Dr Jiayi Jin

Assistant Professor

School: Architecture and Built Environment

Before joining Northumbria in 2018, Jiayi held teaching and research positions at Mixed Reality Lab (MRL) and the Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham. She has over 12 years of experience in architecture and urban planning with international architecture practices like Gensler. These practical reflections have led to different research projects funded by the British Academy (2021 and 2024), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC, 2023-24 and 2025-26), and various research and innovation funds. She also received multiple research awards when collaborating with museum and art institutions, including Newcastle Culture Investment Fund (2021), Early Career Artist Bursary (2020-21), Digital Culture Award (England Arts Council, 2019), etc.

Her research focuses on the role of new media and technologies in knowledge production and socio-spatial linkage generation, inclusive innovation with architectural or urban environments, and creative participation in sustainable, inclusive city development. Her projects include "Participatory Neighbourhood Planning for the ‘Brown to Green’ Transition in Tyneside" (AHRC), "Gender-inclusive Cities", "Developing a Grassroots Sustainable Futures Platform: Collective Participation in Community-Based Cultural Organisations / CEoN" (British Academy).

She is the Principal Investigator for two ongoing projects: "Navigating Urban Ecologies: Mapping the Habitation Patterns and Socio-Ecological Dynamics of Kittiwakes along the River Tyne" (AHRC, £128K) and "Envisioning Mobility Hubs (EMHs) – Utilising Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) to Enhance Infrastructure Resilience" (RIS, £17K).

Jiayi taught studio at all levels from undergraduate to post-graduate, as well as theory courses and research methods for MArch and PhD. She was the Studio Lead of MArch Studio: Performing Architectures (2018-2022), Acting Programme Lead for Master of Architecture (2021-2022). Her teaching is research-led and informed by her extensive knowledge of architecture practices, planning contexts, urban issues and case studies across the globe.

Jiayi welcomes applications for conventional & practice-as-research PhD proposals within her research fields.

Email Jiayi

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

1) Creative Participation for Inclusive Planning - I recently completed an AHRC project 'Participatory Neighbourhood Planning for the 'Brown to Green' Transition in Tyneside' (Grant Ref: AH/Y000250/1) as the Principal Investigator (PI, 2023-24). This project was dedicated to harnessing the values and priorities of citizens in shaping the vision and progress of post-industrial waterfront revitalisation along River Tyne in the UK. I was also the Co-I on a British Academy-funded project titled 'Collective Participation in Community-Based Cultural Organisations' (Grant Ref: SSF/210084). This project employed a co-creation toolkit to explore adaptability and transformation within local communities. These research endeavours and their extensions centre on promoting creative involvement to bolster sustainable and inclusive urban development.

2) Digital Applications with New Urban Initiatives - I started working in this field during my PhD studies at the University of Nottingham, where I developed expertise in augmented spaces and their intricate design considerations. This expertise delved into the broader sociological context of technology-enabled interactions, which seamlessly bridge the realms of digital and physical layers in architecture and cities. In April 2024, I was awarded a British Academy project ‘Navigating Eco-Social Vulnerabilities (NESV): Uncovering Knowledge and Practical Gaps Across the UK, the Netherlands and Norway’ as a Co-I. This project focuses on a specific call HORIZON-CL5-2024-D4-02-05: Built4People Partnership to explore how digital interventions can bolster integrated urban innovation, empowering vulnerable communities to confront climate-related challenges with resilience.

