I-Chun Catherine Chang

I-Chun Catherine Chang is an urban and economic geographer. Catherine has been a member of the Macalester Geography Department since 2015. She received her B.A. in Geography from National Kaohsiung Normal University, M.Sc. in Geography from National Taiwan University (both in Taiwan), and Ph.D. in Geography, Environment and Society from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Catherine’s research interests include global urbanism, urban sustainability, smart urbanism, policy mobility and Asia. Her scholarship focuses on the political economy of urban transformations in Sinophone Asia. Drawing on qualitative methods, Catherine seeks to contextualize the implementation and manifestation of urban initiatives on the ground, explore the genealogy and the rationales behind the adoption of the initiatives, and investigate how the complex connectiveness of the initiatives (re)shape the global circulation of urban planning knowledge and practices. Prior to the Covid-19, Catherine focused on Chinese eco-cities and examined their spatio-temporal variegations and trans-local policy mobilities across Shanghai, Tianjin, London and Singapore. More recently, Catherine’s research focus has shifted to smart city developments in Taiwan, exploring their variegated local implications and domestic and international policy mobilities.

Catherine’s scholarship informs her teaching. Her commitment to interdisciplinary and international scholarship extends to bringing critical and relational thinking about spatial and social diversity into the classroom, and exploring with her students the multifaceted socio-geographical relationships between natural environments and human societies. Catherine’s goal as a teacher and adviser is to help students make the most of the courses at every level, giving them the confidence to engage with the world they live in, and to succeed along their career and life paths. At Macalester, Catherine regularly offers introductory courses on human geography, and introductory and advanced courses on cities and Asia.

Courses

• GEOG 115: Geography, Environment, and Society: Engaging with the World Around Us
• GEOG 203: Introduction to Urban Ecology (Cross-listed with Environmental Studies as ENVI 203)
• GEOG 261: World Urbanization
• GEOG 244: The Political Economy of Asia (Cross-listed with Asian Studies as ASIA 244)
• GEOG 320: Asian Cities (Cross-listed with Asian Studies as ASIA 320)
• GEOG 472: Global Urbanism

Links for Geography course syllabi can be found on our Course Syllabi page.