DRF Lunchtime Clinic - Dr Nan Li

As a special edition of the DRF Lunchtime Clinic, we are delighted to welcome Dr Nan Li, Associate Professor at the Department of Construction Management, Tsinghua University to Cambridge to speak on Human spatial responses to extreme events: From building evacuation to urban mobility. 

Abstract: 

This talk presents our latest research on human spatial behaviors during extreme events across scales. At the building level, we conduct extensive immersive virtual reality experiments simulating fire emergencies in both lab-based and online crowdsourced settings. These experiments investigate how occupants, at individual, group, and crowd levels, form spatial cognition, interact with hazardous environments, and make wayfinding decisions. At the urban scale, we analyze massive human trajectory data collected from anonymous smart devices to examine how extreme weather events reshape population mobility patterns and urban spatial connectivity. The analysis also reveals the consequent impacts on resource accessibility and social segregation in the urban space. 

Short bio: 

Dr. Nan Li is Associate Professor at the Department of Construction Management, Tsinghua University. He is also Director of the Institute of Sustainable Urbanization at Tsinghua. Dr. Li’s research focuses on understanding and improving the resilience of the built environments, including buildings, infrastructure systems and humans whose needs they serve. His research has produced over 100 academic publications, which have received over 7600 citations. He currently serves as associate editor of Advanced Engineering Informatics, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, and Journal of Management in Engineering. He is recognized by Forbes China’s 30 Under 30 list, MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 in China list, Elsevier’s Highly Cited Chinese Researchers list, and Stanford’s World Top 2% Scientists list.