Professional Services
Leadership team (Community board), Digital Pathways to Sustainability, Pathways to Sustainability, Utrecht University
Member of the Science-Geo Ethics Review Board (ERB), Utrecht University
Member of the ERC Starting Grant SSH Advisory Community, Utrecht University
Guest editor, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, special issue "Digital Planning for Sustainable Urban Futures: Scientific insights for technology application in planning practice" (with Prof. Stan Geertman, Dr. Patrick Witte, and Dr. Nuno Pinto)
Guest editor, Planning Practice & Research, special issue “ Collaborative Planning in the Digital Era” (with Dr. Hongmei Lu, Dr. Kang Cao, and Dr. Pilvi Nummi)
Guest editor, Land, special issue "Urban and Rural Land Development and Redevelopment in the Process of Urbanization" (with Dr. Yani Lai and Dr. Yan Guo)
Guest editor, Sustainability, special issue "Multi-Functional Urban Innovations" (with Dr. Qi Han and Prof. Dr. Bauke de Vries)
Editorial Board, Urban Governance
Editorial board, Big Data and Smart Cities Research Book Series
Consultant, Vicrea (a Dutch company specialized in smart solutions)
External Expert for Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Reviewer of more than 40 ISI-indexed journals: Urban Studies; Cities; Environment and Planning A; Computers, Environment and Urban Systems; Habitat International; International Journal of Urban and Regional Research; Journal of Cleaner Production; Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy; Land Use Policy; Sustainability Science; Population, Space and Place, etc.
Reviewer of Elsevier books about smart cities
Membership: International Seminar on Urban Form, American Planning Association, Association of American Geographers (AAG), Urban China Research Network, Regional Studies Association (RSA), European Network of Housing Research (ENHR)
Professional Certification
In 2020, I received the Certification of IBM Data Science Specialization, focusing on the methodology of data science and tools such as Python, SQL, data visualization and analysis, and machine learning.
Invited Presentations for Societal Stakeholders
Lin, Y. L. and Pinar, Y., “AI and Sustainable Transition”, invited by the Dutch technological company “Shuberg Philis” to visit their lab and present our research projects about agent-based models and AI for sustainable transition, 14 April 2023.
Lin, Y. L., Pinar, Y., Neghah, H. O. and Myrthe, H. “Intelligent Agent-based Decision Support Tool for Social Media Participation in Urban Planning”, invited presentation in Utrecht Municipality, 30 June 2022.
Conference/Seminar Organizer
Organizer, workshop “Developing the Agenda for Digital Planning and AI” in the Computational Urban Planning & Urban Management (CUPUM) Conference, 23 June 2025, UCL, London
Organizer, Collaborative Planning in the Digital Era: The 2025 International Conference on Collaborative Planning in China and Beyond (CPCB), 1-2 May 2025, Utrecht University
Organizer, The International Seminar of Digital Planning for Sustainable Urban Future, 24 January 2024, Utrecht University
Academic committee, The 2022 Annual Conference of the Asian Association for Public Administration (AAPA), 3-4 December 2022, Shanghai, China
The organizer of the section "Urban Inequality and Injustice Sustainability", American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, March 29-2 April 2016, San Francisco, USA
Member of Local Committee and the organizer of the section "Planning Support Systems: Participation", The 13th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM), 2013, Utrecht, Netherland
Organizer, The International Seminar on Urban Development and Informal Settlement in China, 31 September, 2009, Leuven, Belgium
Conference Presentations/Proceedings
Lin, Y. L., invited as a panelist of the roundtable “Artificial Geographies: opening the black box for a new wave of critical thinking”, the 4th Digital Geographies Conference, 3-4 November 2025, Lisbon.
Lin, Y. L. “How do AI reshape power relations in urban planning and governance?”, presentation in the 4th Digital Geographies Conference: Artificial Geographies: opening the black box for a new wave of critical thinking, the 4th Digital Geographies Conference, 3-4 November 2025, Lisbon.
Lin, Y. L., “Conceptualizing collaborative planning in China”, presentation at the 2025 International Conference on China Urban Development: Governing Urban Development in a Changing World, 7-8 July 2025, UCL, London.
Lu, H. M. and Lin, Y. L., “Co-production and community building”, presentation at the 2025 International Conference on China Urban Development: Governing Urban Development in a Changing World, 7-8 July 2025, UCL, London.
Li, Z. and Lin, Y. L. “Inclusion, exclusion and domination of collaborative planning processes using digital platforms: A power theory-based analysis”, presentation at the Computational Urban Planning & Urban Management (CUPUM) Conference, 23 June 2025, UCL, London.
He, J. and Lin, Y. L. “Simulation power dynamics in social media participation in digital planning: An agent-based model approach”, presentation at the Computational Urban Planning & Urban Management (CUPUM) Conference, 23 June 2025, UCL, London.
Simpson, C. and Lin, Y. L. “Assessing the performance of urban digital twins in digital planning”, presentation at the Computational Urban Planning & Urban Management (CUPUM) Conference, 23 June 2025, UCL, London.
