Mengke Zhang is trained as an urban geographer. Her research interests span across urban, cultural and social geography, especially in the fields of urban development and redevelopment in China, heritage conservation, culture-led regeneration, and creative and cultural industries in cities. She is currently a PhD student at the Institute for Area and Global Studies, EPFL, and is involved in the SNSF project entitled “Uses of cultural heritage at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games of 2022”.
Building on this project, her PhD thesis will specifically focus on the development of the ski industry in the mountain areas of Chongli and Yanqing, the two Winter Olympic cities, and the impacts on local socio-economic development and mountainous urbanization.

She holds a Master of Arts in China Development Studies from the Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong, and a BA in Chinese from Zhejiang University. Her masters dissertation discusses the heritage discourse in urban China with a case study of the Hangzhou Section of the Grand Canal. Previously, she has been involved in research projects related to the spatial and social transformation of the Chinese danwei (work units), as well as live music and the digital platform in contemporary China.

Publications:
Zhang, M., & Lenzer Jr, J. H. (2020). Mismatched canal conservation and the authorized heritage discourse in urban China: a case of the Hangzhou Section of the Grand Canal. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 26(2), 105-119. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2019.1608458
Zhang, M., Zhang, T., Xiao, Z., & Chai, Y. (2021). Property rights redistribution and the spatial evolution of the Chinese danwei compound: a case study in Beijing. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 36, 1585–1602. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-020-09810-z
Zhang, M., & Xiao, Z. (2023). Platform-mediated live musical performance in China: New social practices and urban cultural spaces. Geoforum, 140, 103723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103723