Prof. Dr. Julie Ren
ProfessorProfessor
Urban Studies
Hebelstrasse 3
4056
Basel
Schweiz
Curriculum Vitae
Julie Ren is an Assistant Professor at the Departement Gesellschaftswissenschaften, Universität Basel as part of her SNF Starting Grant Aspirational Urbanism and the Recodification of Defiance (ASPIRA) from 2025-2029. She is also an Assistant Professor with the Urban Geographies Group at the Department of Geography, Planning and International Development, University of Amsterdam. The ASPIRA project explores the cruelty of hope and ways of recognizing aesthetic possibilities in the face of inevitability. It engages with cities like Hong Kong and Taipei, and the practice of urban theorizations at the very small scale.
Previously, she has held postdoctoral posts at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, London School of Economics, the City University of Hong Kong and the Universität Zürich, where she completed her habilitation (2023). Her research on art events and spaces has used comparative urbanism as a means to contribute to a more global urban theory. Her latest book is Engaging Comparative Urbanism: Art Spaces in Beijing and Berlin (Bristol University Press, 2021).
She is book forum editor at the journal Urban Geography. More details about her teaching and background available in her CV.
Main Areas of Work
- Urban theory
- Comparative urbanism
- Everyday urban life and everyday crisis
- Art spaces and events
Regional Focus
Cities that appear in her work include
- Beijing,
- Berlin,
- Dakar,
- Gwangju,
- Hong Kong,
- Taipei, and
- Zürich