Wenrui Xu 徐文睿(Erik🦁)

👋🦁Hi! I am a first-year Ph.D. student in Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley in the Geospatial 3M(Monitoring-Mapping-Modeling) Lab, advised by Prof. Lu Liang. I received my M.Arch. from Tsinghua University in 2025 and B.Eng. (Architecture) from Tongji University with the highest distinction in 2023. I am passionate about using GIS, Remote Sensing, and Machine Learning to understand human-environment interaction from global to urban scale to support planning and design for an environmentally + socially well-being world. Currently, I’m particularly excited about:

• Environmental Hazards & Health: the patterns, causes, and impacts of heat, air pollution, flooding, wildfire, and compound hazards…
• Social Behavior & Equity: urban sensing and exposure (Cities, 2025); human mobility (SCS, 2025); spatial disparity of urban renewal and medical network…
• Geospatial AI: LLM alignment on spatial understanding and aesthetics (ACL, 2025), SFT of LLMs for geospatial applications, interpretation of domain foundation models…
• This website is still under construction…
  

🔥 News

📖 Selected Publications

Full-text PDFs of all publications are available for download here (Link).
†Equal Contribution, *Corresponding Author

🎓 Education

2025 - Present

University of California, Berkeley
Doctor of Philosophy (Environmental Studies)
Department of Landscape Archi. & Environmental Planning (Link)
Advisor: Dr. Lu Liang

2023 - 2025

Tsinghua University
Master of Architecture (Urban Informatics and Urban Renewal)
School of Architecure (Link)
GPA: 3.93 / 4
Comprehensive Excellence Scholarship
Advisor: Dr. Jinxi Chen

2019 - 2023

Tongji University
Bachelor of Engineering (Architecture and Urban Design)
College of Architecture and Urban Planning (Link)
GPA: 4.89 / 5 (Top 1%)
Distinct Graduate of Shanghai (Top 0.1%, Highest Distinction); National Scholarship
Minor Degree in Finance @ Fudan University

🏙️ Affiliation

2024.09 - Present

Future Intelligence LaB (FIB-Lab), Tsinghua University
Research Assistant
Department of Electronic Engineering (Link)
Advisor: Dr. Chen Gao, Dr. Jie Feng, Dr. Yong Li

2024.10 - 2025.03

Tsinghua Architectural Design & Research Institute
Intern Planner & Architect
Zhejiang Wanli University Yuyao Campus Project

2023.08 - 2024.06

Tsinghua Tongheng Urban Planning Institute
Intern Architect
Beijing 1st Experimental Primary School Honglian Branch Renewal Project

2021.12 - 2022.02

Kaiyuan Securities Research Institute
Intern Equity Researcher
In-depth Report on the cosmetics industry and BeiTaiNi (SZ.300957) (Link)

🎉 Activities & Services

Conference

• [2025] [Accepted] The 65th Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Annual Conference (ACSP), Minneapolis, US.
• [2025] [Accepted] The 4rd International Conference on Urban Informatics (GSCS & ICUI), Hong Kong, China.
• [2025] [Poster Presentation] The 19th International Conference on Computational Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM), London, UK.
• [2025] [Oral Presentation] The 19th International Association for China Planning Annual Conference (IACP), Xiamen, China.
• [2025] [Oral Presentation] The 32nd International Conference on Geoinformatics (CPGIS), Jiaozuo, China.
• [2025] [Accepted] Extending Knowledge-based View in Generative AI Era. The 85th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM), Copenhagen, Denmark.
• [2025] [Accepted] Architecting Knowledge Ecosystems: How Generative AI Redraws the Boundaries of Competitive Advantage. Strategic Management Society 45th Annual Conference (SMS), San Francisco, US.
• [2025] [Accepted] The 25th COTA International Conference of Transportation Professionals (CICTP), Guangzhou, China.
• [2024] [Poster Presentation] Nature Conference on Air Pollution and Climate Change, Beijing, China.

Academic Services

Peer Reviewer:

• [Journal] GIScience & Remote Sensing; Building and Environment; Computational Urban Science; Architectural Engineering and Design Management
• [Conference] ICLR 2025 EmbodiedAI Workshop

Organization

• [2022.01-Present] Student member of the Architectural Society of China.
• [2023.12-Present] Volunteer in Citipedia (the #1 volunteer group in promoting sustainable city and transportation in China.
• [2022.09-2024.08] Committee member of the Student Branch, Architectural Society of China.
• [2021.10-2022.11] Leader of the Students’ Union of College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University.
• [2021.07-2022.08] Leader of the “Dream Classroom” voluntary teaching & design & construction project (Tibet Lhatse Middle School and Xinjiang Huocheng Middle School), Tongji University.

Teaching

• [Tsinghua University] Undergraduate Dissertation Design Studio: 2023 Fall, 2024 Spring, 2024 Fall, 2025 Spring (TA).
• [Tsinghua University] Urban Design Elements: 2023 Fall (TA).

🏆 Selected Awards

Honors & Scholarships

• [2024] Comprehensive Excellence Scholarship: Awarded by Tsinghua University.
• [2023] Distinct Graduate of Shanghai: Graduation with the highest distinction (Top 0.1%).
• [2022] The First Prize Undergraduate Scholarship: Awarded by Tongji University.
• [2021] The First Prize Undergraduate Scholarship: Awarded by Tongji University.
• [2021] Outstanding Student Model: Top 7 of 4300+ undergraduates at Tongji University.
• [2020] National Scholarship: Highest honor for undergraduate (Top 1%).

Competitions

• [2022] Exhibition of Architectural Design in Developing Countries: Bronze Award.
• [2021] National Real Estate Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition: Top Prize.
• [2021] National Computer Design Competition for College Students: Second Prize.
• [2020] National English Competition for College Students: Top Prize.

🪪 Certificates & Skills

• Language: English (GRE 336, CET-6 684); Japanese (N5); Chinese (Native)
• To be updated

🎾 Misc

• I love the 90s Alternative Rock, Britpop, Citypop, and Classicals. My favorite contemporary artists include: Blur, Big Thief, Radiohead, 万能青年旅店, The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, My Little Airport, Cheer Chen…
• I watch about 200+ movies each year. Sometimes I write something. We can talk on Douban! My favorite directors are Quentin Tarantino, Woody Allen, Alfred Hitchcock, David Fincher, Christoph Nolan… My life movie is “The Lord of The Rings”, “Yi Yi” by Edward Yang, and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. My favorite TV is “ロングバケーション”(Long Vacation).
• I enjoy “city walking” and photography. You can find my portfolio on 500px.
• I’ve been passionate about tennis since 20. I was a member of the Tsinghua School of Architecture Tennis Team. I’ve been learning piano since 22 (hope I can play La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin and Liebesträume one day!).🎾🎹
• I am a “No spicy, no joy” person, and my “spiritual hometown” is Sichuan.😈
• My nickname is ruarua or rua.😁

📫 Contact

I am always excited to meet fellow researchers with shared interests!
Please feel free to contact me via Email or WeChat.

• Email: wenruixu(at)outlook(dot)com
• WeChat: ruaruaxu

© Wenrui Xu. Last updated: Feb 2026. Powered by Jekyll Minimal Light theme.