Lin, Y. L., “Revisited collaborative planning theory in the era of digitalization”, presentation at the AESOP Congress Paris 2024, Game Changer? Planning for just and sustainable urban regions, 8-12 July 2024, Paris.
He, J. Y. and Lin, Y. L., “How can social networking sites empower the grassroots in urban planning?”, presentation at the AESOP Congress Paris 2024, Game Changer? Planning for just and sustainable urban regions, 8-12 July 2024, Paris.
Lu, H. M. and Lin, Y. L. “To participate online or onsite? Urban regeneration planning in Guangzhou, China”, presentation at the AESOP Congress Paris 2024, Game Changer? Planning for just and sustainable urban regions, 8-12 July 2024, Paris.
Zhou, X. M. and Lin, Y. L. “Co-creation as an institutional innovation for conflict mitigation in collaborative planning in China”, presentation at the AESOP Congress Paris 2024, Game Changer? Planning for just and sustainable urban regions, 8-12 July 2024, Paris.
Zhen, L. and Lin, Y. L. “The Role of Planners in Planning Disputes in China in the Era of Social Media”, presentation at the AESOP Congress Paris 2024, Game Changer? Planning for just and sustainable urban regions, 8-12 July 2024, Paris.
Ids, B. F. H., Gideon, B. G. S., Lin, Y. L. and Pieter H. P., “Arrival infrastructures and refugee enrollment in higher education”, invited presentation in the Special Session of AMS Conference 2024: Urban Diversity and Inclusion: Migrants, Housing, and Wise-waste Management, 23-25 April 2024.
He, J. Y., Lin, Y. L., Hooimeijer, P. and Monstadt, J. “Informal Participation in Digital Planning: How Can Third Parties Use Social Media to Shift Power Relations in Planning?”, presentation in the International Seminar of Digital Planning for Sustainable Urban Future, Utrecht, 24 January 2024.
Lin, Y. L. “Collaborative planning: Contexts and power relations”, invited presentation in the Global Chinese Urban Governance and Policy Conference, Shanghai, 15-16 July 2023.
Lu, H. M. and Lin, Y. L. “Leveraging social media for collaborative governance: Leading community garden movement in China”, invited presentation in the Global Chinese Urban Governance and Policy Conference, Shanghai, 15-16 July 2023.
Baalbergen, I. Bolt, G., Lin, Y. L. and Hooimeijer, P. “Dispersal policies and arrival infrastructures in the labor market integration of refugees”. Proceedings of the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) Conference, 28-30 June 2023, Lodz, Poland.
Lin, Y. L., Hemker, M., Hosseini Ojagh, N. and Birbil, P. Y. “Agent-based decision support for social media influence in urban planning”. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computational Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM) in Montreal, Canada, 20-22 June 2023.
He, J. Y., Lin, Y. L., Hooimeijer, P. and Monstadt, J. ‘The role of social media in reshaping the power of third parties in urban planning”. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computational Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM) in Montreal, Canada, 20-22 June 2023.
Lin, Y. L. “Social media for urban planning”, invited presentation at The World Urbanism Day Seminar: Urban Planning, Citizen Participation and Data Science-Driven Design: experiences and challenges, University of Chile, 8 November 2022.
Lu, Hongmei and Lin, Yanliu (2022) "Enabling citizen participation with the planning support system: Empirical evidence from crowdsourcing greenway planning," Proceedings of the Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 2. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/fabos/vol7/iss1/2
He, J. Y., Lin, Y. L., Hooimeijer, P. and Monstadt, J. “Measuring social network influence on power relations in collaborative planning in Beijing city, China”, Presentation at the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Annual Conference: Space for Species: Redefining Spatial Justice, July 25-29 2022, Tartu.
Zhou, X. M., Lin, Y. L., Monstadt, J. and Hooimeijer, P. “Deliberation and institutional design for collaborative planning: A case study of enning road development project in Guangzhou city, China”, Presentation at the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Annual Conference: Space for Species: Redefining Spatial Justice, July 25-29 2022, Tartu.
Zhen Li, Lin, Y. L., Hooimeijer, P. and Monstadt, J. “Activism and power strategies of professionals and various actors’ towards collaborative planning in urban regeneration: A case study of Hubei village’s conservation in Shenzhen city, China”, Presentation at the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Annual Conference: Space for Species: Redefining Spatial Justice, July 25-29 2022, Tartu.
Lin, Y. L. “What are the contextual drivers for collaborative planning in China?” Presentation in the 15th International Association for China Planning (IACP) Conference, Nanjing, 11-13 September 2021.
Lin, Y. L. “Social media as planning supports for collaborative planning”, proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management, 8-12 July 2019, Wuhan, China.
Lin, Y. L. and Geertman, S. “Can social media play a role in urban planning? A literature review”, proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management, 8-12 July 2019, Wuhan, China.
Lin, Y. L. “Taobao village in China: Rural migrants, social networks and new elites”, proceedings of Migration and Mobilities in an Urbanising World, 16-17 June 2016, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Lin, Y. L. “An incremental approach for the sustainable regeneration of “villages in the city” in China”, presented in Jane Jacobs 100 Programme, 24-25 May 2016, Delft, the Netherlands.
