Author: Yi Chengdong
I. A Young Faculty Member Becomes a Participant and Research Fellow of the PKU-Lincoln Center After Returning from U.S. Visiting Scholarship in 2009
The Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy (PKU-Lincoln Center) was founded on October 9, 2007. I learned about this research institution advocating the recapture of land value increment for public welfare after it set up its China branch in 2008. Before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, I was funded by my university to conduct visiting research at the University at Albany, State University of New York.
I returned to China in 2009. Associate Professor Huang Youqin from the University at Albany, my overseas research collaborator, came to the PKU-Lincoln Center as a visiting scholar. I attended several conferences held by the Center, was fortunate enough to join its 2009 summer training program, and received support from one of the Center’s research projects to conduct studies on second homes in China, subsequently becoming an adjunct research fellow of the Center.
Back then, research on second homes sparked heated debates across academia and administrative circles. Professor Li Yining of Peking University put forward the view that moderately well-off families ought to own two housing units. Some scholars pointed out that more than ten percent of Chinese households possessed multiple residential properties. Meanwhile, other officials and academics argued that second homes clashed with China’s national condition of a large population on limited land, representing premature consumption amid widespread housing shortages and thus should not be encouraged.
Professor Many Yun, then Director of the Center, recognized the great academic value of this research topic and supported our field surveys in Beijing. Our research identified multiple drivers behind second home ownership: residential motivations such as convenient commuting, leisure and vacation, and housing elderly parents and children; investment incentives including purchasing properties for rental income or resale profit; and factors stemming from institutional barriers and market frictions — examples of institutional barriers include restricted transactions of partial-property housing, while market frictions cover scenarios where new housing is purchased yet the old residence cannot be sold promptly.
These phenomena and their root causes shared certain similarities with Western contexts, while bearing unique institutional characteristics shaped by China’s household registration system, work-unit institutions, and partial-property housing generated through housing reform. We also put forward evidence-based policy recommendations accordingly.
As a junior faculty member striving for academic progress at that time, this institutional support enabled us to complete a series of field surveys and publish multiple papers in domestic and international journals, laying solid groundwork for my academic growth.
II. Visiting the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in the United States with Support from the PKU-Lincoln Center in 2016
After 2009, I actively took part in various events organized by the PKU-Lincoln Center and gained deeper insight into its operations. After serving as department chair and hosting the 2011 Annual Conference of the Chinese Real Estate Academic Symposium & National University Real Estate Scholars Association, I felt mentally exhausted and applied for an academic sabbatical. I spent six months as a visiting scholar at the Center, witnessing its daily operations, experiencing its humanized management, and participating in numerous high-standard academic exchange activities.
In 2015, I participated in a research project commissioned by the General Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Leading Group, led by Mr. Liu Kegu, Director of the Academic Department of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, and Research Fellow Liu Zhi, Director of the PKU-Lincoln Center. The research findings provided reference for central government housing policy formulation.
In 2016, I received funding from the China Scholarship Council for another research visit to the United States. Director Liu Zhi approved a research project supporting my study on inclusive housing policies and recommended me as a visiting scholar to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Originated in the United States, inclusive housing policies have long divided American academics and practitioners into opposing camps. Meanwhile, many local governments across China have rolled out similar policies, accompanied by controversial side effects such as segregating boundary walls.
During my stay at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, I received generous assistance from George McCarthy, Andrew Reschovsky, Joan Youngman and other colleagues. They took me to taste local specialties including steak and pizza near Lincoln House and shared insights on American culture, filling my overseas research life with warmth and care. I also joined multiple academic seminars hosted by the Institute, discussing urban development and real estate policies across the United States, China and Latin America.
At that time, several researchers from the Development Research Center of the State Council were receiving training at the Harvard Kennedy School. Together with one research institute director, I paid a visit to Lincoln Institute President George McCarthy to learn about the Institute’s think tank operation experience. He summarized five core operational pillars of the Lincoln Institute:
Conduct independent research with in-house research teams and launch research grants to support outstanding global scholars in generating new knowledge;
Deliver training programs targeting government officials, young university faculty and doctoral students to facilitate the dissemination and application of cutting-edge research findings;
Support lawyers and policy advocates to translate academic research into legislative proposals and shape public policies;
Partner with journalists to transform professional research into accessible news coverage, raising public awareness of land and urban issues;
Fund on-the-ground action projects, empowering grassroots groups dedicated to solving affordable housing challenges, and summarize and scale up their practical experience.
