Weiping Wu: How China's Cities Shape the World's Urban Future

Weiping Wu, Columbia's Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Professor and Director of the M.S. in Urban Planning program, joins us on The Century of Cities. With her unique vantage point spanning Chinese cities, American metropolises, and global contexts, Weiping reflects on Shanghai's meteoric rise, the challenges of density and sprawl, and how lessons from one era echo in the choices facing cities today. Looking ahead, she shares both optimism and unease about the role of technology, from smarter infrastructure to the risk of human disconnection, and explains why urban growth must remain rooted in the local context. From the lived experiences of migrants in Shanghai to teaching the next generation of planners at Columbia, Weiping reveals how cities evolve not just in their skylines but in the social fabric that binds them.