

Christine contributes to the field of urban planning through trans-disciplinary and policy-engaged scholarship as well as proven dedication and commitment to student success and well-being. She loves literature, science, philosophy, music, theater, and interior design, and spends her spare time hanging with 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.

home: About Me

RESEARCH AREAS

ACTIVE:

CHILDREN IN OUR ECONOMY

This research informs economic development planning around children and childcare, early childhood development, schooling and educational equity, and youth workforce training/socialization/well-being.

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 identified ways to mitigate the harm of business tax incentives on public services.

GENERATIVE AI FOR CITY PLANNING

This research contributes to the development of flexible, low-cost, reliable AI technologies for urban planning, including but not limited to 1) adaptive master plans 2) AI agents as stakeholders 3) self-correcting financial simulators 4) educational software - using a modular, collaborative approach.

COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE

This research identifies opportunities and challenges for intergovernmental cooperation. A survey, led by scholars in public management and environmental science, will be conducted shortly.

INACTIVE/ARCHIVED:

HUMAN-CENTERED URBANIZATION

This doctoral dissertation project pinpoints where China's urbanization policy falls short of integrating rural migrant families into urban life. 

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

An offshoot from the hydrological research at the Earth Institute, this project compares centralized and decentralized mode of governance in regard to the outcomes for groundwater depletion.

home: Skills

SELECTED WRITINGS

REFEREED ARTICLES

Christine Wen. 2024. "Do economic development tax abatements affect school finances?" Economic Development Quarterly, 38 (1), 3-14. Read here

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​Christine Wen and Greg LeRoy. 2023. "Making the students pay? The gross fiscal cost of tax incentives for U.S. school districts." Community Development, 54 (4), 479-495. Read here

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Christine Wen. 2020. "Educating rural migrant children in interior China: The promise and pitfall of low-fee private schools." International Journal of Educational Development 79. Read here

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Christine Wen, Yuanshuo Xu, Yunji Kim, and Mildred Warner. 2020. "Starving counties, squeezing cities: Tax and expenditure limits in the U.S." Journal of Economic Policy Reform 23 (2), 101-119. Read here

 

Christine Wen and Jeremy Wallace. 2019. "Toward human-centered urbanization? Housing ownership and access to social insurance among migrant households in China." Sustainability 11(13), 3567-3581. Read here​

REPORTS AND PAPERS

NYS IDA Issue Brief (update in progress: link available soon)

"Corporate subsidies versus public education: How tax abatements cost New York public schools." Read here.

"The revenue impact of corporate tax incentives on South Carolina public schools 2017-2021." Read here.

"Mapping Amazon 2.0: Where the online giant locates and why." Read here.

"Revealing the true costs of tax incentives: 8 critical improvements needed for GASB Statement No. 77." Read here.

"Abating our future: How students pay for corporate tax breaks." Read here.

OP-EDS + COMMENTARIES

"How tax breaks siphoned millions from MO public schools that serve poor students." The Missouri Independent.

"School boards must speak up when money goes away." The Cincinnati Enquirer.

"NY school boards needn't be powerless against corporate tax breaks." The Post-Standard.

"Black and Brown students pay for this tax break. Texas should not extend it." The Houston Chronicle.

"How economic development is killing Michigan school funding." The Detroit News.

home: Experience

SELECTED TALKS

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Urban Affairs Association (UAA)/International Conference on Urban Affairs (ICUA): 2018, 2020 (canceled), 2024

Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Annual Conference: 2015, 2018, 2021

American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Conference: 2016, 2017

Other: Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA), New York State City Mangers Association (NYSCMA)

INTERVIEWS

2024. Economic Development Quarterly: "Do economic development tax incentives affect school finances?"
2021. America's Work Force Union Podcast: new report "Abating our future: How students pay..."
2021. In the Public Interest: "Corporate subsidies not only rarely work, but they're also starving public schools."
2021. Sanctuary for Independent Media, Hudson Mohawk Radio Network: how "Corporate tax breaks hurt schools."

home: Experience
home: Education

CURRICULUM VITAE

SERVICES OFFERED (contact for pricing)
RESEARCH/CONSULTING: economic development programs, governmental financial reporting
WRITING/EDITING/COACHING: academic and journalistic publications; schooling + career advancement planning
PROGRAMMING/CODING: statistical analysis, data visualization, automation/web-scraping

DEGREES + CERTIFICATIONS
Doctor of Philosophy in City and Regional Planning, Cornell University, 2019
Master of Science in Urban Planning, Columbia University, 2014
Bachelor of Arts in Physics, Princeton University, 2012


American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), 2024
Association of College and University Educators (ACUE), Active Learning, 2023
National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD), Faculty Success, 2023

SELECTED MEDIA MENTIONS
Reprints of co-authored The Conversation article by *countless* outlets, including Route Fifty and Youth Today.
Products featured in:
    The State: "Costly Corporate Tax Breaks are Taking Away Money to Improve South Carolina's Schools." Read here
    The Brutal South by Paul Bowers: "Tracking the Elusive Tax Dodge." Read here
    Fortune: "Why are Local Governments Paying Amazon to Destroy Main Street." Read here
Quoted in:
    Bloomberg Tax: "New York Lawmakers Push for New Limits on School Tax Breaks." Read here
    Minnpost: "There's little evidence that film and TV tax credits work: Why Minnesota Lawmakers..." Read here

    Chalkbeat Philadelphia: "Report stating Philadelphia Schools Lose $112 Million a Year... Incomplete..."Read here
    Philadelphia Inquirer: "Philly Schools Lose More Money to Tax Breaks than Any District..." Read here
    Bloomberg CityLab: "What Corporate Tax Breaks Mean for School Funding." Read here

PAST RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Fellow, Texas A&M Center for Housing and Urban Development + Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center
Project Coordinator, Good Jobs First - Defending Public Goods Against Corporate Tax Breaks
Graduate Researcher, Cornell University East Asia Program + Industrial and Labor Relations - China's urbanization
Summer Research Intern, Cornell University Community and Regional Development Institute - tax policy
Researcher, The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Water Center - groundwater depletion

Research Assistant, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation - inequality

TECHNICAL SKILLS
R, Python, ArcGIS, Stata, MATLAB, ATLAS.ti + previous coursework in Java, C, C++, OpenGL, computation theory

LANGUAGES
Native Chinese Mandarin, advanced college Russian, Canadian Grade 12 French, basic Polish and German

CONTACT

Greetings! Thanks for visiting my website. Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter or via the form.

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