Yen-Ting Hsu

I am a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of California, San Diego, specializing in urban and political sociology. My research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of local democracy and urban placemaking. Using mixed methods, I examine the conditions that facilitate or constrain ordinary citizens' capacities to shape their city's future, particularly in light of the growing prominence of civic urbanisms in Asian global cities.

My dissertation examines how the urban character of a global city is shaped through the democratic process of cultural heritage production, drawing on evidence from Taipei. I begin with spatial and logistic regression analyses to uncover patterns that reveal who governs heritage production in the city. From there, I delve into two comparable cases with divergent outcomes, shedding light on the conditions under which grassroots preservation efforts have successfully resisted neoliberal urban redevelopment plans. I conclude my thesis by analyzing the official preservation discourses surrounding Taipei's heritage buildings to illustrate how the policy outcomes of the heritage production process collectively portray Taipei's global city character.

Furthermore, I have conducted research on fiscal democracy and empowered teaching practices. My work has been supported by Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council, UCSD's Center for Taiwan Studies, and other institutions. In 2024, I was honored with two awards from the American Sociological Association's Teaching and Learning Section for my contributions to teaching excellence and innovation.

Beyond research and teaching, I have been actively involved in various professional communities. I served as a program director for the North American Taiwan Studies Association (NATSA) annual meeting in 2022 and chaired the Graduate Community Committee for UCSD Sociology in 2019. Additionally, I co-founded the Taiwan Reach-Out Association for Democracy (T-ROAD), a nonprofit public participation consulting organization, and currently serve as a research board member of People Powered - Global Hub for Participatory Democracy, where I work to advance the frontier of participatory and deliberative democracy with partners from around the world.

For more information, please refer to my CV clicking the button below. Do not hesitate to reach out to me at yehsu@ucsd.edu. I look forward to connecting with you and welcome opportunities for collaboration.