This framework greatly reshaped my understanding of think tank development. Most Chinese think tanks mainly focus on academic publications and securing official policy instructions, while the Lincoln Institute embraces a far broader, multi-channel impact mechanism.
An interesting anecdote occurred during my visit: Dong Chen, Director of the Equitable Development / Just Cities and Regions program at the Ford Foundation, came to the Lincoln Institute for a meeting. When I first saw his name, I momentarily thought there had been a mix-up, only to realize it was a happy coincidence — Dong Chen crossed paths with Chengdong Yi.
During my research stay, President McCarthy introduced me to leading scholars in this field and shared abundant research materials, encouraging me to form original independent conclusions rather than merely follow existing academic viewpoints. My fieldwork uncovered a key divergence: most inclusive housing developments in the U.S. adopt open community layouts enabling shared public resources, while Chinese counterparts are gated communities where public amenities are exclusively enjoyed by residents inside walls, creating a distinct set of new social segregation issues.
III. Attending the Center’s Training Program in Shenzhen and an Unplanned Weeklong Stay in Tianjin in 2022
In August 2022, I attended an urban renewal training workshop hosted by the PKU-Lincoln Center at the Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. I arrived a little late for the opening session and listened carefully to Director Liu Zhi’s presentation on international urban renewal experience, gaining a full understanding of the diversified global models of urban regeneration.
During the comment session on participants’ project presentations, Associate Professor Tong De illustrated the enormous profit margins and complex operational tactics behind urban renewal projects, which vividly demonstrated how limited prior experience can restrict one’s imagination of industry realities.
Director Liu Zhi gave me a campus tour of the Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School and visited nearby urban village renewal projects with me, introducing the local linguistic culture and customs of Guangdong Province. He also pointed out that Tang poems such as The Yellow River empties into the seacarry beautiful rhymes when recited in Cantonese.
Due to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, Director Liu Zhi reminded us of potential travel disruptions caused by sudden local outbreaks that might block our return to Beijing. I told him I had brought my laptop and could keep working even if my trip home was delayed, turning the unexpected pause into a mini vacation.
On August 15, a local COVID outbreak triggered a travel restriction pop-up on my Beijing Health Kit app, barring my immediate return to the capital. Together with Center staff Liu Wei and Li Wenjing, I flew to Tianjin and stayed there for a full week before clearance to return to Beijing.
I had only ever taken brief passing trips to Tianjin, a neighboring municipality of Beijing, so this extended slow-paced stay offered a rare chance for in-depth exploration. I wandered along the Five Great Avenues, the Italian Style Town, the Haihe River waterfront, and visited the local matchmaking corner, observing authentic grassroots social life up close. During this unplanned week of wandering, I finished several research assignments and reflected deeply amid the laid-back urban rhythm — an unexpectedly delightful experience.
Closing Remarks
I am privileged to have known and collaborated with the PKU-Lincoln Center throughout its fifteen-year journey, witnessing its growth from an emerging fledgling institution to a mature organization bearing abundant academic fruits. Over the past fifteen years, the Center has trained a large cohort of government officials, young university teachers and doctoral students, and submitted numerous research reports and policy recommendations to central government ministries and commissions.
I have benefited tremendously from its training programs, joint research initiatives and academic exchanges, and built friendships with many erudite, sincere and insightful scholars both at home and abroad. Starting as a young faculty member striving for professional promotion, I have now grown into an established professor, my academic outlook subtly reshaped by the Center’s core mission — shifting from self-oriented individual research to conscious academic service to society.
I sincerely wish the PKU-Lincoln Center ever greater progress, all colleagues long and healthy academic careers, and countless fruitful public welfare achievements ahead.
