Caixia Liu is an Assistant Professor in housing and sustainable urban (re)development at the Department of the Built Environment of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Her research focuses on multi-actor decision-making processes in urban and real estate development, with particular attention to how place-based policies and housing market regulations shape the behavior and strategic interactions of stakeholders.

Her work is situated at the intersection of urban policy, real estate, and behavioral research. She studies how key actors (developers, investors, policymakers, households) respond to urban renewal policies, adaptive reuse strategies, and housing regulations. A key contribution of her research is the analysis of behavioral responses and strategic decision-making in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.

Methodologically, her research combines behavioral analysis and advanced modelling techniques. She applies econometric modelling and causal inference methods to identify the impacts of policies using large-scale administrative datasets. In parallel, she uses stated choice experiments, surveys, and in-depth interviews to capture preferences and decision-making processes of different actors.

Building on this empirical foundation, she is extending her research towards behavioral modelling and simulation of multi-actor systems, including agent-based modelling (ABM) and counterfactual scenario analysis. These approaches aim to better represent interactions among stakeholders and to explore how different policy and market scenarios influence decision-making and urban outcomes over time.

Her research has strong links with practice and is embedded in collaborations with public and private stakeholders. These collaborations support the development of policy-relevant insights and decision-making perspectives, contributing to more effective and informed urban development processes.

“I am driven to uncover how real estate actors respond to policies and translate these insights into models that support better urban decision-making.”

My teaching profile is characterized by an interdisciplinary, research-informed approach that combines Economics, urban development, and housing studies. I aim to help students connect theoretical knowledge with real-world urban challenges and encourage them to think critically about spatial, social, and economic dimensions of the built environment.

I have experience teaching at both the Bachelor's and Master's levels, ranging from introductory, project-based courses to specialized, research-oriented supervision. In my teaching, I emphasize clarity, structure, and guidance, particularly for early-stage students, while fostering independence and critical thinking among more advanced students.

Given my background, I bring a strong analytical and empirical perspective to teaching, and I continuously work to strengthen my integration of urban design in an interdisciplinary setting. I am committed to improving my teaching through course redesign, student feedback, and collaboration with colleagues.

In an international classroom environment, I am attentive to inclusivity and communication, and I actively reflect on how to better engage students from diverse backgrounds. Overall, I aim to create a supportive and intellectually stimulating learning environment that prepares students for both academic and professional practice.

Caixia Liu obtained her PhD in Regional and Urban Economics from Jinan University, Guangzhou, China (2020), including a research stay at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands (2017-2018), where she specialized in real estate economics. She entered the PhD programme after being competitively selected during her master-level training in Economics at Jinan University.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance and a parallel degree in English Literature from Shandong Agricultural University, China. During her graduate studies, she also gained international experience through an exchange programme in Business and Economics at the University of Brunie.

After completing her PhD, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Development Economics Group at Wageningen University & Research (2020-2024), contributing to international research projects on urban housing and development. Since September 2024, she has been an Assistant Professor in Real Estate and Urban Development at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e).

Her academic trajectory reflects an interdisciplinary background in economics, urban studies, and real estate, combined with international research experience in both European and Asian contexts.