I am a postdoctoral research fellow at Travel modelling group (TMG) at the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering at University of Toronto. I completed my Ph.D. study in Civil Engineering in the same department, during which I worked with Prof. Eric J. Miller on the Integrated Land Use, Transportation, Environment (ILUTE) urban microsimulation systems. My Ph.D. thesis develops a multi-phases framework simulating the housing supply process. My postdoctoral work involves consulting projects for Infrastructure Canada (INFC) on transportation data harmonization and avoided Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission estimation by transit investment.
I have broad research interests in urban complex system, integrated urban modelling, housing market analysis, and transportation planning in general. My four ongoing research projects relate to urban network science, land use cover change driven by new technologies, and quality of living and planning equity. My academic resume could be found at here.
🔥 News
- 2024.06: 🎉🎉 The University of Toronto Mobility Network held the 2024 annual summer school on June 24 & 25. The theme this year was “Transit Oriented Development: Opportunities & Challenges”. Yu Zhang (Billie) serves as the co-organizer and instructor of sub-topic “Mobility and Place: Accessibility as the nexus between land use and transportation using the Golen Mile Area as a case study”.
- 2024.06: 🎉🎉 Billie presented her thesis entitled “An Investigation on the Housing Market and the Supply Modelling Process” on the Ph.D. award workshop on the 5th World Symposium of Transport and Land use (WSTLUR) conference in Bogotá, Colombia.
- 2024.06: 🎉🎉 Billie presented the working paper with Prof. Eric J. Miller, “Location Choice Modelling of Housing Supply: An application of the multiple discrete-continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model” on the 5th World Symposium of Transport and Land use (WSTLUR) conference in Bogotá, Colombia.
📝 Publications
Analyzing housing supply location choice: a comparative study of the modelling frameworks
Yu Zhang, Eric Miller
- Comparison of two framework of modelling supply spatial distribution: the location-conditional development choice & the project-conditional location choice
- Nested logit model and multinominal logit model methods applied in the two framework
- Empirical analysis in the City of Toronto
Longitudinal modelling of housing prices with machine learning and temporal regression
Yu Zhang, Arnab Rahman, Eric Miller
- Temporal modelling of housing price with longitudinal housing transaction dataset in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area
- Three machine learning algorithms tested (Decision tree, linear regression and random forest) in fitting the housing price temporal trends
Yu Zhang, Eric Miller
- Cox-proportional Hazard model applied to the estimation of construction duration
- Separated modelling of each structure type, and accuracy rate of 90% on the completed projects
- Time to complete estimation model protytpe in housing supply simulation
Yu Zhang
- Land value capture and land readjustment policy analysis in the urban peripheral area in China
- Institutional design in land capitalization and public-private partnership
Spatial autoregressive analysis and modeling of housing prices in city of Toronto
Yu Zhang, Dachuan Zhang, Eric Miller
- Spatial modelling of housing price with GWR and random forest machine learning algorithms
- Simulation performance and accuracy of 87% in replicating the housing transaction price
Migrant housing choices from a social capital perspective: The case of Shenzhen, China
De Tong, Yu Zhang, Ian MacLachlan, Guicai Li
- Analysis of the migrant housing choice in urban villages and residential segregation
- Identification of the reciprocal influential path of social capital nurtured in the urban villages
🎖 Honors and Awards
- 2023.09 University of Toronto Fellowship, Department of Civil Engineering
- 2019.10 Richard Soberman Graduate Student Fellowship, University of Toronto
- 2019.06 Graduate Dissertation Grant, Peking University – Lincoln Institute
- 2018.06 School Principal Scholarship, Peking University
📖 Educations
- 2019.09 - 2024.06, Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- 2016.09 - 2019.06, Master of Science in Urban Planning, Peking University, Beijing, China
- 2012.09 - 2016.06, Bachelor of Public Administration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
💻 Teaching Development
- 2024.05 - 2024.06, Course Instructor of EAS 273 Modern Chinese Cities, University of Toronto
- 2023.01 - 2023.04, Guest Lecturer of CIV1535 Transportation and Development, University of Toronto
- 2022.05 - 2023.08, Certified Trainee in TEP1204 Teaching Higher Education in Engineering, Prospective Professor in Training
- 2021.01 - 2022.04, Teaching Assistant of CIV1535 Transportation and Development, University of Toronto
- 2020.01 - 2020.04, Teaching Assistant of CIV332 Transportation Performance, University of Toronto
- 2019.09 - 2021.12, Teaching Assistant of CIV331 Transportation Planning I, University of Toronto
- 2019.07 - 2019.08, Teaching Assistant of the Artificial Intelligence and Social Network Analysis, Communication University of China
💬 Service and Membership
- Journal Peer Reviewer Regional Science: Policy & Practice Journal of Housing and Built Environment Cities Applied Geography
- Organization of Conferences, Workshops, Panels, Symposia 2024 Co-organizer, Emerging Mobility Scholars Conference and Summer School, University of Toronto, Toronto ON
- Organizational Membership Student Member, Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), 2020 – present Mentor, Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology (SCWIST), 2021 – present Student Ambassador, Ontario Network of Women in Engineering (ONWiE), 2021 – present Student Member, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE), 2022 - present Student Member, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), 2018 - present Student Member, American Association of Geographers (AAG), 2018 - present