Dr. Bo Li is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow and Rubicon Fellow at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Free University Berlin. He received his Ph.D. in Urban Studies from Delft University of Technology in 2023, with a dissertation on the rental housing system in metropolitan China.

His interdisciplinary research bridges urban geography, sociology, and planning, focusing on housing financialization, rental housing markets, and spatial inequality. He is currently deeply interested in the ongoing global housing crisis, with particular attention to China’s real estate crisis. Through comparative-historical and quantitative approaches, his work examines these issues at multiple scales, from tenants' residential experiences and housing choices to the role of institutional investment and state governance in shaping urban housing markets.

He currently serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Urban Management and Humanities & Social Sciences Communications.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Housing Financialization; Private Rented Sector; State-Market Relations; Urban Governance; Spatial Inequality; Subjective Well-Being; Comparative Studies; Big Data Analytics

ACADEMIC SERVICES

Associate Editor, Journal of Urban Management

Associate Editor, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications

Coordinator for the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) Conference

Reviewer for Urban Studies, Cities, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, etc.

Monograph:

• Li, B. (2023). Towards a Better-Functioning Private Rented Sector in Metropolitan China: The Case of Shenzhen. A+BE | Architecture and the Built Environment. 10.7480/abe.2023.06.6976

Articles:

Housing Financialization

• Li, B., Aalbers, M., Kohl, S., & Chen, J. (2025). Navigating Overaccumulation: The Financialization of Social Rented Housing in China. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. PDF
• Qi, X., Chen, J., Lu, T., & Li, B*. (2025). The Financialization and De-financialization of Rental Housing in China: How the State's Governance Capacity Affects Financialization
• Li, B. (2023). The Realization of Class-Monopoly Rents: Landlords’ Class Power and Its Impact on Tenants’ Housing Experiences. Journal of Urban Management. PDF

Housing Markets and Social Equity

• Kohl, S., Li, B.*, & Cui, C. (2025). Housing Segregation in Chinese Major Cities: A K-Nearest Neighbor Analysis of Longitudinal Big Data. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. PDF
• Li, B., Jansen, S. J., van der Heijden, H., Yan, J., & Boelhouwer, P. (2024). Promoting the Private Rented Sector in Metropolitan China: Key Challenges and Solutions. International Journal of Housing Policy. PDF

Built Environment and Well-being

• Li, B., Jansen, S. J., van der Heijden, H., Jin, C., & Boelhouwer, P. (2023). Understanding the Relationship between Residential Environment, Social Exclusion, and Life Satisfaction of Private Renters in Shenzhen. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment. PDF
• Li, B., Jin, C., Jansen, S. J., van der Heijden, H., & Boelhouwer, P. (2021). Residential Satisfaction of Private Tenants in China’s Superstar Cities: The Case of Shenzhen, China. Cities. PDF

Residential Mobility and Migration

• Jin, C., Li, B.*, Jansen, S. J., Boumeester, H. J., & Boelhouwer, P. J. (2025). Young Talents’ Settlement Decisions in China’s Metropolises: An Integrated Prospect Theory Framework. Population, Space and Place. PDF
• Jin, C., Li, B.*, Jansen, S. J., Boumeester, H. J., & Boelhouwer, P. J. (2023). Understanding the Housing Pathways and Migration Plans of Young Talents in Metropolises–A Case Study of Shenzhen. Housing, Theory and Society. PDF
• Li, B., Jansen, S. J., van der Heijden, H., Jin, C., & Boelhouwer, P. (2022). Unraveling the determinants for private renting in metropolitan China: An application of the Theory of Planned Behavior. Habitat International. PDF
• Jin, C., Li, B.*, Jansen, S. J., Boumeester, H. J., & Boelhouwer, P. J. (2022). What Attracts Young Talents? Understanding the Migration Intention of University Students to First-tier Cities in China. Cities. PDF

Sustainable Built Environment

• Liu, Z., Qian, Q., Li, B.*, Jin, C. & Visscher, H. (2025). Dutch Householders' Intentions to Adopt Shallow Geothermal Systems for Energy Transition of Existing Buildings: A Theory of Planned Behavior Approach. Energy & Buildings.PDF
• Li, B., Xiang, P., Hu, M., Zhang, C., & Dong, L. (2017). The vulnerability of industrial symbiosis: A case study of Qijiang Industrial Park, China. Journal of Cleaner Production. PDF

Book Review

• Li, B. (2023). (Ben Ansell) Why Politics Fails: The Five Traps of the Modern World & How to Escape Them. Economic Sociology: Perspectives and Conversations PDF

Public Outreach

• Li, B., Kohl, S. (2025). Why Do Most Germans Rent? — Insights from a “Rental-Dominant” Country. (为何大部分德国人租房？——”以租为主”国家的经验与启示). In Chinese. Published on WeChat Platform. link