Zhan Guo (郭湛)

Zhan Guo studies individuals’ travel behavior and explores innovative ways to influence that decision-making process to produce better social outcomes such as reduced congestion and carbon emissions. At the micro level, he focuses how travelers perceive travel alternatives and attributes and what discrepancies exist between perception and reality. The ability to reinforce, change, or even deceive that perception to promote the "right" behavior, and the methods used to do so, also figure largely in his research. At the macro level, he is interested in the effect of regulations, such as parking and street standards, mandatory affordable housing, and speed limit, on accessibility, equity, and safety, with a special focus on the (dis)connection between these regulations, market forces, and consumer preferences.  Zhan has conducted empirical work in Boston, London, Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, etc.  His work has been covered by New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, BBC, Economist, Le Monde, ABC Evening News, XInhua News Agency, People''s Daily, the Atlantic Cities, Nudges.org, etc. 

Zhan Guo received a B. Arch from Tianjin University, a MUD from Tsinghua University, China, and a MCP and a Ph.D in Urban Planning from MIT. 

Areas of Expertise

Cities

City Management

Infrastructure

Transportation

Urban Planning

Urban Policy