This inaugural symposium marks the launch of the Urban Analytics and City Science Research Initiative at the University of Auckland Business School. The event showcases cutting-edge, transdisciplinary research across faculties and international institutions, highlighting the dynamic developments in urban analytics and city sciences.

Event details

Date: Monday 14, July, 2025

Time: 9am - 5pm

Venue: 260-223, Edith Winstone Blackwell Case Room, Sir Owen G Glenn Building, 12 Grafton Road, University of Auckland’s Grafton Campus

The symposium will feature international presenters and discussants exploring themes including Urban Analytics, Sustainable Real Estate, and the Inclusive Built Environment. The event will also provide an opportunity to network with researchers and industry professionals over refreshments and kai.

For more information, please contact the team:

Assoc. Prof. William Cheung (University of Auckland):

william.cheung@auckland.ac.nz

Dr Liuming Yang (The Chinese University of Hong Kong):
liumingyang@cuhk.edu.hk

Keynote speaker:

Robert H. Edelstein

Professor Emeritus | Maurice Mann Chair in Real Estate | Co-Chair, Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics

Robert Edelstein holds the Maurice Mann Chair in Real Estate and is the co-director of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Development at Berkeley Haas. He is the author of the book, “Explaining the Boom Cycle, Speculation or Fundamentals? The Role of Real Estate in the Asian Crisis.” Edelstein has served as a consultant to the Philadelphia Finance Department, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Housing Development Corporation of New York City, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, and the U.S. Department of Energy. He served as president of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association in 1996.

Biographies of presenters and discussants (Additional details/speakers forthcoming):

Lina El-Jahel is the Assistant Dean Research at the University of Auckland Business School and Associate Professor of Finance in the Department of Accounting and Finance and Subject Group Lead for Finance. Lina earned a PhD in Finance from the University of London. Her work has appeared in finance journals such as Journal of Money Credit and Banking, Journal of Banking and Finance, and Journal of Financial Markets and in more mainstream practitioner publications such as Risk and Professional Investor. Her research has been funded with grants from the Economic & Social Research Council. She is an associate editor for the European Journal of Finance. Lina has also consulted for several investment and Central banks including Deutsche Bank London.

Tsur Somerville is from the Real Estate Foundation Professorship in Real Estate Finance at the Sauder School of Business at UBC, where he has been a professor since 1993. He is currently a Senior Fellow with the UBC Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate, where he previously served as Director from 2001-16. Dr. Somerville has also worked with all levels of the Canadian government on housing policy issues. In addition to his positions at UBC, he is a fellow at the Alrov Institute for Real Estate Research at Tel Aviv University. Dr. Somerville received his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and his BA in Economics and East Asian Studies from the Hebrew University (Jerusalem).

Desmond Tsang is an Associate Professor of Real Estate at CUHK Business School’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management and Co-Director of the Centre for Hospitality and Real Estate Research. He earned his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, specialising in real estate and accounting. His research focuses on Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), firm location, the Chinese real estate market, CEO & corporate governance, earnings management, and financial reporting fraud. Professor Tsang has published in prestigious journals including Management Science and Review of Accounting Studies.

Liuming Yang is an assistant professor of real estate finance at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School. He received PhD in Business Administration from Georgia State University MSc and BS in Finance from Wuhan University. His research focuses on Real Estate Finance, Household and Corporate Finance, Urban and Regional Economics, and Financial Technology.

I-Ting Chuang is the Director of Urban Design and a senior lecturer at the School of Architecture and Planning of the University of Auckland. She has obtained her B.Arch (1st-degree hon) and M.Des (GSD) degrees from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Harvard University, USA. She practised Architecture and Urban Design in New York and Taiwan before starting her academic career focused on architecture design research and studio curriculum. Her research focuses on design informatics in urban geography, emphasising data analytics and the spatial quality of public spaces.

Katarzyna Sila-Nowicka is a Senior Lecturer in Geographic Information Science (GIS) at the School of Environment, University of Auckland. Her research spans GIScience, spatial data science, urban analytics, spatial statistics and modelling, urban planning, and remote sensing. Her work in GIScience and urban analytics focuses on developing spatiotemporal analytics and modelling techniques to study and understand human movement.

Sowon Kim is a lecturer at the Department of Property. She is an applied economist with a research focus on how decision-makers respond to regulation, innovation, and natural disasters in real estate markets from a spatial perspective. Her expertise spans real estate economics, urban and regional economics, and public economics, particularly emphasising the intersection of policy and market dynamics. Her research employs spatial econometrics and big data analytics to examine pressing urban and regional challenges, including housing affordability, land use policy, environmental risks, and economic resilience.

Sara Ali is a Senior Lecturer working as the Academic Database Advisor in the Finance Department at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Her teaching interests focus on developing students’ ability to understand emerging and innovative data analytics techniques and make informed business decisions. Research interest includes asset pricing, financial risk management, investments, hedge funds, and financial econometrics, and recent research focuses on economic policy uncertainty and institutional investors’ behaviour.

Edmund Lou is a a Lecturer in the Department of Accounting and Finance, following the completion of his PhD in Economics at Northwestern University. His doctoral research explored issues in financial economics, banking stability, and information asymmetry, with applications to real estate and climate-related financial risk. Prior to his doctoral studies, Edmund worked at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. Edmund’s research interests lie at the intersection of financial regulation, real estate economics, and applied game theory. His recent work examines the role of accounting discretion in bank runs, the interaction between interbank and retail depositors, and the unintended distributional impacts of housing policy.

Knight Hou is the CEO and co-founder of Relab, a leading New Zealand-based proptech company that empowers real estate professionals with data-driven tools for property insights and informed decision-making. Founded to streamline the often fragmented process of property research, Relab offers an integrated platform that provides access to real-time data and analytics, enabling agents, buyers, and sellers to evaluate property potential with greater ease and accuracy. Motivated to create a smarter, more efficient solution, Knight drew on his background in business and information systems, as well as his professional experience at Air New Zealand and Spark New Zealand. Through Relab, he aims to enable, empower, and inspire real estate professionals by delivering actionable data—anytime, anywhere, on any device.

Chris leads JLL's research and strategic consulting divisions, leveraging nearly 20 years of property industry experience. He oversees the production of research reports, REIS data services, market presentations, and property advisory. Working with clients across various sectors, Chris provides data-driven solutions through analysis and strategic consulting. His expertise covers real estate portfolio reviews, highest and best use studies, pricing recommendations, and market assessments for residential, office, industrial, and retail properties.

Michael beganhis career in planning and resource management in 1995. He achieved a Bachelor of Resource and Environmental Planning (Honours) from Massey University and is a full member of the New Zealand Planning Institute. In July 2011, Michael achieved certification (with excellence) as a commissioner under the Ministry for the Environment’s Good Decisions programme, and was recently appointed a member of the Auckland Urban Design Panel.

Co-organisers/Sponsors
Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland, Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School, Berkeley Haas School of Business and UBC Sauder School of Business.

International Symposium on Urban Analytics and City Sciences