Xuanyi Nie is an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo and a faculty affiliate of the Asia Research Institute. His research investigates how social infrastructures reshape spatial orders and everyday life in cities across China, the United States, and Southeast Asia. He focuses on two domains: the role of healthcare infrastructures, such as large hospitals and retirement communities, as territorial actors that transform urban neighborhoods and spatial hierarchies, and the potential of civic infrastructures, including neighborhood institutions, green spaces, and public meetings, to be democratized in ways that foster inclusion and equity.

He has published in leading journals including Urban Studies, Regional Studies, Urban Geography, Cities, Population, Space and Place, Applied Geography, The Gerontologist, and the Journal of Planning Education and Research. His teaching spans urban planning, globalization, economic development, and environmental design studios that experiment with emerging technologies. He also serves as International Corresponding Editor for Urban Studies and actively develops community partnerships, including collaborations with New York Photonics in Rochester and kampungs in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Before joining UB, Xuanyi was a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and taught at the National University of Singapore, Roger Williams University, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He also practiced architecture and urban design and worked with UN-Habitat on planning consultancy in developing countries. Drawing on his interdisciplinary background, he integrates planning, design, and social science in both research and teaching to advance more equitable and just urban futures. 

• DDes, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
  
• MArch, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
• BAS, Wellington School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington

• Cultural Geography Specialty Group Grant, The American Association of Geographers
• Best Paper Award Runner-Up in Geography & Entrepreneurship, The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
• Economic Approach in Urban Sustainability Studies Award, The International Association for China Planning
• International Real Estate Award, The FIABCI Scholarship Foundation 
• Yilong Futuristic City International Urban Design Competition, 3rd Prize (Team Work)