3) Reimagining the City for Gender Inclusivity – I lead the project 'Gender-inclusive Cities' (PI, 2022-) which examines how urban design and planning are conceptualised and experienced through a gender lens. The project initially focused on integrating gender inclusivity into Newcastle's City Centre Transformation Plan (CCTP). Over time, it has expanded to explore a wide range of topics, including feminist urban environments, masculinity in urban design, gender dynamics in urban politics, and inclusive city morphology. And the team has collaborated with various external partners to test different methods—such as Gender Equity walks, interviews, documentaries, counter-mapping, and GIS/PGIS analysis—aiming to explore the depth of this research domain and identify potential avenues for inquiry across multiple fields and disciplines.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Co-mapping future scenarios and uncertainties amid climate crisis: A collective study of coastal towns and the Port of Tyne, Jin, J., Laing, R., Zhu, M. 11 Jul 2025, In: Journal of Urban Management
Data‐Driven Urban Digital Twins and Critical Infrastructure Under Climate Change: A Review of Frameworks and Applications, Zhu, M., Jin, J. 28 Aug 2025, In: Urban Planning
Digital Twin for resilience and sustainability assessment of port facility, Zhu, M., Calderon, C., Ford, A., Robson, C., Jin, J. 3 Jul 2025, In: Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure
Mapping the Habitation Patterns and Socio-ecological Dynamics of Kittiwakes along the River Tyne, Jin, J., Ozbil Torun, A., Zhai, B. 17 Jun 2025, Urban Morphology in the age Artificial Intelligence, Turin, Italy, Politecnico di Torino
Rendering the Digital Future: Understanding the Social-Spatial Perception of a Dynamic Data Intensive Environment as an Architect, Jin, J., Zhu, M. 29 Apr 2025, Sustainable Communities through Digital Transformation, London, Routledge
Urban Gendered Spaces: A Spatial Perspective to Sexual Crimes, Zhu, M., Jin, J., Grimshaw, L. 30 Apr 2025, Proceedings of the 33rd Annual GIS Research UK Conference (GISRUK 2025), Genève, Switzerland, Zenodo
Assessing Industrial Heritage Through Collaborative Counter-Mapping: A Case Study of Salts Mill, UK, Jin, W., Jin, J. 19 Sep 2024, In: Urban Planning
Gender Mainstreaming in Urban Public Spaces: Exploring Planning Strategies of Women-friendly Cities via Gender Equity Walks (GEWs), Jin, J. 28 Jun 2024, Women and Planning, Leeds, Leeds Beckett University
Navigating Integration: Implementing Intersectional and Culturally Sensitive Strategies for Gender-Inclusive Planning , Jin, J. 28 Jun 2024, Women designing and planning for social equality
Towards Adaptive and Resilient Strategies Using Digital Twins: A Study on the Port of Tyne, UK, Jin, J., Zhu, M. 22 Feb 2024, City Information Modelling, Singapore, Springer

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
'Navigating Urban Ecologies: Mapping the Habitation Patterns and Socio-ecological Dynamics of Kittiwakes along the River Tyne, Jin, J. (Principal Investigator), Arts & Humanities Research Council, 01/02/25 - 31/01/26, £102,445.00
Envisioning Mobility Hubs - Utilising Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) to enhance infrastructure resilience, Jin, J. (Principal Investigator), Seedcorn Funding, 01/01/25 - 30/06/25, £17,236.00
Navigating Eco-Social Vulnerabilities Through Participatory Design: Uncovering Knowledge and Practical Gaps Across the UK, the Netherlands and Norway, Goh, C. (Principal Investigator), Jin, J. (Co Investigator), British Academy, 31/03/24 - 31/12/24, £9,840.00
Participatory neighbourhood planning for the ‘Brown to Green’ transition in Tyneside, Jin, J. (Principal Investigator), Arts & Humanities Research Council, 01/02/23 - 31/01/24, £32,109.00
Developing a Grassroots Sustainable Futures Platform: Collective Participation in a Community-Based Cultural Organisation, Barron, L. (Principal Investigator), Jin, J. (Co Investigator), British Academy, 24/01/22 - 24/01/23, £15,290.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: European Cooperation in Science and Technology CA24113 - Global network on Culture Heritage Conservation Under Climate Change (Go2CHANGE) 2025
Examination: PhD External Examiner, Lancaster School of Architecture, Lancaster University 2025
Examination: PhD External Examiner, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham 2024
Examination: PhD External Examiner, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham 2024
Examination: PhD External Examiner, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham 2023
Publication Peer-review: The Conversation (Journal) 2023
Hosting an academic visitor: Wenyan Jin 2023
Other: Design Feminisms Exhibition 2022
Examination: PhD External Examiner, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham 2022
Visiting an external academic institution: Ohio State University 2022

PGR Supervision

Yihang Sui Revitalising Industrial Heritage through Public Participation: A Study of Gasholder Sites in the UK Start Date: 01/02/2025
Tadhg Charles From Fragility to Accessibility - 3D Printing as a Tool for Inclusive Heritage Engagement Start Date: 01/10/2024 End Date: 02/07/2025