Chen Shen

Chen is an architect and urban designer from Nanjing, China. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Southeast University (2017) and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Cornell University (2019). Following his studies, he worked as an architect and urban designer at Michael Sorkin’s studio in New York and as an urban researcher at Sorkin’s non-profit urban research platform, Terreform. During his time at Terreform, he contributed to the research project South Side Stories in Chicago, which explored the potential of the Obama Presidential Library as a catalyst for equitable urban development on the South Side and in the wider Chicago region.
 
In addition to his academic and research work, Chen has gained experience at Christian Kerez’s office in Berlin, the Urban Architecture Lab, and the Urban Planning and Research Institute of Southeast University in Nanjing.
 
Since March 2024, Chen has been a doctoral researcher at the Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at ETH Zurich. His dissertation project, Deconstructing Urban Village, investigates the formation and transformation of urban villages in Shenzhen through the lens of power dynamics among various social groups. His research employs architectural ethnographic drawing and urban imaginary as key methodological approaches, seeking to articulate spatial narratives and collective urban experiences that are often overlooked in conventional urban studies. He is also actively involved in the Urban Stories Lecture Series.                    
 
shen(@)arch.ethz.ch