Lin, Y. L. “Taobao villages in Guangzhou: Opportunities for migrant integration or challenges for new inequality”, presented in American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, 29 March -2 April 2016, San Francisco, USA.
Liu, Z., Lin, Y. L. and Zhao, N. N. “Developing greenways under a top-down institutional structure: A case study in the Pearl River Delta”, proceedings of the 5th Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning, 30 June – 3 July 2016, Budapest, Hungary.
Lin, Y. L. “Smart governance and new forms of collaborative planning”, presented in the 11th Workshop on Spatial Behavior Research and Planning: Spatial-temporal Behavior Theory and Application Frontiers, 11-12 December 2015, Guangzhou, China.
Lin, Y. L. and Geertman, S., “Smart Governance, collaborative planning and Planning Support Systems: a fruitful triangle?”, proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM), 7-10 July 2015, MIT, USA.
Li, Y. L., Lin, Y. L. and Geertman, S., “The development of smart cities in China”, proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM), 7-10 July 2015, MIT, USA.
Zhang, L., Geertman, S. and Lin, Y. L. “Planning supports for public participation in urban planning in China”, proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM), 7-10 July 2015, MIT, USA.
Liu, Y., Hao, P., van Oort, F. and Geertman, S., “The effects of urban redevelopment on housing prices in Shenzhen”, proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM), 7-10 July 2015, MIT, USA.
Lin, Y. L., “Community planning and participation in ‘villages in the city’ in the mainland of China”, presented in Strait Talk Hong Kong, 29 March 2015, The University of Hong Kong.
Liu, Y., Geertman, S., Lin, Y. L. and Oort, F. “Gentrification during the Redevelopment of Urban Villages in Shenzhen, China”, proceedings of XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology, 13-19 July 2014, Yokohama, Japan.
Lin, Y. L., “Social housing provision in Guangzhou: Institution, governance and large-scale projects”, proceedings of European Network for Housing Research (ENHR), Edinburgh, 1- 4 July 2014.
Lin, Y. L., “The provision of public rental housing in China”, proceedings of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP), Utrecht, 9-12 July 2014.
Lin, Y. L., “Linking the provision of public rental housing with the sustainable redevelopment of “villages in the city”, presented in the International Conference on “China’s Urban Transformation and Restructuring”, 13-15 December 2013, Guangzhou, China.
Lin, Y. L., “Linking the provision of public rental housing with the sustainable redevelopment of ‘city village”, presented in the Annual Conference of Urban China Initiative, 28 November 2013, Beijing, China.
Lin, Y. L. and Geertman, S., “Governance approaches in the regeneration of immigration communities: Potential use of Planning Support System”, proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM), 2-5 July 2013, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Lin, Y. L., “The role of the shareholding cooperative company in the sustainable regeneration of ‘villages in the city’ in Guangzhou and Shenzhen”, proceedings of the Second International Symposium Corporate Responsibility & Sustainable Development, 9-12 April, 2013, Guangzhou, China
Lin, Y. L., “A conceptual framework on the strategic urban project approach for the sustainable redevelopment of ‘villages in the city’ in Guangzhou”, presented in 2nd International Conference on China’s Urban Transition and City Planning, 27-28 May 2011, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
Lin, Y. L., “Strategic urban project for sustainable redevelopment”, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Sustainable Urbanization, 15-17 December 2010, Hong Kong, China.
Lin, Y. L., “Development issues and conditions of ‘villages in the city’ in Guangzhou, China”, presented in the International Seminar on Urban Development and Informal Settlement in China, 31 September, 2009, Leuven, Belgium.
Lin, Y. L., and De Meulder, B. “Three types of project approaches for the (re)development of ‘villages in the city’ in Guangzhou, China”, in: De Meulder, B., Rychkewaert, M. and Shannon, K. (eds.) Transcending the Discipline: 5th International Urbanism & Urbanization PhD Seminar (1-3 October 2009, Leuven, Belgium), p.447-54.
Lin, Y. L., De Meulder, B. and Wang, S. F. “The role of key actors in the morphological transformation of Shipai Village in Guangzhou, China”, proceedings of the Sixteenth International Seminar on Urban Form: Urban Morphology and Urban Transformation, 4-7 September, 2009, Guangzhou, China.
Lin, Y. L., “The role of key actors in the planning process and the production of space: a case study of the ‘village in the city’ in Guangzhou, China”, in: Van Duin, L., Cavallo, R. Claessens, F. and Engel, H., (eds.) The Urban Project: Architecture Intervention in Urban Areas, (the conference proceeding of European Association for Architectural Education, 4-7 June, 2008, Delft, the Netherlands), p.196-206.
Lin, Y. L., “Urban village and self-organization”, PhD-meeting in the International New Town Institute, 27-28 May 2008, Almere, the Netherlands.
Lin, Y. L., “The interplay of the market, the state and society in the ‘village in the city’ of Guangzhou, China”, proceedings of Joint Doctoral Seminar – Theory and History of Architecture, 6 December 2007, Ghent, Belgium.